Plant Operations Improvement Expert – Cement Manufacturing

Overview

Seeking an experienced cement manufacturing professional to assess and improve the performance of its plant operations in Malaysia.

The plants operate with ageing equipment and currently face operational leakages, low asset utilisation, reliability constraints and inefficient processes.

The successful candidate will conduct a comprehensive operational assessment, identify the root causes of performance losses and lead practical improvement initiatives across equipment, processes, operating practices and decision-making.

This is a hands-on transformation role requiring deep cement plant experience, strong analytical capability and the authority to challenge established practices.

Scope of work

Assess the end-to-end cement manufacturing process, from raw material handling and raw milling through pyro-processing, clinker production, cement grinding, storage and dispatch.

Evaluate the condition, capability, reliability and utilisation of major plant equipment.

Identify production leakages, bottlenecks, recurring failures, excessive downtime and process inefficiencies.

Review operational parameters, control-room practices, maintenance interfaces and daily production decisions.

Analyse plant performance data, including output, availability, utilisation, OEE, energy consumption, heat consumption, quality variation and unplanned downtime.

Determine the root causes of production losses using structured problem-solving methods.

Benchmark plant performance against recognised cement-industry standards and comparable operations.

Develop a prioritised improvement roadmap covering immediate operational interventions, medium-term optimisation and longer-term capital requirements.

Lead improvement initiatives to increase throughput, equipment availability, process stability and operating efficiency.

Improve collaboration between operations, maintenance, process, quality and engineering teams.

Review operating procedures, performance-management routines and escalation processes.

Coach plant leadership and operational teams to sustain new practices.

Establish clear KPIs and track the operational and financial impact of implemented improvements.

Ensure that all recommendations and changes comply with HSE, environmental and product-quality requirements.

Provide clear recommendations to senior management regarding operational priorities, equipment rehabilitation and investment decisions.

Expected Deliverables

During the initial assignment, the expert will be expected to

Establish a fact-based baseline of current plant performance.

Quantify the principal production, equipment, energy and process losses.

Identify critical operational and decision-making weaknesses.

Produce a prioritised improvement roadmap with estimated operational and financial impact.

Implement selected high-impact initiatives and demonstrate measurable early results.

Establish a sustainable performance-management system for plant leadership.

Key Success Measures

Increased plant availability and utilisation

Reduced unplanned downtime

Improved production throughput

Lower energy and heat consumption

Reduced material and process losses

Improved equipment reliability

More consistent product quality

Stronger operational discipline and decision-making

Demonstrable financial return from improvement initiatives

Key requirements

• Degree in Chemical, Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial or Process Engineering, or an equivalent technical qualification.
• At least 15 years of experience in cement manufacturing, including substantial plant-operations responsibility.
• Proven experience improving the performance of ageing or underperforming cement plants.
• Strong knowledge of kilns, preheaters, coolers, mills, crushers, conveyors, dust-collection systems and supporting utilities.
• Demonstrated success improving plant availability, utilisation, throughput, energy efficiency or maintenance performance.
• Strong understanding of cement process optimisation, reliability and operational-excellence methodologies.
• Ability to interpret plant data and translate findings into executable operational actions.
• Experience leading cross-functional transformation or turnaround programmes.
• Strong stakeholder-management and change-leadership capabilities.
• Able to work directly with plant personnel while communicating effectively with executive management.
• Experience in Southeast Asia or comparable operating environments would be advantageous.
• Fluency in English is required; Bahasa Malaysia would be advantageous.