To plan any assault on the summit, Tata Steel must believe that the inherent capabilities to succeed exist deep within it. The Raw Materials and Iron Making Division of the Company is the sure foundation on which Tata Steel has remained one of the world’s lowest cost producer of steel, and this Division will continue to be its strongest ally in the steep climb to the summit.

Blast Furnace
Tata Steel closed FY 2004-05 with a record annual production of 4.11 million tonnes of saleable steel. The Company has exceeded last year’s record of 4.09 million tonnes, although its largest Blast Furnace, the ‘G’ Blast Furnace was shut down since December 3, 2004 for upgradation and capacity expansion. Blast Furnaces ‘A’ to ‘F’ exceeded the production records set by them last year by as much as 9%, to touch the 35,38,550 million tonnes mark. ‘F’ Blast Furnace, which was upgraded in 2002, contributed 1.25 million tonnes, 8.7% more than its production in FY 2003-04, to ensure uninterrupted supplies to the Company’s customers. Productivity at the Company’s ‘C’ and ‘F’ Blast Furnaces also touched a new high at 1.90 T/m3/day and 2.19 T/m3/day, respectively. Availability at each of the Company’s Blast Furnaces continued to improve over the record production in previous years.

‘G’ Blast Furnace, which has been the Company’s flagship since it’s first campaign 12 years ago, completed it’s 14th million tonne in just 298 days, against a capacity of one million tonnes per annum. The furnace has now been designed to produce 1.8 million tonnes per annum over a campaign life of 15 years.

Mr. B. Muthuraman, Mr. R B b Singh with senior executive and union officials at the function

Dr T Mukherjee was of the opinion that “During the last four months the ‘G’ Blast Furnace would have produced 4,40,000 tonnes. During the period, that the ‘G’ Blast Furnace was down, the re-heating furnace of the hot strip mill would also be shut down intermittently. This means our production has increased.”

In anticipation of the changes ahead at the department, OEM training was imparted to 207 employees in 14 different locations in India.