Texas Industries Reschedules Annual Maintenance Shutdown at Midlothian Cement Plant

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Annually, Texas Industries Incorporated's (NYSE:TXI) (TXI) (Dallas, Texas) plant in Midlothian undergoes two maintenance turnarounds. This year, TXI decided to prolong the plant's production time, so the 2008 maintenance turnarounds were rescheduled. The plant completed a nine day maintenance shutdown in April, which was originally scheduled for January. The second maintenance shutdown, originally scheduled for July, will take place in September. This downtime is expected to last from 10 to 15 days with normal production resuming by the end of the month.

After completing a $250 million plant expansion in 2001, this 2.8-million-ton-per-year cement plant has five production lines, which consist of one dry rotary kiln (16 feet (ft.) diameter x 230 ft. long) and four wet rotary kilns (each 12 ft. diameter x 750 ft. long). Only the dry kiln and two of the wet kilns are operational at all times. The remaining wet kilns are on standby for times when the dry kiln is down.

The Midlothian plant spends about $3 million on annual maintenance shutdowns. Key components of the plant, which require inspection and maintenance repairs, include the five kilns, a preheater tower, calciner, clinker cooler, raw and finish mills, packaging equipment, fuel handling system, loading system, conveyors, elevators, crushers, controls, vent and exhaust system, dust collection system and baghouses.

TXI is also planning to invest $10 million for capital upgrades in 2009 to improve plant operations. The majority of the project involves replacing the heat exchanger and upgrading the baghouse. The plant is waiting for the detailed design from FLSmidth Minerals USA Incorporated (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania), the design-build contractor for this project. Construction is scheduled to begin in spring 2009 and expected to be complete by end of summer 2009.

TXI is the largest producer of cement in Texas and a major producer in California. The company is also the second largest producer of structural steel beams in North America. TXI is a significant supplier of steel bar, aggregate, and concrete products. In addition, TXI is a leading North American recycling company.

Industrial Info tracks maintenance shutdown plans for cement manufacturing plants across North America. For details, call Industrial Info's member center at 1-800-762-3361.

View Plant Profile -- 1001815
View Project Report -- 01011640 01012330

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a marketing information service specializing in industrial process, energy and financial related markets with products and services ranging from industry news, analytics, forecasting, plant and project databases, as well as multimedia services.