Kayapalat - to a Resurgent

Sinter Plant

During H1 of the year 2013-14, Sinter Plant was not able to meet its production target for which
Bara Steel Plant had to purchase Sinter from outside the premises. Because of this, profitability of
Bara Steel Plant got hampered and the only reason for this reduced profitability was Sinter Plant.
Sinter Plant became the only bottleneck in the steel making process of Bara Steel Plant because
all other shops/departments involved in direct production of steel met their respective targets
successfully. The utilization of Sinter machines was only 76.8% of available hours. If we dive deep
into the matter, then we can say that had Sinter not been purchased from outside, Bara Steel Plant
would have been able to achieve only 3/4th of its production target for steel. The impact of the
problem was so severe that we might not have been able to claim ourselves as the largest producer
of steel in India, which is the pride of our parent firm, had it not been dealt immediately.
It was recommended that Sinter Plant needed to reduce delay so as to achieve the production
target successfully. Apart from this, there were also other three solutions which could have been
implemented, but reducing delay was less capital intensive as well as less time consuming for which
it became the best option as per our research and study. In other words, this was the optimized
solution which consumed fewer resources as compared other solutions and gave maximum benefits
to Sinter Plant, which in turn helped Bara Steel Plant to meet its production target without
procuring Sinter from outside. It increased utilization of Sinter machines from 76.8% to 97.6%
i.e., a 27% increase in utilization of machines, and further stretching this to 100% wouldn’t be
cost effective for which this was the highest utilization factor which we could achieve.

S intering is the process of

agglomeration of fine iron ore
particles into a porous and lumpy mass
by incipient fusion. In Indian scenario,
sintering is most common process
of utilising iron ore fines as Blast
Furnace feed economically. Bara Steel
Plant (BaSP) is equipped with 3 sinter
strands (designed and commissioned
by erstwhile USSR during 1970’s). It
had been observed that Sinter plant
was not meeting its production targets
on a regular basis for a few months.
And during these periods, each and
every other shop/ department of Bara
Steel Plant was meeting its respective
production target set by its top
management. Hence, it was clear that
Sinter Plant had become a bottleneck
in steel making process. It needed to be
dealt as soon as possible so as to meet
the demands of customers of Bara Steel

20
Plant. And this was the reason which
prompted for the investigation in Sinter
Plant. To investigate into the matter, a
problem statement had been defined
which was as follows.
After coming to a definite problem
statement, first point was to collect past
data to start analysis. After the collection
of data, second thing was to find weak
links with the help of analysis tools
from the past data. Third thing was to
do brainstorming with both blue collar
workforce (non-executives) as well as
executives separately so as to decide
which weak links could be attacked to
get maximum output with minimum
cost. And at last, the final thing was to
build pragmatic solutions to mitigate
the weak links optimally. These were
the four steps which had been taken
to strategize as well as implement the
solution.
The scope of this report was limited to
reduce delay only. The reason for this
is the fact that the need at that point of
time was to get a quick solution which
should be robust and cost effective.
And other ways of improvement were
increase in efficiency and productivity
of machines as well as to improve the
capacity of machines so as to assist
Sinter Plant in achieving its production
target. But these needed ample amount
of resource in terms of manpower and
capital along with significant amount
of time for which these things had been
rejected for further consideration. Hence
the scope was limited to reduce delay.
21
There is hardly any improvement
possible further in the weak link which
had been found and mitigated as per
this report because it already improved
the utilization parameter from 76.8%
to 97.6%. Further stretching this to
100% may not have much impact on
production. In other ways, it would
not be cost effective to stretch further
to achieve 100%. i.e., the limitation of
this report was utilization parameter
couldn’t be stretched more than 97.6%.
The reason for this limitation was the
fact that it would increase significant
amount of cost which in turn might
reduce the profitability.
Before starting the investigation,
historical evidence had been tried to
find out, whether any such instance had
occurred in the past, and if occurred,
had there any type of action been
taken to solve such problem or not.
There were two such things for which
no such historical evidence had been
found. First thing was that in case, even
if any group had taken the initiative
to solve the problem, the group had
not documented the findings and
solutions for which there was no such
report available in this matter. Second
thing was the fact that as there were a
few instances when multiple shops /
departments could not achieve their
respective production targets, for
which this problem in Sinter Plant had
been camouflaged and hence, nobody
thought that this problem needed so
much attention. It came to limelight
because of two reasons. One of the
reasons was Bara Steel Plant had to
purchase Sinter from outside especially
to meet the production target. Another
reason was this time, only Sinter Plant
couldn’t meet its production target
whereas all other shops/departments
involved in direct production of steel
were able to meet their production
targets, for which it grabbed the
attention of management. All data
had been collected from log books of
the required period, and information
regarding the ways to troubleshoot
the problems had been gathered
through brainstorming sessions with
non-executives as well as executives
in Sinter Plant. Before getting into the
body of the report let us have a look at
the flow chart as well as production
target of Sinter Plant in Bara Steel Plant
which had been shown in Annexure I
and Annexure II respectively.
The report followed a structural approach
which was explained as follows.
First of all, it explained about the crisis,
which was named as SANKAT. This
part elaborated two things. One was
how the problem caught the attention
of the management and the other
one was how the mind-set of the
workforce had been changed by the top
management to assist in overcoming
the problem. Then the second part
was named as ANUSANDHAN i.e.,
the inquisition stage, where bottom-
up approach had been followed to get
the root cause analysis. After that, the
third part was named as LAKSHYA,
where a vision statement had been
22
made so as to not to get carried away
in the mid-way while solving the
problem. The vision statement should
not only be understood by each and
every employee, but also build the
confidence among each of them to turn
the statement into reality for which
after LAKSHYA, there came the fourth
part i.e., SAKSHAM which explained
about how the above things had been
planned to achieve. Then, after building
confidence among the workforce, the
stage of KARMA came, which revealed
the process to achieve success and
threw some light on how 4R strategy
had been implemented in Sinter Plant
to make a vision statement into reality.
Then, it showed the results of all the
above efforts and at last it provided the
conclusion precisely.
SANKAT: Defining the crisis
• During H1 of 2013-14, 97.6%
fulfilment of monthly production
target could have been achieved.
But Sinter machines were running
only for 51.25 hours/day (There
were 3 Sinter machines running in
Bara Steel Plant for which ideally
the machines could run for 24
X 3=72 hours/day), resulting in
76.8% utilisation of available hours.
Reliability of age old equipment had
become poor, and breakdowns were
common in the shop floor. Figure.1
showed the fulfilment of for H1
of the year 2013-14 production
target and Fig.2 showed the daily
running hours of all the three Sinter
machines combined together for H1
 of the year 2013-14. of H1 of 2013-14 had been depicted
• Frequent strand stoppages took toll in Figure 4.
15.00 12.7 13
11.6
110.0 106.2

