Bhubaneswar: The Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) of Steel Authority of India (SAIL) has registered the highest ever Steel Ladle life in Steel Melting Shop-II by clocking 180 heats in Ladle No 25 in a single campaign. This is highest among all SAIL units as well.
Notably, the Steel Ladle was due for slag zone repair March 20 after the suppliers’ campaign was over. However, the Refractory Engineering (Services) department after inspecting the Steel Ladle observed that the metal zone condition of the ladle was good for another 35 to 40 heats. Considering the potential of the Ladle, the RE(S) team decided to continue the ladle in service with in-house repairs.
The team used in-house bricks manufactured at the Lime Dolomite Brick Plant of RSP in the Slag Zone repair. An additional 33 heats were achieved with the in-house repair before the ladle was taken off for service.
The endeavour ensured a direct cost saving of Rs 4.13 lakh, besides intangible benefits achieved through ensuring enhanced Ladle availability and improved productivity. Buoyed by the recent production performance, the steel plant has been giving a greater thrust on reducing cost of production and further improving techno-economics of the plant.
The RSP authorities claimed that the significant achievement was made possible because of the dedicated and coordinated efforts of Refractory Engineering (Services) and Steel Melting Shop-II (Operation).
BSP CEO’s visit
Meanwhile, CEO of Bhilai Steel Plant AK Rath visited RSP Saturday and moved around the Mechanical Shop, Repair Shop (Mechanical), Structural & Fabrication Shop and Repair Shop (Electrical) departments. Rath also interacted with RSP CEO Dipak Chattaraj. A distinguished alumnus of NIT, Rourkela, in Electrical Engineering, Rath had started his career in Rourkela Steel Plant in 1982.
During his tenure in RSP, he had proved his mettle in repair and maintenance of large electrical machines. Prior to taking over the assignment of CEO, BSP, Rath was the CEO of SAIL’s Durgapur Steel Plant.
PNN
