Career Episode 1: Tite: Driving a Tanne!‘ Entry’ through hard sand stone (0E1.1 introduction From 7-08-88 fo 1-12-90 (30 months), | was maga in-charge ofthe projects being executed In GDK 11A coal mine of Singareni Colieries Company Lic, at Ramagundam in Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh. This careor episode ‘summarizes the experlonce | have gained during my stint as an Under Manager Projects), (01.2 Background | was entrusted with the project involving tunneling work to drive a roadway Connecting Coal Handling Plant at the surface with the underground ‘ounkers, ‘This tunnel was to be the primary link to evacuate coal produced oy 2 Longwall units in addition to gate roadway development by AMSO tunneling machines. The gate roadway, 180 meters long and 9 X 4.5 meters in cross-section through hard Sandstone dipping at 1 in 4 was to be riven and was named °° Entry’ as i would have ‘coen tho thicd exty in addition to the 2 existing already on Completion. Besides the primary purpose of evacuating coal it was to be an ait intake airway as wel [seca iShown above is the organizational chart at GDK - 11 Coal mine. As can be ‘seen, | was reporting to Safety Officer and Colliery Manager. (CE1.3 Personal workplace activity {As offeorresponsibie for this projec, ! was given the option of selecting between ‘an AMO - boom mounted double cutter heads and the newly available Dosco ‘continuous miners, which are single headed tunneling machines, | wentin forthe AMO tunneling machines fo the following reasons: > ANfs0's had been around for many years and the workforce available was experienced to hand them. > AN50'soffored better ground clearance as compared to Dacso machines, vihich would be a big advantage in thei favor under slushy coneitions at the working face. > AMSO's had a proven track record. They are equipped with electric motors for traction, chain conveyor, hydraulics, gathering arms and cutter heads as against only one electric motor for hydraulics on Dosco ‘machines. Positioning of motors on AMSO's faclitto better aocossibilty {or maintenance. > Dasco continuous miner is equipped with a single motor for hydraulics. Low ground clearance makes accessibility to motor for maintenance extremely dificult. > Low ground clearance also makes it difut for the Dosco machine to ‘manouver in stushy conditions, Having decided on the equipment that would be used to drive the tunnel, 1 decided to go infor boreholes rom surface along the nosthern side of the path that would be followed by the tunnel. Core samples collected indicated nature of rock that would have to be cut through. | planned intermediate sumps and Combination of two pumps to purnp out water from the dipping heading. A 15 HP ‘pump would follow the advancing face pumping water info the intermittent sump from where the second 40 HP pump would pump water out of the heading to surface, This was with a view to minimize shiting the main 40 HP pump with ‘advancing face. For the intermittent sump, | decided to drive a blind S-meter long, 2X4 metar heaging at an angle to tho main heading at every 60 and 120 meters progress along the ap to stay In rango of the 15 meter and 30 meter suction head limit of te 15 HP and 40 HP pumps to be deployed. | worked with Civil engineers for specications of retaining walls that would have to be but along the sides of the tunnel to stablize thom until such distance wen hard rock is encountered. Also, as it would be an open-cut tunnel fr the frst 20 meters, i was decided to go in for asbestos roofing on Wusses of inch channels Page 2064on sidewalls { prepared a detal plan to suppor freshly exposed roof in consultation with the Mie Manager taking ito consideration the 18” thick band of biack shale within 25 of exposed rack in the roof which was then sent for approval by the Director Goneral of Mines Safety. > An Overman would supervise each working shift and would be assisted by ‘8 Miring Sirdar at all mes through out the shi. > The junction at hard rock and sot eol would be supported by 6” X 12" iors at 1 moter intarval with 4” box channels wedded between the coot land main suppor girders. These bax channels would be tightoned against the roof by wedges made out of treated timber. > Freshly exposed root would be tested by the Mining Sirdar for every meter progress made and the root would be supported by 4" X 2° Channels, 4.5 meters long with 5 root belts using quick setting Fosroc resin capsules. These channels would be at 2-meter intervals with a row (03 indwidual root batts in between, >» Provision for