For over a decade, Cemex, a multinational building materials company, has been relying on Continental tyre solutions for its entire fleet.
Focusing on Health and Safety
“At Cemex, we put health and safety at the forefront of everything we do and as well as enhancing vehicle safety and reducing downtime, our partnership with Continental has also significantly improved our fleet’s efficiency”, says Carl Milton, Cement Logistics Manager, UK at Cemex. “We entered into an open-book relationship with the brand, and ever since, the benefits just keep coming. From lowering our overall driving costs to enhancing the durability and performance of our vehicles, the results are clear.”
Cemex vehicles require tyres that have to withstand sharp, jagged rocks and bumpy road surfaces every day. Vehicle breakdowns due to flat tyres had previously been a big issue for Cemex. “Just like many other fleet operations, vehicle downtime was initially the biggest hurdle for us to overcome – much of this time lost was caused by issues relating to tyres,” says Carl Milton. Continental is now the exclusive tyre supplier to Cemex in the UK, equipping the entire fleet with new and retreaded tyres.
Aiming for Carbon Neutrality
Founded in 1906, Cemex has been one of the biggest names in the market when it comes to ready-mix concrete. Today, it is one of the leading suppliers of building materials such as asphalt, mortar, and screed. With over 80 years of experience in the UK construction industry, the company has consistently demonstrated its commitment to innovation and sustainability. Cemex is also aiming to achieve carbon neutrality through relentless innovation and industry-leading research and development. Its 2,200 employees manage 22 quarries and 138 mixing plants in the UK.
The current fleet consists of a cement fleet of 54 vehicles and 72 tanks, an aggregate fleet of more than 120 dump trucks and 26 trailers, and a fleet of modern ships for the delivery of marine aggregates. The partnership with Continental started in 2011 when Cemex chose retreaded tyres from Bandvulc, a Continental brand, for its vehicles. At that time, Cemex was already one of the first companies to use the ContiConnect digital tyre pressure monitoring system.
Innovative Solutions and Predictive Maintenance
Cemex equipped its fleet with ContiConnect tyre pressure monitoring systems, meaning that sensors continuously measure inflation pressure and temperature. “As well as monitoring deflation, it also analyses heat transfer – allowing drivers to see exactly when brake defects and wheel bearing failures are imminent, so that problems can be dealt with in real time,” says Nigel Ponton, UK Fleet Engineering Manager at Cemex.
The system then sends tyre data in real-time to the display in the driver’s cab and fleet management for remote monitoring using the web-based tyre management platform. It proactively sends a warning in the event of deviations. Four Yard Reader stations at the Cemex plant yards also provide additional control of the fleet’s tyre data. “The email alerts we receive from the ContiConnect platform take things one step further – it doesn’t just inform the transport team of issues as they arise, but it also helps tyre providers to prepare in advance”, Nigel Ponton adds.
