SAIL

The year was 1973. The event – formation of India’s largest steel company named Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL). A vibrant company, which right from its inception, has dominated the Indian steel landscape.

SAIL today has within its fold four integrated steel plants at Rourkela, Bhilai, Durgapur and Bokaro. Also under its umbrella are speciality steel plants situated at Salem, Durgapur and Bhadravati. An experienced and committed workforce is the hallmark of the company, taking it successfully through the vagaries of the business cycles.

Today, SAIL is truly a market-driven company, making important structural changes and continuous process improvements to meet the expectations of a satisfied customer. It is now focusing on its business of carbon steel making, exiting from areas outside its core competence. Moreover, the company is moving towards becoming a leaner and flatter organisation, highly responsive to changing market dynamics.

Technological improvements in the area of steel making and modernisation of the rolling mills have made the vast array of SAIL products a household name in the country. SAIL is also a global player, with its products like Hot Rolled Coils and Plates, being well accepted in the most sophisticated world markets.

Believing in the principle of providing cost-effective and superior quality of products and services, SAIL is continuously introducing new products to meet stringent requirements. It also has the largest market reach in the country, making its steels available at customers’ doorsteps through one of the most extensive stockyard and dealer networks.

In India, there is a large potential to expand the steel market, which is currently amongst the lowest per capita consumption areas of the world. This revolution is being spearheaded by SAIL, the country’s largest and the world’s 15th largest steel producer with a production of 12 million tonnes of crude steel. Offering 50 mild, special and alloy steels products in 1,000 qualities and 5,000 dimensions, the company not only straddles the domestic steel industry by dominating close to 30% of the market, but also has a considerable international presence as well with SAIL steel finding ready acceptance in over 30 countries worldwide.

Little wonder therefore, that SAIL is not only the leading steel maker of India, but also the first choice of customers.

At present, the Government of India has 86% ownership of SAIL. The company owns and operates nine manufacturing plants, including two subsidiaries. The four main integrated steel plants of SAIL producing carbon steel are located at Bhilai, Bokaro, Durgapur and Rourkela, while three plants at Durgapur, Salem and Bhadravati manufacture a variety of special and alloy steels. A subsidiary at Burnpur is a multi-product integrated plant; another at Chandrapur is the country's largest bulk producer of ferro-alloys. SAIL has the second largest mining operations in India. Its iron ore, coal, dolomite and limestone mines provide a competitive edge in terms of captive raw material availability.

SAIL produces steel of basic as well as speciality grades for industries, including defence, construction, engineering, power, transportation,
oil & natural gas and consumer durables.

To achieve international production standards and extend the range of speciality steel products, SAIL has recently modernised its integrated steel plants at Durgapur, Rourkela and Bokaro. Adoption of the latest steel refining technology and the globally preferred process of Continuous Casting have resulted in increased availability of superior quality steels from SAIL. The Rail Mill at Bhilai Steel Plant – India’s only manufacturer of rail track material – has also been upgraded to incorporate the latest technology to ensure production in accordance with the stringent specifications of the Indian Railways.

In order to improve the quality of its products
SAIL has introduced numerous features :

Vacuum Degasser (RH/VAD/VOD)
Ladle Heating Furnaces
Electromagnetic Stirring for CC Shops
Installation of Coil Boxes in Hot Strip Mills

Increased automation and adherence to rigorous quality norms have enabled SAIL to produce steel for sophisticated user segments and thus enlarge its market base. To gain wider international acceptance of its products, SAIL has introduced quality management systems and practices in its work functions. All major production processes and services of SAIL are certified to ISO:9000 standards.

Besides supplying its full range of products to institutional buyers like Defence and the Railways, SAIL is successfully servicing the requirements of a variety of customers in the following user segments in the country:

With the largest marketing network among Indian steel producers, SAIL has the most penetrative market reach. Besides offering the facility of direct despatch of material from its plants to customers’ doorsteps, SAIL maintains an extensive branch office and stockyard network at 44 locations and a number of sales and customer contact offices spread all over the country. Nodal stockyards with mechanised handling systems in select locations provide SAIL with an edge over its competitors in making steel materials readily available on just-in-time basis. Authorised dealers ensure supply of SAIL steel in locations including those where stockyards do not exist.

Totally oriented towards customer care, SAIL has recently introduced new processes like Key Account Management (KAM) in its marketing functions to further strengthen customer relations and provide quality service. With long and flat products being marketed by separate groups, customers now receive focused attention and improved service. Every requirement of key customers is fulfilled by specially formed groups comprising marketing and plant personnel who have the responsibility of streamlining operations, from order processing to fulfilment. This ensures that the customers receive their supplies as per their requirements in time.

Through its continuous efforts to utilise its modernised facilities to their full capacity and achieve cost-effectiveness, SAIL is endeavouring to provide its customers with the benefit of competitively priced products of world-class quality. To achieve cost leadership, the company is currently implementing a business restructuring plan which envisages the separation of all non-core activities into secondary businesses, in addition to regular cost-cutting measures, including manpower cost.

SAIL has already divested its power generation facilities, and is in the process of divesting its units producing oxygen, fertilisers and alloy/special steels. The company has also decided to divest its subsidiary units.

With increasing emphasis on synergy of operations, automation and reduction in operating units, SAIL’s manpower has declined substantially in recent times to a level of 136,000 and being targeted to bring down to a level of 100,000.

Following restructuring, SAIL will succeed in consolidating its core strength of producing mild carbon steels and emerge as one of the lowest cost producers of steel in India.

O u r c o n c e r n f o r e n v i r o n m e n t

SAIL is ever conscious to protect the environment. Massive efforts have been made to afforest the waste dumps in the mines, taking up compensatory afforestation besides developing a girdle of greenery around the steel plants and townships. Substantial investments have been made in installing dedusting, gas cleaning and incorporating a chain of environmental control measures to make the plants and processes environment friendly.

Preservation of scarce water resources through waste water management and judicious use of water has been the top priority.