Dr Jamshed J Irani, Managing Director, Tata Steel today inaugurated the recently acquired state of the art machinery, including automatic lines at Tata Steel's bearings plant at Kharagpur. The capacity of the ball bearing plant now stands at 25 million pieces per annum. Most of the machinery is of   IZUMI, Japan make.

While capacity of the plant has steadily increased over the last two decades, a number of initiatives have also been taken to remain competitive and to achieve world class quality. In 1993, Tata Bearings was the first to receive, among all bearing companies in the country, the ISO 9002 accreditation. In the year 2000, Tata Bearings was awarded the coveted QS 9000 Certificate. It also commenced initiatives towards Total Productive Maintenance, which enabled it to reduce cost and improve productivity substantially.

Tata Steel took over the Bearings Plant from Metal Box India Ltd in 1983. At the time of the takeover the capacity of the plant was 3.89 million bearings. However, the production was far lower. Over the years with better operational procedures and business initiatives, the Division has crossed several milestones. On the industrial relations front, the unit, is an oasis of industrial peace. Ever since the takeover of the plant by Tata Steel, not a single hour has been lost due to labour unrest.

In order to manufacture the latest generation of automobile bearings, Tata Bearings has entered into a technical agreement with Nachi Fujikoshi, Japan. The Division is proud to have a host of prestigious customers, including Toyota, Dana Spicer, Mico, Maruti, Tata Engineering, Piaggio, Greaves, Hero Honda. Tata Bearing is committed to establish itself as a supplier of choice.