Scienza e Tecnologia
CIECH Group improves the efficiency of soda ash production, apperceives higher CO2 certificate prices and raw materials
says Dawid Jakubowicz , President of the Management Board of CIECH S.A.
Over the last year, the CO2 emission rate per ton of soda in the Polish plants has seen a reduction by approx. 2%, which enables savings of several million zlotys a year, while the effective production capacity has already increased by approx. 1.5%. CIECH is taking advantage of the growing competitiveness achieved as a result of the activities in the Sales & Operations Planning area. This allowed CIECH to use the production capacity and simultaneously optimize the amount of raw materials in the soda production process. The result is a smooth production process and an appropriate level of stocks.
says Dawid Jakubowicz .
After stopping the plant in Romania , which produced over 500,000 tonnes of soda per year, CIECH focuses on the maximum use of the potential of the plants in Poland and Germany and supplying customers in Europe with soda ash. The possible scenario of a further increases in the prices of CO2 certificates (which have tripled since the beginning of 2018), raw materials or capital expenditures for the "green energy transformation" may translate into an increase in soda prices on the European market.
emphasises Dawid Jakubowicz .
In order to reduce the level of CO2 emissions, the CIECH Group is implementing a multi-faceted decarbonisation strategy which assumes, among others, partial transition to gas, modernisation of combined heat and power plants in Poland , as well as the use of photovoltaics as a source of electricity and heat in the Group's plants. In total, in the next five years, CO2 emissions could be reduced by 30 per cent vs year 2019.
sums up Dawid Jakubowicz .
Apart from issues related to the reduction of CO2 emissions, in the soda area, CIECH is intensively implementing solutions involving the optimization of the production process through digitization, in order to increase efficiency through Advanced Process Control solutions or the use of neural networks.
In terms of costs, the soda plants are implementing the so-called insourcing strategy (resigning from third-party subcontractors and relying on the Group's own resources) of repair and maintenance processes for production lines through CIECH Maintenance, a company operating since the beginning of the year.
The CIECH Group manufactures light and heavy soda in two plants – Inowrocław and Janikowo. The production capacity of these factories stands at 1.5 million tons per year. In addition, the German soda factory located in Stassfurt produces approx. 610 thousand tons of soda annually. The total soda manufactured by the CIECH Group gives it the position of the second largest producer in the European Union.
Effective production capacity reflects actual production vs. its nominal level resulting from the construction of a soda production line.
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