Historic day in The Tinplate Co. of India Ltd.

The Tinplate Co. of India Limited had a historic day on 16th June, 2008 when the commencement of cold trial of Electrolytic Tinning Line – II was inaugurated by its Chairman, Mr. B. Muthuraman in presence of all the Directors on the Board, Ex Managing Director, Dr. R.N. Sharma, COO of Tata Steel, Mr. Hemant Nerurkar, VP (Engg.) Tata Steel, Mr. R.P. Singh, VP (Flat Products) Tata Steel, Mr. Anand Sen and many Customers, Suppliers and Members of the Golmuri Tinplate Workers’Union including  Mr. Rakeshwar Pandey, its President.

The Tinplate Company was producing 60,000 tonnes of tinplate around 10 years back and the capacity has already been increased three times and last year it has produced around 170,000 tonnes. With the addition of ETL-II its capacity has become 380,000 tonnes per annum. The commercial production will start after 2 months.  The technology and equipments have been supplied by Nippon Steel Engineering Corporation, Japan, which is one of the best in the world. Some of the equipments have come from Korea.

Mr. B. Muthuraman, Chairman, TCIL, said that TCIL had undergone a qualitative change and has emerged as a much stronger and forward looking Co., under the leadership of Mr. Bushen Raina, in the last few years. He reiterated that TCIL was going to become one of the strongest arms of Tata Steel and applauded the steps taken by it to enhance capacity to 380,000 tonnes per annum. He also said that TCIL will become a 1 million tonne capacity producer by the year 2012.

Mr. B. Muthuraman mentioned that ETL-II will have a singular facility to produce both tinplate and tin free steel in coil form as well as in sheet form with closest tolerances. This line is also having the provision for scrolling. TCIL is already a Leader in South East Asian market due to its high proportion of export. This line is one of the best line for tinplating in the world. Mr. Bushen Raina, MD, TCIL, said that this project was a dream come true. He expressed confidence in his team, and in his suppliers, especially Nippon Steel, Japan. Mr. Rakeshwar Pandey, President, Golmuri Tinplate Workers’Union, thanked Mr. Muthuraman for his continued support to TCIL and expressed full support on behalf of the workers of the company.

Mr. Hayashi, Project Manager of Nippon Steel, said that he was very happy to work in this project and expressed his belief that the targets would be met. Earlier Mr. T.K. Ghosh, President, TCIL,  welcomed all present.   Mr. K.N. Mishra, VP, TCIL, thanked all the dignitaries for their time including suppliers, customers and other service providers and hoped that the project would be completed well within the budget. Mr. Tarun Daga, COO, TCIL, conducted the programme. . Before this, Mr. B. Muthuraman did the ground breaking for CRM-II, a Rs. 450 crs. project. This project will be executed in TCIL under the aegis of Tata Steel. This will supply TMBP coils to ETL-II. The finishing units will be completed in around 18 months time in CRM-II. Already negotiation has been done with M/s. Blue Scope, Australia and LOI, Germany for appropriate equipments like Temper Mill and Annealing furnaces, respectively.  

Today’s ground breaking ceremony for CRM-II and inauguration of commencement of cold trial in ETL-II was preceded by Business Excellence Nite celebrated by the company on 15.6.2008. In a glittering ceremony at the Golmuri Club, many employees, suppliers, customers and other stakeholders, who had played a distinctive role in the excellence journey of the company, were awarded. Mr. B. Muthuraman, Chairman, Tinplate Co. of India Ltd. and Managing Director, Tata Steel was the Chief Guest. He along with Mr. Rakeshwar Pandey, President, Golmuri Tinplate Workers’Union and Mr. Bushen Raina, Managing Director of the company gave away the awards.

This was a very special occasion because last year the company was awarded the  JRDQV Award for Business Excellence by Mr. Ratan Tata and became one of the seven companies getting this award amongst over 90 companies in the Tata Group vying for this award.

Inspite of very difficult situations, the company had started this journey in 2000. Adopting this Tata Business Excellence Model, which is based on the Malcom Baldrige Model of the USA, the company took giant strides to emerge as one of the best tinplate manufacturers in South Asia. While most other tinplate companies were registering huge losses, the Tinplate Co. of India Ltd. stood its ground and produced nearly 170,000 mt, which is an all time record.

These awards will boost the morale of all and result in a company, which will strive to be a business leader in Asia and a role model in achieving a green future.

Date : 16th June, 2008                                                      Public Relations Department