Manhole at 90-meter intervals was made per specications id down by the Director General of Mines Safety for them. ‘8 forcing fan with an exhaust overlap would provide ventilation at the face. Flexible ducting would be used to vantlate the face and kept extended to within 3 meters ofthe advancing face, | adopted a 3 shiftworking pattern with regular machine maintenance and conveyor maintenance/advance in the day shit. Any major support work would also be taken up in the day shift. | planned for an average 20-meter advance per week keeping In view the hard rock that we would have to tunnel through and supporting the expased root | proposed instaling @ 60 HP direct hauler on the surface to take care of the topsoil excavation and using the debris to build up the bank heas at the surface. Later on the same installation could be used for logistics to support the advancing face. | organized meetings with E&M engineers to understand their overall plan of acon and estimate manpower requirements. | then began drafting required Supernisory and technical manpower required to support the excavation work. It ‘was one month betore necessary permissions wore received trom authoriies and the excavation work commenced in October 68. It was eri) November before the initial excavation in topsoil was. completed and along with the Civil work of retaining walls. The AMSO tunnoling machine was introduced forthe first ime during the last week of November and was ready to ‘commence excavation in the fist week of December. Page 3084My role then included close monitoring of the daily progress made and Comparing it to the planned progress. | Kentiied reasons for slippages that ‘occurred intially with a view to pay extra attention on sorting them out. This resulted in the operations stabilizing and greater sustained dally progress, Tunneling operations were completed 12 weeks after the machine made i's 1* cut in fst week of December’ 88. There was a slippage of 3 weeks from the planned progress largely atibuted to machine availablity cuttng through hard ‘0k that required much more than regular maintenance, CE 1.4 Summary: | was assigned this project immediately after my confirmation from the iil year ‘on probation. This assignment to me at such an early part of my career reflected the confidence my superiors bad in me. It was a great leaming experience managing a project on my own with qualty guidance of my Manager whenever | needed I. | exercised a good engineering judgment and solved site problems ludciously. | understood the role and responsibilty of managing 2 project independently through ths project. ‘Anup Singh Katiyar Page 406 4Career Episode. Title: Managing a Joint Venture Mining Project bewoen Governments of India ‘and China (C2.1 Introduction In Apel 1995, 1 was posted at PVK 5 Incline coal production fecilily to Lead the Longwall Mining Project, a joint venture Detwaen the goveenmants of India and China. This project was valued at RS 104,90 Crores, Under the agreement, CME China would supply 2 sets of Longwall mining Ccquipment and 1 Trunk belt conveyor systom 10 Singareni Collieries Company LUmited for commissioning at PVK 5 Incine. This facity is located at Kothagudem in Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh. This career episode ‘summarizes the experience | ganed commissioning @ Longwall project, 082.2 Background For the fist joint venture fo be a success, Department of Mines, Govemment of India shor-isted PVE § Incine fom many other coal mines incicating confidence ‘hey had in us to be able to execute the project successful It was going to be a technology demonstrator as far as CME China was concarned as they would bag more orders depending on the success of this one. The management of Singareni Colleries identified me to head the project ftom amongst those available as | had demonstrated the abllty to successfully handle mechanized ‘mining in my previous assignments over the past? years. ‘Shown below isthe organization chart of BVK 5 Incine. Every Under Manager in shifts is paired with an Assistant Engineer who heads the technical team of a Foreman and Technicians, Assistant Manager (Projects) and Executive Engineer form a team in planning and execution of all project and regular activites. Page 1 ofS—— a —l 623 Personal workplace activity | began by prioritizing events that must be completed even before the arrival of ‘equipment fom China, Following is how | listed them in two broad catagories: Aciviies. Over around: > Prepare detaled layout ofthe Longwall complex that was to be used as