Dear Reader,
May 2004 is very significant for the stakeholders of Tata Steel. On May 19, the entire Tata Group including Tata Steel stopped work and stood up in silence in fond memory of its founder, J N Tata who passed away a hundred years ago. As if in tribute to the man who paved the way for India’s Industrialisation, Tata Steel announced record profits of Rs. 1746 crores on the same day. Few days after this tremendous performance, Ms. Bachendri Pal scaled Mt. Imjatse, in reverence to J R D Tata, the man who carried the Tata Torch, handed over by J N Tata, to the most glorious heights.
There were several other achievements in the same period. Each was a high in its own virtue. This issue of Tisco News, which also marks a year since the rebirth, so to say, of the magazine itself brings to you the small and big peaks that the employees of the company conquered in this period. I am quite sure you will enjoy reading your latest copy of Tisco News and also revert to us with your views and suggestions.
Happy reading,

Best wishes,

Editor

MD ONLINE

Mr.  B Muthuraman

The Managing Director, Mr B Muthuraman congratulated the Division and departments for their outstanding performance and for setting bold and courageous targets for the new financial year. FY2005 will be more exciting and Tata Steel will acquire a new company, he revealed. He warned them that this would be a challenging year for the company as there would be a loss of 100 days of production due to the planned relining of ‘G’ Blast Furnace.
The company, the Managing Director confirmed, had supplied 0.5 million tonnes of steel to auto manufacturers and that the company plans to increase this to 1 million tonnes within the next three years. The company has introduced galvannealed material as an improvement over the outmoded turncoated sheets. The Tata Shaktee Brand Promotion Campaign has covered 700 haats and mundis, he declared.
Several initiatives undertaken in the Long Products business have yielded benefits for the company and its customers. ESAB, an electrode manufacturer has reported a benefit of Rs 70 lakhs due to the company’s Customer Value Management programme. As a result of the impact of the programme the company has been invited by Harvard Business School to make a presentation on CVM. The Long Products Division has also rolled out RVM to Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan covering 17 of the 21 Tata Tiscon distributors. It has also partnered large construction companies to assist them in identifying correct materials for their projects. Tata Steel has urged them to modify their Construction Code to reflect improvement in products and technology.
2003-04 was a watershed year in global networking for the company, Mr Muthuraman said, with the Chairmen of Nippon Steel, POSCO and Arcelor visiting the company. They visited only the facilities of Tata Steel in India. This is an indication of the position the company is gaining, Mr Muthuraman believes. A formal agreement is due to be signed with M/s Du Pont, Mr Muthuraman announced, to improve Tata Steel’s safety performance. The company will be applying for SA 8000 in the next two-three months.
With Tata Steel moving away from a Jamshedpur centric mind-set, the company is truly spreading its wings globally, he asserted.