Proceedings of the 2nd day of the Conference - 10th February 2004

The morning session of the 2nd Day of Long product conference started with the presentation on "Increase in wire mill productivity by use of Advance Lubrication" by Hubertus Damm of Traxit International, Germany. The speaker highlighted on the requirement of superior quality lubricants for increasing demand of wire drawers in terms of drawing speed, surface finish of the final product and low wear of the dies. Dr. Andrew G. Stacey from Stonepark Consultancy Ltd, the second speaker of the day, spoke on the latest technological requirements in high carbon wires used in high strength cable and rope industries. Dr. S.K Singh from Tata steel talked on some critical issues to achieve superior quality in Low Relaxation, Pre-stressed Concrete Strands. Fabrizio Mulinaris gave a brief picture on the Latest tecnnology and worldwide achievements in wire rod and bar-in-coil production. The morning session ended with the speech of Nicola Corti from Italiy on " A Guide to specify a Wire Drawing Machine". The discussions on long steel products for construction was focused on the usage of steel and the innovations adopted by a large number of architects. Most delegates voiced their disappointment at the prevailing standards that we use in India for steel used in construction sector. The standards have not changed in the last 50 years. There is a need to revise the specifications and the basic approach to use of steel for construction requires a paradigm shift. Various issues were discussed ranging from inadequate specifications in our national standards to improved seismic resistance in building. The conference saw stalwarts in the area of construction in India discussing the various measures to be taken to upgrade the standards and the latest construction techniques. The Conference ended with a panel discussion Chaired by Dr T Mukherjee Deputy Managing Director of Tata Steel, with Dr Y K Roy, Deputy General Manager SAIL Durgapur, Dr Andrew Stacey, Chairman, Stonepark Consultancy, UK, Dr Reddy, Deputy Managing Director, Gammon India Limited, Dr Zacharia George, Consulting Engineer & Partner, Pithavadian & Partners as panel members. All the panel members congratulated the organizers for the efficient management of presentation of 41 papers in just two days. Like the paper presentation, the panel discussion also evoked a strong feeling as endless rolling as the technology for future in wire rod rolling. It was also felt that there is a wide gap between the steel manufacturers and the users in the construction industry in terms of products available and the industry requirement. The conference ended on a pledge that every initiative would be pursued to bridge this gap. It was also felt that for all round growth of the nation, technology support should be imparted by the integrated steel plants to the secondary steel makers, who contribute to about 75% of the steel for the present construction market.

The delegates were then taken around the steel manufacturing and rolling facilities of Tata Steel.