an ina storage facility forthe equipment arriving from the por. ‘Availabilty of heavy ling equipment forthe duration of erection work, ‘The complex was going to be a service/maintenance facilty ater inital erection work and that was incorporated iio the design ofthe complex by \way of providing a warehouse for spare parts and facilties separate for flectical, mechanical and hydraulles repais Availability of an office complex forthe team to function incuding facies for the time and light rom and technicians change rooms. ‘Demarking site for erection of the Trunk bel systom and the control room. Demarking site for an electrical sub-station in consultation with E&M ‘engineer responsite. Demarking sit for a water fier bed to receive raw water, fitering it ane Storage facility for clean ftered water. Positioning adequate number of light towers to facitate after-dark work ours yyy ¥ Page 20¢5> Rofurbishing the existing bank-head and providing for a highor capacity haul to be able to safely raisetower trolleys laden witn heavy equipment > Provision fora First room Acivites Below Groune: > Arrange for relaying of track along the entire route from surface to Longwall face underground ensuring adequate clearances. Replace all crossings making them compatible to GMT's that were to be sod to transpon chock shields to Longwall 208. Initiate the selection process for officers and supervisory staff as required forthe project. Initiate selection process for regular workmen laying emphasis on theie abil to adopt change and mental acumen more than anything els. Arange for supervisory staff and workmen to be trained in the skis ‘commensurate to the role each was to perform, vyvy | would tke 10 elaborate the traning aspect. To me itis very important for a workman be properly trained as it would reflect directly on safety af all involved and productivity overall | had a peculiar situation on hand! n that | managed to draft experiences officials land technicians tothe project but ended up recruiting young and in-experienced workforce. | scheduled a 45-day training program in such a manner that it alternated between classroom and on-tne Job training every week. | got skilled officals short-isted for the project to conduct classroom sessions as well as ‘accompany them to their on-the;ob taining excursions so that they got to know ‘2ach other better. These teams would be better prepared lo perform well. > Arrange forthe extra room required for erection of gate belt conveyor and liacharge chute on Trunk belt underground. Widen the face to facilitate chock shield placement and complote support work Compete the face rise drive making room for liting station chocks and a tugger hauler > Co-ordinate with Ventilation Orfcer regarding construction of an air crossing in Main gate roadway {also the intake airway to the Longwall ace) and double doors in Tall gate roadway to isoale intake and return ‘airways. Tall gate would form the main return trom the Longwal face. > Erection of endless rope haulers in Main and Tail Gate rosaways, Prepare a suppor plan for both the Main and Tail gates ahead of the ‘otroating faco and’ submit it to Mine Manager for onvard approval by Director General of Mines Safety > Prepare a schedule in consultation wih E&M engineers fr the pipeline laying work from Surtace fiter bed to the Longwall face underground, Power cable laying work from sub-staion underground to the gate belt Page 3 of‘conveyor and fave, ensuring adequate manpower exclusively as per Trunk ‘and Gate balt erection schedule. > Propare a schedule in consultation with E&M engineers for assembling the ‘Shearer underground at the Longwall face. > ‘Schedule a sequence for equipment transfer and erection with a start and fend dats, End date of erection would coincide withthe date when shearing ‘operations would commence atthe face, Equipment ftom CME China statod ariving in May 1995 and continued though to September 1996, Permission to use this equipment- underground for production purposes was accorded by the Director General of Mines Safety - India in July 1995. Entire erection operation was compressed into 45 ‘working days that included Trunk belt erection, which was a one-time activity. ‘The erection activity commenced in July 1995 with the transport of gate belt retum crum, stage loader assembly, lump breaker end Tall Gate 1. and 2 ‘chooks that formed the liting station chocks. Then went in the Main Gato 1 land 2 chocks, Armored Flexible Conveyor Main gate drive and ramp assembly followed by line chocks. Tall Gate t and 2 chocks