Even before the steel industry was liberalised that technology was the key to success. Since the early Eighties, Tata Steel embarked on a programme of complete modernisation of the steel plant - the four phases of the modernisation in which over Rs. 60000 million was expended, was completed in the early 2000. As a result, at the dawn of the 21st Century, Tata Steel is a world - class steel plant with the following facilities added during the successive phases of modernisation.

Modernisation Phase - I (1981-85; Rs. 2300 million)

• Installation of two 130t LD (BOF) converters (a new technology of making steel in place of open-hearth furnaces which had gone beyond their life cycle).
• Six strand continuous billet caster - a first in an integrated steel plant in India - to replace ingot making (continuous casting was a major technological breakthrough in the steel industry in the Sixties).
• 130t vacuum arc refining unit - again a first - to produce higher quality steels.

Modernisation Phase - II (1985-92; Rs. 2690 million)

• Installation of 0.3 Mtpa wire rod mill to enrich the product mix.
• Bedding and blending plant for raw materials to improve the sinter quality.
• Sinter plant of 2.5 Mtpa capacity to increase sinter usage in blast furnaces.
• Coke oven battery with 54 ovens using stamp charging technology - again a first in India.
• Waste recycling plant of 1 Mtpa capacity keeping ecology in view.
• Coal injection in blast furnaces - first in India - to reduce coke consumption.

Modernisation Phase - III (1992-96; Rs. 36000 million)

• Installation of twl more stamp charged coke oven batteries.
• Installation of a new 1 Mtpa blast furnace - the best blast furnace in India.
• Installation of another LD shop (LD2) with two 130 t combined blown converters to eliminate open-hearths completely and to augment the production of continuously cast slabs from two single stand slab casters catering to the production of flat products.
• Installation of new hot strip mill (initially of 1 Mtpa capacity), to allow Tata Steel to enter the more profitable flat product market.

Modernisation Phase - IV (1996-2000; Rs. 12620 million)

• Increase in hot metal and crude steel capacity.
• Third-130 t vessel at LD 2.
• Third-single stand slab caster to allow 100% continuous casting.
• Doubling of hot strip mill capacity to produce more flat steel.

Following these four phases of Modernisation, Tata Steel is today a state-of-the-art plant with a hot metal capacity of 3.8 mtpa (million tonnes per annum) and crude steel capacity of 3.5 mtpa, corresponding to a saleable steel capacity of 3.2 mtpa. The most notable achievement in the last two decades has been the complete transformation of the plant from open hearth oxygen steelmaking, from ingot making to almost 100% continuous casting, and the entry into the sophisticated area of flat products. To add value to the hot rolled coils from the Hot Strip Mill, a new Cols Rolling Mill (CRM) Complex (capacity 1.2 mtpa) was installed at a cost of Rs. 16000 millions. This facility, inaugurated in April 2000, has been designed to make cold rolled strips, particularly for automobile and white goods industry. The tandem Cold Rolling Mill which is the best of its kind in the world, can produce 0.8 mtpa of cold rolled and batch annealed strips along with 0.4 mtpa of zinc coated material.