FCB Horomill®, since 1995
Step into The story of the FCB Horomill®
A history of innovation, performance and partnerships
Through this dedicated page, we invite you to discover the story behind the FCB Horomill®, by exploring exclusive contents from our book, ahead of the public release of the complete edition.
This project was born out of a deep desire: to preserve and document the development of an innovation that has transformed our industry, and to share a human journey driven by the partnerships that shaped it. Through testimonials from our teams and our clients’ success stories, this book traces the key milestones, technical challenges, and strategic decisions that led to the deployment of this technology.
Stay tuned to learn more about the key chapters of this story, and request your printed copy by completing the form.
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Chapter 1 - 1991-1994: A revolution in grinding technology
The birth of a long-lasting partnership
In the early 1990s, a bold challenge launched by Fratelli Buzzi SpA would revolutionize the cement industry: to develop a completely new grinding process, one that was more efficient, more energy-efficient, and free from the limitations of existing technologies.
The grinding process needed to be reinvented. . . radically.
Fives’ engineers embarked on a revolutionary technological journey: they first designed a new type of classifier, the FCB TSV™ Classifier, which ensures precise and highly efficient classification. They then studied the horizontal roller press, a promising technology, and developed a prototype that would pave the way for an entirely new compression grinding system, requiring no water injection and enabling a significant reduction in energy consumption.
Convinced of the potential of this approach, Fratelli Buzzi (later to become Buzzi Unicem) partnered with Fives to turn these ideas into a major industrial innovation. This was the beginning of what would become the FCB Horomill®, a technology that would permanently transform cement grinding.
Customer Success // more stories
FRATELLI BUZZI
Trino plant – Trino, Italy
“I consider the Trino Horomill® prototype to be an adopted brother. I remember well in September 1993, at the VDZ International Congress in Düsseldorf, my father Sandro proudly presented the mill's first results by saying, ‘A new baby is born!’ That machine was truly a technological breakthrough and immediately attracted great interest.
That baby has come a long way. It has been used to test the grinding of all possible materials in our sector and has enabled the development of its numerous older siblings that we have in operation in many of our factories.”
Luigi Buzzi, Executive Director, Chief Technology Officer, Buzzi S.p.A.
Challenge
Fratelli Buzzi (now Buzzi Unicem) was convinced there was a better way to grind cement than the traditional ball mill or other initial-stage roller mill methods. They believed it was possible to create an innovative grinding process using centrifugation, which could be installed at its cement-producing facilities.
Response
Fives designed and tested a pilot mill before jumping to industrial prototype by partnering with Fratelli Buzzi to design and build a 2200 mm prototype at the Trino plant.
Result
Thanks to the close collaboration of the two teams, the FCB Horomill® was born. The cement quality matched Fratelli Buzzi's needs, and energy savings were high. With this first success, Fives would launch into a long-term relationship with Fratelli Buzzi, which has continued to order FCB Horomill® grinding mills over the 30 years since the first order.
Added value
Decades of collaboration between Fives and Fratelli Buzzi have led to countless operational successes to the mutual benefit of both groups.
Insider testimonies
Timeline of a success
Success Stories and partnerships
Customer Success //
ÇIMENTAŞ
Izmir plant – Izmir, Turkey
Turkey experienced a booming construction environment in the 1990s, but electricity prices were high. Çimentaş thus needed to increase cement production at its Izmir grinding plant in an energy-friendly way in comparison to its existing plants.
Fives installed and started up its largest grinding plant to date, the FCB Horomill® 3400, with a 3.4 m shell diameter.
The FCB Horomill® handled grinding for both Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) and Pozzolanic cement, the latter of which was composed of 30% trass. Compared with a traditional ball mill, the cement production saw 35-50% energy savings.
Thanks to its stable automated operation capabilities and short residence time, the plant could switch from one product to the other within 10 minutes without requiring plant stoppage.