would be marched irto place after last of the line chacks went in. For a face length of 180 motors, thore wore 120 line chock shields and 2 Main and Tal Gato ‘chock shields each. The switch train In Main Gate along with Power Pack ‘Went in just prior to commencement of Gate Bett erection, | would tke to make a special mention of the enormous task of erecting the ‘steel chord trunk belt which was a 3 X 1500 KW and 2090 meters in length. [At the time of erection, this was the longest trunk bet installed in India in any underground mine. ‘The entire erection work was completed per schedule and commercial production started in Sept. 1905. Ths installation holds the record for ‘maximum coal produced by any Longwall mine in incta that is 11318 tons. (C24 Summary: ‘This was the frst Longwall project | had handled independently starting righ rom ‘ground preparation work to commercial activity. | am surprised at the ease with which every activity commenced and completed with clockwork precision on ‘schecule. This went on to prove the result af good planning and team work. It always feels good to lead a toam that’s focused on the task on hand and is Page 408 S‘aware of what itis doing at all tes. The experience | gained from this project is something that | wil b proud to remember. ‘Anup Singh Katyar Page Sof 5Career Epizode.3; Title: Revamping the Marketing Department and Pricing. (CES.1 introduction In December 1995, | joined the Marketing Department located at our headquarters in Hycerabad, which isthe capital of Andhra Pradesh. | was going to be the single point contact to any customer for all activiies related t0 ‘marketing and saies including customor complains, This careor episode indicates my adaptability to aro that | was totally unfamiliar vith and without any prior experience (083.2 Background Marketing in Singateni Colleries could certainly do with & lot of improvements “That was my impression the day | entered office and took charge. The Campany ‘as unable to sell Coal, which was reflected by the fact that there were 3 Millon tons of ground stocks lying unsold. | was responsible to improve marketing of ‘coal and wipe out all ground stocks existing. | was fo understand the market and ‘ormulate policies with a view to improve coal dispatches. Shown below is the org structure of Marketing department when | was posted to ‘work in Doc 1998. Page 10f 5Chief Marketing and Movement Dy. Chet Marketing ona ‘ovement T 63.3 Personal workplace activity ‘My task was clearly cut out and simple as put forward by Chiet (Marketing and Movement), the person whom | reported directly, “Sel all that is produced and Clear ground stocks as fast as possile”. In nia, all coal consuming industy is dvided into 2 sectors, the Core and Non- ‘ore sector. Core sector industries such as powerhouses, stool plants, coment ‘and fertiizer industies account for approximately 92% of coal produced with ‘oncore sector industries such as Paper, Textles, Ceramics, Refractory, Chemical, Bricks, Tobacco, Drugs & Pharmaceuticals, etc. accounting for the romain 8% of coal produced. My aim was to analyze issues that prevented our largest consumers ~ industries in core sector, increasing off-take from us and follow them up with measures 10 ‘address those issues. The best way to undersiand requirements of core-sector Page 208Industies was to pay them a vist and tak to them. Following were the issues that were causing a ear burn to these industries: > They never got the grade of coal they paid for. They would be issued coal permits for a certain grade of coal but what they recoived would not Conform to the grade they paid for. It would almost always be of lower grade. > These industries were bulk buyers and coal would be transported by rairoad wagons. Industries complained of under weighed wagons resuting in loss of quanti. The general outcome of my discussions was that assure the indusby of grade ‘and quantity and they were good to increase the present oft take. | would have fo find a way fo adress these issues and atthe same time ensure an increased coal ofFtake by them. Any new measures thal | would have fo think to address these issues wil certainly support the fact that responsibilty of Singareni Colteries Company Ltd, ceases the moment material leaves premises of SCCL, Government of India would declare a grade of coal at the start ofa financial year and that will bo applicable trough out the year unt the next revision. To me, this was too generalized as | was ofthe opinion that coal isnot a commodly that Is produced in the shop floor