Gerry McKervey.
Owner and principal of McKervey Solutions. Mining engineer by training, cement plant manager by trade. Five plants managed over a 40-year career that started underground and ended up in the plant manager's office, more than once.
Solve a real problem. Skip the promises.
Every plant manager hears from vendors promising their product will pay back more than it costs. Most of those claims don't hold up, and plant managers know it. Having sat in that chair at five plants, Gerry started McKervey Solutions in 2018 to do the opposite: show up, solve a real problem, and let the results make the case.
The problem he saw at every plant was the same. The kiln runs only as well as the operator on shift, and the best operators learned the hard way, over years, on a real kiln. CCR Academy is his answer: the hard lessons, on a simulator, where a mistake costs nothing.
Behind the simulator is an experienced engineering team that uses advanced AI to tailor the kiln model to each plant's equipment, fuels and raw mix chemistry.
B.S. Mining Engineering
University of Missouri-Rolla
Rotary, Kiwanis, YMCA
Board and member roles in the towns where he ran plants, plus Partners in Education.
- 2018 – TODAY
Owner, McKervey Solutions
Cement training and consulting- Process and basic cement training, project management, major repair support, critical path planning and mentoring for key plant staff
- Creator of CCR Academy, the control room operator simulator
- 2019
Plant Manager (interim), Giant Cement
Harleyville, SC · 900,000-ton plant burning hazardous waste fuels- Cut maintenance costs about 10% while increasing annual production
- Improved labor relations with a strong union workforce
- 2008 – 2018
VP Cement Operations and Plant Manager, Capitol Aggregates
San Antonio, TX · modern plant in a residential area- Secured the environmental permit for a new kiln line
- Installed and commissioned an FLS Cross-Bar cooler; raised plant capacity 10%
- Built a world-class operations team; worked on an experimental CO₂ capture plant
- 2005 – 2008
Plant Manager, Lehigh Cement
Mason City, IA · 850,000-ton plant- Commissioned an SO₂ scrubber and SNCR NOₓ reduction
- Cut maintenance costs by more than $2 million without losing uptime
- Took customer quality payments from about $800,000 to zero
- 1999 – 2005
Plant Manager, Essroc Materials
Speed, IN · 1.2 million-ton plant, 196 employees- New clinker production record with no capital investment
- Color masonry output up 65%, a $1.6 million profit gain
- Quality complaints down from about 15 a year to 1
- 1991 – 1999
Production Manager, then Plant Manager, Essroc Materials
Logansport, IN · 500,000-ton wet process plant- Three straight clinker records and two straight cement records
- Grew the waste fuel program to a 100% replacement permit and 23 million gallons burned
- Proposed and built a raw mill addition
- 1984 – 1991
Quarry Manager, Process Engineer, Senior Process Engineer, Essroc Materials
Speed, IN · Nazareth and Bath, PA- Ran a 1.5 million-ton-a-year limestone quarry
- Raised kiln capacity 10% by optimizing the ID fan; helped start up a roll press that lifted finish mill capacity 55%
- Wrote the PLC logic for a new plant control system, installed inside a two-week kiln outage
- 1980 – 1984
Mine Engineer, Tennessee Chemical Company
Copperhill, TN · 6,000 tpd underground mine- Engineering, planning and scheduling; improved blast design and mine recovery
Talk to someone who has run the plant.
Whether it's your control room crews or a problem across the whole plant, start with a conversation.