52nd ‘Steel Making Operating Committee’ meet begins in Bhilai

Bhilai: The '52nd Steel Making Operating Committee' (SMOC) Meet being organised by SAIL's Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) and SAIL's Research & Development Centre for Iron & Steel or RDCIS got off to a start in Bhilai Niwas with delegates and participants from different steel plants of SAIL and steel plants in the private sector gathering for the inaugural session on December 10. Besides delegates from different SAIL units including the SAIL plants, RDCIS & CET, SAIL Corporate Office, delegates from RINL plant at Vizag, Tata Steel pants at Jamshedpur and Kalinganagar, JSPL plants at Raigarh and Angul, JSW plants at Bellary & Dolvi and MECON Limited are participating in the two-day SMOC meet. The SMOC meet is being organised in Bhilai for the seventh time and after a gap of 15 years.

The two-day Steel Making Operating Committee (SMOC) meet was inaugurated by BSP's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Anirban Dasgupta in presence of BSP's ED (Works) & Chairman of 52nd SMOC PK Dash, RSP's Executive Director (Operations) & Co-Chairman of 52nd SMOC BP Singh, BSP's Chief General Manager (SMS 3) K Bhattacharya, BSP's General Manager (RDCIS) & Secretary of SMOC Amitabh Pal. K Bhattacharya, who is also Convenor of 52nd SMOC, welcomed the delegates and participants.

As many as three technical sessions were held on the first day with technical papers on the subject of Maintenance practices/philosophy of casters for achieving higher production and better quality presented by delegates from different units and plants. JB Singh, an expert with vast experience in steel making who headed steel melting operations of Tata Steel and is currently an advisor to several steel plants in India and abroad presented his expert comments. Tata Refractories Limited (TRL) and VESUVIUS also made technical and manufacturer presentations.

In his address during the inaugural session, Dasgupta said the meet is being organised in Bhilai at the right time when the steel making collective of the Plant is making all efforts to ramp up production from its Modex unit, Steel Melting Shop 3. There are among you many experts who have and continue to play a significant role in steelmaking operations through this concast route in your respective units spread all across the country. As such, we in Bhilai expect to gain a lot from your experience and from the deliberations during the technical sessions of this meet, Dasgupta said. Regarding global challenges before the domestic steel industry, he said the need of the hour is to produce superior quality of steel with a lower cost of production. We must, therefore, learn from each other to take the industry to greater heights, he said.

Addressing participants, PK Dash urged them to implement whatever they learn from this meet in their respective plants and units, so that the entire steel making fraternity is benefitted. Dash asked participants to make it a point to visit 'Steel Melting Shop-I' in Bhilai to witness steel making through the twin hearth furnace route. We shall soon be closing down this shop and so you will not be able to see this process even if you want to in future, he said.

In his address, BP Singh stressed on better maintenance practices in order to achieve higher production levels and produce better quality steel. Only if we learn from each other can we take India steel industry to newer heights, he said.

The inaugural session concluded with K Ramakrishna and Co-Convenor of 52nd SMOC presenting the vote of thanks. Workshop sessions will be held on the second day of SMOC today.

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