Team Tejaswini 2003

In November 2002, the first batch of 13 Tejaswinis – women empowered with the knowledge, courage and wisdom – were offered the option to retrain and relocate within the company as heavy equipment operators. Though a male bastion, Tata Steel as an equal opportunity employer, preferred to offer these women a chance to storm it rather than be laid off.

Their confidence and the conviction of Team Tejaswini has made this experiment one of the most rewarding initiatives undertaken by the company in its 96-year history. Now, the second batch of Tejaswinis have started training. They will focus on mechanical maintenance activities, once again, an area manned by men in the past.

Members of Tejaswini hard atwork

Inputs for this programme have already been designed by the company’s Shavak Nanavati Technical Institute. It will impart both the requisite skills and knowledge required for the functions. The six-month programme will comprise modules such as Safety, Mechanical, Drawing, Precision Instruments, Rigging, Welding, etc. After each module a test will be conducted and successful candidates will be awarded a certificate by SNTI before they are deployed within the Steel Works.
 

Mrs Ajanta Basumallick receives her award from Mr Sahib Singh verma

Ajanta Basumallick’s suggestion for promotion of industrial efficiency has since 2001 impacted Tata Steel’s steelmaking from the Slab Caster to the state-of-the-art Hot Strip Mill. A Forewoman with the company, she was honoured with the country’s premier award, the Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar for her suggestion, which has resulted in a recurring foreign exchange savings of Rs 43.00 lakhs per annum for the company and the country.

Tata Steel’s technology intensive manufacturing facilities are operated by Digital Drive Regulator (DDR) cards, among which the most important is the SASC card. Failure of this card in any roughing mill, finishing mill or coiler pulpit results in the DDR coming down, causing cobbling and mill outages. The impact on the Works is a one and a half hour delay at the mill and a one hour delay at the Hot Strip Mill, at a cost of Rs 11.00 lakhs. Before Ajanta found an answer it was difficult to diagnose the problem as well as find a solution.

She helped devise a XILINX based system, programmed for the specific applications of the company, to simulate all the signals sent out by the DDR. With the help of this system all count values of the input signal were easily visible. As a consequence, rectifying faults became easy and it was possible to ensure that all the cards worked satisfactorily.

It now means that these imported cards can be repaired in-house without any foreign exchange being spent, the reliability of the system has improved along with plant availability. The company gets tangible benefits in terms of man-hours and money saved.