 COMPANY PROFILE |
Bamburi Cement is one of the major cement producing companies south of the Sahara with an annual production capacity of 1.4 million tons of cement in Mombasa alone.
The foreign shareholders are Lafarge - the largest building materials group in the world, and Blue Circle Industries - the UK's largest cement producer. Together, they own 60% of Bamburi Cement Ltd.
Established in 1954 on uninhabited coral bush land 10 km north of Mombasa Island, the Bamburi factory is now one of the most technologically advanced yet environmentally responsible cement producers in Africa.
It is no accident that the Bamburi symbol is the baobab tree. Indigenous to East Africa, with strong roots, and a long life span, the baobab tree sums up perfectly the strengths of Bamburi Cement.
| COMMITMENT TO THE ENVIRONMENT |
The Bamburi Quarry Nature Trail is an astonishing example of what can be achieved by a manufacturing company with a real commitment to environmental responsibility.
30 years ago, Bamburi founded a subsidiary company called Baobab Farm Limited. Its chief remit was to rehabilitate the old, barren and ugly quarry sites. This was no easy task. When limestone is removed from the crust of a large area of land, the scars and the ecological damage run deep. But thanks to the dedication and innovative techniques applied by the Baobab Farm team, the old Bamburi quarry sites are now scenic havens teeming with a plethora of indigenous plants, animals and birds.
In addition to this internationally-acclaimed rehabilitation project, Bamburi continues to make substantial environmental improvements within the plant. All this goes to show that when it comes to protecting the environment, Bamburi is a company of actions not words.
| PRODUCTION PROCESS |
Over the years, the production of Bamburi Cement has been refined into a streamlined, efficient and cost-effective process.
The main raw materials of Bamburi Cement, coral limestone and shale, are quarried close to the factory. The coral stone is transported by dumper trucks to the crushing plant. The crushed coral is stored in a pre-blending hall until it is required at one of the plant's raw mills. In these mills the coral stone, shale, laterite and, where appropriate, iron ore are ground in measured proportions to a dry powder known as raw meal. The raw meal is then fed into one of the storage silos and, from there into one of the rotary kilns. Inside these massive revolving steel cylinders, the raw meal is turned into clinker, by coal firing. The type of clinker produced depends on the chemical make-up of the raw meal
At Bamburi, three types of clinker, appropriate for the full range of building requirements, can me made. After the clinker emerges from the kilns, controlled quantities of gypsum and, if needed, limestone filler or pozzolana are added.
The blended mixture is then fed into ball mills and is crushed into the fine powder we know as cement. This is then transferred to yet more storage silos where it remains until required for deliver.
At every stage of this process, stringent quality checks are carried out. In many ways, the laboratory is the most important section of the entire factory. | It is there that the correct ratios of all raw materials are determined and achieved. It is also there that testing is carried out on the coral stone, the raw meal, the kiln feed, the clinker and the cement itself. The laboratory is equipped to test both Kenyan and European standards and it is audited once a year by both the Kenya and the French Bureaux of Standards. It is because of these high levels of quality control that Bamburi Cement enjoys its wide reputation for delivering an end product of such consistently high quality.
| FROM US TO YOU. |
 THE DISTRIBUTION STORY |
Bamburi Cement is in demand all over the Indian Ocean region. Consequently, we distribute by road, rail and sea.
The cement is taken from the Mombasa storage silos either to the packing plants for bagged dispatch, or to systems designed to load lorries, trains or ships for bulk dispatch.
Bulk cement delivered to our port facility at English Point is pumped from the silos directly into the olds of specially designed vessels. These ships sail regularly to our main export markets of Mauritius, Seychelles, Reunion and Sri Lanka.
Our facility at Mbaraki has the capability to handle bulk exports of both cement and clinker but is primarily used to effect bagged cement exports bound, in the main, for the Indian Ocean Islands of Mayotte, Comoros and Madagascar.
In Kenya, the coastal region is supplied from the Mombasa plant whilst all other areas of the country, and Uganda, are supplied from the Cement Grinding Plant at Athi River, near Nairobi.
All Bamburi Cement in Kenya is sold through appointed distributors located all over the country. And after the cement is delivered into the hands of the end users, Bamburi's involvement continues. Periodically, We ask that cement samples from different destinations are sent back to the factory so that we can reconfirm its quality.
And any queries we get from our customers regarding the proper application of our products are dealt with expertly and immediately, and often result in a site visit.
No other regional cement company offers such a high level of after-sales service.
| A NEW DEPARTURE AT ATHI RIVER |
In September, 1998 Bamburi opened a new Cement Grinding Plant at Athi River just south west of Nairobi. The capacity of the facility is an impressive one million tons per annum and the cost, Kshs. 2.4 billion, reflects the size.
But consider the facts and you'll agree that it has been money well spent.
At present 25 % of the contents of a bag of cement sold in Nairobi or further west consists of pozzolana which is found in the Athi river area. Before our Cement Grinding Plant opened, we had to transport this material 500 Kms to Mombasa, mix it with the clinker and transport it all the way back again in the form of cement. Now, we simply transport the clinker one way from Mombasa to Athi River and make the cement there.
As well as saving considerably on transport costs, the new plant also allows us to offer better service to our Nairobi and upcountry customers. We hold large stocks of cement at Athi river and that, coupled with the fact that our loading and packing system is the fastest and cleanest in the country, means that our customers can get the cement they need in bulk or bagged form, whenever they need it.
No transport delays, no shortfalls in stock. The
extra one million tons of capacity provided by our
Athi River plant means that Bamburi is now capable
of producing a total of 2.4 million tons of cement
every year. More than enough to meet the requirements
of both our export and our domestic and regional
markets. |
