A report by India's Business Standard claims that Steel Authority of India Ltd's (SAIL's) Rourkela steel plant has logged its best-ever production figures in crude steel and saleable steel during the April-January period of 2016-17.

The plant produced 2.37Mt of crude steel and 2.23Mt of saleable steel, registering growth of 5.3% and 14% respectively. At the end of January, the plant's coke oven battery-6 averaged 87 pushings per day while its sinter plant-III produced 2.65Mt of sinter. RSP's fifth blast furnace produced 2.3Mt of hot metal while its new plate mill rolled out 428kt of plate steel.

Modernisation and expansion initiatives taken by the steel plant under the leadership of chief executive officer Ashwini Kumar are behind the latest production figures. Mr Kumar has been the driving force behind the plant's performance improvements, according to Business Standard, and has focused on strict adherence to the plant's maintenance protocol with a view to eliminating surprises and breakdowns.

'Project Vishwakarma' is a case in point. "Every week the connected departments interact and prepare a road map to ensure uninterrupted production," claims the Business Standard report.

Source: Business Standard.