Watch: Shree Cement CIO on IBM upgrade driving manufacturing efficiency

Earlier this month, Kolkata based Shree Cement, one of the top producers of cement in India, signed up IBM to upgrade its information technology (IT)  infrastructure and run database and core business applications. 

In an interview with TechCircle, Manoranjan Kumar, the chief information officer at the company, spoke about the collaboration, including what kind of technology solutions Shree Cement has received from the Armonk, New York headquartered giant and how it is driving efficiencies across its manufacturing plants.

Kumar, who has been with Shree Cement since December 2013, also spoke about the company’s shift to remote working during the Covid-19 lockdown as well as further infrastructure and cybersecurity upgrades possible in partnership with IBM and Ernst and Young.

He also detailed how the cement maker looks forward to using leading-edge technologies such as AI (artificial intelligence), ML (machine learning), and VR (virtual reality) to solve training and safety challenges within its plants, among other things.

Founded in 1979, Shree Cement claims to produce over 44 million tonnes of cement every year through 14 manufacturing plants across Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. 

In the third quarter ended December 2020, the company posted a 102.5% YoY increase in net profit to Rs 631.58 crore. The revenue from operations, meanwhile, grew 12% YoY to Rs 3,541.38 crore.