Consulting

A plant manager's experience, when you need it.

Beyond the control room, McKervey Solutions brings four decades of cement plant leadership to your toughest problems. We have done this work ourselves, at plants from 500,000 to 1.2 million tons a year.

Talk about your plant → Operator training

Process and cement training

Kiln process and basic cement training for operators, supervisors and new engineers, on-site or paired with CCR Academy. How the kiln line works, why it upsets, and what to do about it.

TRACK RECORDBuilt the operating teams at five plants, including a world-class operations team at Capitol Aggregates.

Interim plant management

A steady hand while you recruit, reorganize or turn a plant around. We step in, stabilize operations and hand over a stronger plant.

TRACK RECORDTemporary plant manager at Giant Cement, Harleyville SC: cut maintenance costs about 10% while raising annual production, and improved relations with a strong union workforce.

Outages, major repairs and critical path planning

Plan the outage before it plans you. Critical path schedules, project management and major repair support so the kiln comes back on time.

TRACK RECORDReplaced a plant's central process control system with Allen-Bradley PLCs, writing all the logic personally, inside a two-week kiln outage, on time and under budget.

Commissioning and capital projects

From concept and justification to startup. Coolers, emission controls, mills and control systems, commissioned by someone who has done it before.

TRACK RECORDInstalled an FLS Cross-Bar cooler, commissioned an SO₂ scrubber and SNCR NOₓ control, led a new clinker cooler build, added a raw mill, and started up a KHD roll press (+55% finish mill capacity).

Alternative and waste fuels

Grow your alternative fuel rate without losing the kiln. Permitting, compliance testing, supply contracts and the operating discipline to burn it well.

TRACK RECORDRan the first BIF compliance demonstration, raised a waste fuel permit from 50% to 100% replacement, and burned a plant-record 23 million gallons of hazardous waste fuel.

Environmental permitting

Permits for new lines and changes to existing ones, and the community relationships that make them possible, even for plants in residential areas.

TRACK RECORDApplied for, negotiated and secured the environmental permit for a new kiln line in San Antonio, TX. Worked on an experimental CO₂ capture plant turning stack gas into baking soda.

Production, cost and reliability

More tons from the equipment you already have, at lower cost. Uptime, maintenance spend, energy and fuel efficiency.

TRACK RECORDSet clinker production records at Speed and Logansport, IN (one with no capital spend), raised plant and kiln capacity 10%, and cut maintenance costs by more than $2 million at Mason City, IA without losing uptime.

Quality and customers

Consistent cement your customers can count on. Shipping criteria, quality systems and the operating habits behind them.

TRACK RECORDTook customer quality payments from about $800,000 over four years to zero; cut quality complaints from about 15 a year to 1. Grew color masonry output 65% for a $1.6 million profit gain.

Leadership, labor relations and mentoring

Mentoring for key plant personnel, from new supervisors to future plant managers, and a practical approach to working with union and non-union crews.

TRACK RECORDNegotiated three- and four-year labor contracts; led a plant of 160 union hourly and 36 salaried employees.

Not sure where to start?

Tell us what is keeping the kiln from running the way it should. We'll tell you plainly whether we can help, and how.

Start a conversation →

Training is the fastest win.

Most plant problems run through the control room. CCR Academy gives every operator the practice that used to take years.

See CCR Academy →