to guarantee qualiyigrade. it is a naturaly occuring mineral that is mined and there is every possibly ofthe grad/quality changing with time. The qualiy/grade could go up ar slip down. To address the issue of slippage in grades, | thought up the concept of joint sampling. Core sector consumars will have the option of entering into a joint sampling agreement where by he could either himself or nominate a 3” party on Fis behalf, sample coal loaded! in wagons ready for dispatch to them. SCCL ‘would also collect coal from these wagons for sampling purposes. If there were {an agroement on the outcome of results, consumer would pay for the grade artived at during joint sampling, in case of a dispute, the issue would be refered {oa referee whose decision would be final and binding on all involved, The cast, of joint samping would be bore by respective partes Involved. This would be a \winsin situation fo anyone who opted for this facil. Railways transport almost 58.5% of all cal produced in India. This does not Includes coal transported by National Thermal Power Corporations using their (own ‘meny go round’ raltoads. Railroad rakes are formed with citferent grades of Coal meant for speciic customers. But the way Railways looked at itis only in ‘numbers ~ number of rakes loaded and to be transported to customers. To aways, grade was immaterial. I was the number of boxes tO be delivered 10 respective customers. On contacting thom, they confirmed this was the way they worked. It was not passiblo for them to transport rakes formed for specific ‘customers to them respectively. They could only assure delivery of number of boxes to customers. This attitude of theirs was @ disaster. They had to Page 3065understand the importance of grades ordered and loaded for specific customers and not just numbers. Another issue that was to be addressed by the ralivays was the number of stops between dispatch point and destination. Especially at stations that have a large population staying besides ralroad parking bays. | reasones there was no need for any stop unless it was for a crew change oF food. Ifa stop was needed for feed, then that could be arranged at isolated Stations as the crew always carried their own food and water would cenainly be available no matter how remote the station was. My suggestion was to run the ‘coal aden rairoad rakes continously minimizing piferages. There was nothing wrong with weighbridges at loading points as they were caliated by a ‘government agency regularly. So now we had! two issues that needed 10 be discussed with authorities at Railways but betore that | also needed to tak to customers ofthe measures that | hhad io mind regaraing joint sampling. | also needed to work with core sector ‘ustomers gotting them fo commit on quantty every quarter. | got a go-ahead from Chief (Marketing and Movement) and it was decided that we enter into Agreements with core-sector customers regarding counter ‘Quarantes on quantity in exchange for joint sampling agreement, Counter {Quarantee is a commitment fram customers on minimum quantiy of coal that ‘hey will purchase from Singareni Coliries Company Limited in a given quarter. In adeltion tothe quantity they will alsa nave fo give a schedule for the month in ‘advance for logis to be arranges accordingly. ‘This led to the creation of Fuel Supply Agreement that was offered to all core ‘sector customers via a customers meet. I was an instant hit as expected, a win ‘win situation to all wh opted fort | then went about replacing the manual way of creating coal permits which besides being tecious and time consuming was also open to corrupt practices. | {got the in-house EDP department to set up a seles system for us, This reduced manpower and led to faster processing of coal permits. As against 1 full day that was. previously required to issue a coal permit to a customer, | was able to reduce the eycie ime to within 30 minutes. During the financial year 1989 ~ 2000, Singareni Collries Company Limited ‘made a profit of R&.200 Crores for the fret time in ts TO0-yeer history. And we hhad also wiped out all he ground stocks. (03.4 Summary: Page 4065My assignment in Marketing and Sales was a great learning experience. | wasn't trained or exposed to marketing and sales but then I was able to understand the market, identity wnat was wrong and how to fx | guess this completed the cycle of experience for me in that | was now a complete enginesr with quality ‘exposure to production, project management and marketing & Sales actives. ‘Anup Singh Katiyar Page Sof S