Installed a century ago, the first blast furnace at Tata Steel’s Jamshedpur plant triggered the development of India’s steel industry and sparked the creation of a highly skilled cadre of engineers

A hundred years ago, one Indian company strove, against tremendous odds, to build a blast furnace and commence steel manufacturing. The establishment of that blast furnace was historic, for it marked the beginning of industrialisation efforts in India.

Tata Steel, the company behind this achievement, is now in the process of commemorating a century of this momentous event. The company’s blast furnace A, which was fired for the first time and became operational on December 2, 1911, in Sakchi, Jamshedpur, recently celebrated its centenary year. The blast furnace witnessed the first attempt to produce steel on February 16, 1912.

The furnace was built by foreign engineers and technicians with the help of a local labour force. A large number of Bombay khalassies (an Arabic word meaning dockyard worker, sailor or lascar) were hired to construct the iron and steel works and the blast furnaces. In 1911, the total number of people employed daily, on average, at Sakchi, by the company and its contractors was 6,300.

While the hiring of the workforce posed no difficulty for Tata Steel, the selection and appointment of the consultant presented a challenge. The company needed a capable consultant who could execute the project for an economically viable investment. Another challenge involved the sourcing of raw materials. Eventually, good quality iron ore deposits were found — by eminent geologist Pramatha Nath Bose — in 1903 in the Gorumahisani Hills of modern-day Odisha.

The laying of the structure’s foundation started on February 27, 1908. Plenty of complexity was to follow. The management of such a colossal task could not have been achieved without efficient and competent people. In the beginning, experienced operators were brought in from outside the country. Later on, Tata Steel decided to train people from within India. The supervision responsibility, however, continued to rest with foreigners for several years.

Blast furnace ‘A’ proved to be the indirect trigger for the development of technical education in India. It brought to notice the paucity of technical skills available locally. In order to enable Indians to take up technical positions, a provisional committee was set up to put in place a formal higher education system in India. This led, in a way, to the establishment of the Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore [now Bengaluru] in 1911. Blast furnace ‘A’ was the first of the eight blast furnaces that would come up at Jamshedpur. The capacity of this pioneering furnace increased to 0.6 MTPA (metric tonnes per annum) on the back of technical enhancements, better quality raw material, the improving skills of operators and the use of superior equipment.

Setting up to expand
Even as it celebrates this standout event in its industrial history, Tata Steel is getting ready to expand to 10 MTPA. Currently its smallest blast furnace has a capacity of 0.4 MTPA, while the largest can produce over 3 MTPA. Together the furnaces can produce over 7.5 MTPA. In addition, the company plans to build its ‘I’ blast furnace — its ninth — and retire some of its other, less energy-efficient blast furnaces. This is no small measure to reduce CO₂ emissions.

Tata Steel is quick to acknowledge the debt it owes to the many operators who have kept its blast furnaces going over the last hundred years. “These operators worked in a difficult and challenging environment,” says Tata Steel managing director Hemant Nerurkar. “It is their hard work that has made Tata Steel the company it is today.” The company recently organised a function where the former operators were invited to share their experiences with current employees.

Tata Steel hopes to see its blast furnace operations achieve greater victories in the future. The operational excellence that the company has come to epitomise will, it can be safely assumed, ensure that.