Cement Americas

FAL 2014

Cement Americas provides comprehensive coverage of the North and South American cement markets from raw material extraction to delivery and tranportation to end user.

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CEMENT AMERICAS • Fall 2014 • www.cementamericas.com 18 FEATURE DRIVING INNOVATION terest. If Chinese cement producers are adopting U.S.-style measurement and control technologies, it's likely they're also exploring ways to use data more effectively. Any company that produces cement in multiple countries would be wise to consider MACT as more than simply a U.S. regulation. Given the influence of EPA globally, it's likely that producers will see MACT-like requirements out- side the U.S. in the coming years. Preparing now – and building monitor- ing and data analysis capabilities into all processes, regardless of country of origin – is smart business. TURNING REGULATION INTO OPPORTUNITY Regulation is never welcome. Yet his- tory shows that many of the new tech- nologies, processes and practices that arise from compliance can have a net positive affect. Benefits are not given, however; they must be earned through active participation in the reg- ulatory process and making invest- ments in innovation that go beyond just what's required. Regulators do, in fact, rely on volun- tary, industry-led sustainability efforts as a cornerstone of their regulatory guidelines. CSI, for example, issued its Agenda for Action in 2002, well before EPA designed its new set of regula- tions. The Agenda for Action included guidelines for managing airborne emis- sions and selecting a CEMS. Complying with what's coming in Sep- tember 2015 will be a challenge for many, and we're already well down the road in this particular regulatory episode. But my colleagues and I have seen this process unfold from the be- ginning, and let me assure you that there's room here to turn compliance into opportunity. The first step, however, is to embrace the data and recognize its proven po- tential to drive greater production effi- ciency. And driving efficiency is, after all, the purest form of innovation. F Michael Corvese is director of business development, environmental and process monitoring, Thermo Fisher Scientific.

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