21-03-2014, 03:43 PM
DEVELOPMENT OF AN EXPERT SYSTEM FOR PROCESS PLANNING IN CEMENT PRODUCTION
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ABSTRACT
The demand for cement is increasing daily in Nigeria while cement production is
inadequate to satisfy demand. Shortages in demand of cement is being satisfied through
importation. Many of the imported cements were adulterated and eventually led to collapse of
buildings in various cities in Nigeria. Besides, the cost of imported cement is exorbitant for
local consumers because of import duties paid on them. There is need to develop an effective
way of producing cement which will be cheaper. This could be achieved by judicious use of
resources involved in cement production processes. An expert system with the encompassing
mathematical modeling process was developed to provide solutions to the waste elimination in
the cement production process.
In the development of the expert system, the mathematical model developed was used
as the basic resources, the basic resources for the cement production process were identified as
raw materials (limestone, gypsum, red aluvium and coal), machineries (crushing machines, raw
mill, kiln, cement mill and packaging machines), and manpower skills (managerial personnel,
technicians, operators
and casual workers). These resources were modeled for optimal
determination of required quality and quantity of raw materials, machine capacity, manpower
skill, and chemical reaction for cement production process, without wastage. Performance
evaluations based on manufacturing cost and breakeven point were also modeled for the
determination of the economy of the process.