Candida Moraes

Is there always room for improvement? To find out, come to Tata Metaliks, the company that simply refuses to rest on its laurels. Here, anything short of perfection is simply not acceptable

Tidy green lawns with 700 varieties of roses sway gently in the breeze. Beds of tomatoes and cabbages nestle between rows of blossoming flowers. Driving into the Kharagpur plant of Tata Metaliks (TML) is soothing and gentle on the eye. It is difficult to believe that just a couple of hundred feet away is the gigantic machinery that pumps out several hundred tonnes of pig iron each day.

But then, TML strongly believes in processes. It has processes in place for aesthetics, just as it has for logistics, manufacturing and testing, to ensure the smooth pouring of 325,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of hot metal and casting of 318,000 tpa of pig iron. No product can leave the plant without undergoing a thorough quality check at the TML laboratory.

Becoming the biggest
The Kharagpur plant started commercial production in April 1994, with an installed capacity of 90,000 tpa. This was upgraded in phases to 163,000 tpa by 2004. By 2005, the company had achieved a production level of 1,67,802 tpa of hot metal and 163,483 tpa of pig iron, an increase of nearly 86.4 per cent over the initial installed capacity.

The second mini blast furnace, commissioned on February 26, 2005, doubled this capacity and made TML the largest player among the foundry grade pig iron manufacturers in the country. And, with the recent acquisition of the Usha Ispat plant at Redi in coastal Maharashtra, the company is poised to become the world's largest producer of foundry-grade pig iron.

The Kharagpur plant is unique in several ways. First and foremost, it is the only plant in the country that is not connected to the power grid. Instead, it generates 6.76 MW of power in-house from surplus hot blast furnace gas, a by-product of the manufacturing process. Gas released from the furnace top is collected and dust particles are separated in three phases in a gas cleaning plant. The clean hot gas is used to heat the blast furnace, and to generate power. Chief of manufacturing systems Debasis Misra, says, "If we were to release the gas, it would have led to air pollution. By recycling it, we are not only being environmentally friendly but also saving energy."

Another unique feature is the daily standing morning meeting for the general shift. This meeting is held each day in the open, at various locations, to discuss housekeeping, targets and support requirements. The meeting is also used to recognise and applaud any good work done by employees, who are presented with a small memento.

Becoming the best
Processes at the plant are quantified in terms of results and reviewed on a monthly basis by the managing director and the head of the plant. Thanks to these process quantifiers, TML recently achieved a target of 98 per cent yield of hot metal. This is the best in India so far. "We carried out 63 improvements before reaching a 98 per cent yield. Hopefully, by next year, we will achieve 100 per cent yield," says a beaming Misra.

It's not just the processes, which are unique. There's innovation: TML has an in-house system designed to dry 500 to 600 tonnes of coke everyday, reducing its moisture content by 5 to 6 per cent. This saves a lot of energy in terms of lesser requirement of coke in the furnace. There's camaraderie too. Every worker is aware of all processes, and capable of handing not only his or her job but also other processes, up to a point.

Becoming the brightest
This has been possible because of the knowledge worker process, a system of learning that educates workers and spreads awareness of the different processes required for manufacturing. The programme has reaped rich dividends. The company has doubled its capacity without doubling its manpower. Tata Metaliks managing director Harsh Jha says, "We train and encourage our workers to be multi-skilled in all the processes in the plant, which makes them capable of handling more responsibilities."

As part of the programme, 20 knowledge workers are chosen and trained. They, in turn, educate and tutor their peers. This has not only helped workers learn about processes and plant operations, but has also instilled confidence and empowered them. Plans are in place to take this further, and train workers in the internal customer-supplier concept. TML hopes this will help them identify and tackle their own problems, rather than wait for someone else to solve them.

Becoming the busiest
The business excellence group periodically reviews all departments, and 16 cross-functional teams carry out the recommended improvements. Despite all its success, anything short of perfection is simply not acceptable, and the company refuses to rest on its laurels. Next year, it plans to identify and minimise losses in the plant and to keep noise levels in the blast furnace areas down to the bare minimum. It is also working towards becoming a paperless organisation.

But the most ambitious plan of them all is to keep costs on an even tighter leash. For the coming year, the target is to produce pig iron at the cost of scrap. At the Kharagpur plant, it seems, there's just one constant — raising the bar higher and higher.

Uploaded on July 6, 2006