-5 mm in sinter, %
104.3 10.4
103.1 9.17 9.44
Target fulfilment, %

10.00
100.0
93.5 5.00
89.1 89.4
90.0
0.00
1 2 3 4 5 6
80.0
1 2 3 4 5 6 Months
Months
Fig. 3: -5 mm Sinter, H1, 2013-14
Fig. 1: Fulfilment of Production Target, H1,
2013-14 35689

External Sinter. Tons

40000

30000 27309 25465

19947 19174 19456
60.00
Daily running hours

55.20 20000
55.00 52.23
51.00 51.60 10000
48.60
50.00
46.44 0
45.00 1 2 3 4 5 6

40.00 Months

1 2 3 4 5 6 Fig. 4: External Sinter, H1, 2013-14

Months
• It was not only the visible under
Fig. 2: Daily Sinter Machines’ Running
Hours, H1, 2013-14 performance of Sinter Plant, but
also lack of any visible solution to
on sinter quality; -5 mm in sinter break the vicious circle which made
were hovering at 11.05%, which was employees low on confidence.
being shown in Figure 3. “Sinter Plant to Nahi Sudhrega”,
• It was necessitated to arrange “Naya Plant na ane se iska kuch nahi
external Sinter for feeding Blast hoga” was the statement made by
Furnaces. In H1 2013-14, external most of the workforce during those
sinter of average 24500 tons/month bleak days which meant that Sinter
was consumed, which acted against plant won’t change for betterment,
the profitability and integration of nothing could be done until new
BaSP. The amount of external Sinter plant comes in. Lack of hope was
consumed in each of the 6 months more dangerous than challenging

1
In a year, ideally there should be 365 X 24 X 3 = 26280 hrs. available for running all the three machines.
But on an average 27 days had been taken for capital repair and other repairs for each machine in a Year.
So practically, time available for running for all three machines = (365-27) X 24 X 3 = 24336 hrs. / year
But all three Sinter machines are running for 51.25 hrs. / day on an average.
Hence total running time for all three Sinter machines = 51.25 X 365 = 18706.25 hrs. / year
i.e., utilization of machines = (18706.25 / 24336) X 100 = 76.8% of available time

23
 reality, and all symptoms of chronic
distress were evident in Sinter Plant
collectively.
• But it was the new GM (General
Manager), appointed from customer
department who saw the mounting
challenges as golden opportunities.
First and foremost action he took was
to instil confidence, “Jo nahi ho sakta
hai, WOHI TO KARNA HAI” i.e., the
thing which can’t be done, is what
we have to do. He was the person
who tried to change the mind-set
of the workforce of Sinter Plant in
order to build confidence among
them so as to get the production
back on track.
ANUSANDHAN: Inquisition stage
To delve deep into the problem, and
prepare pragmatic solution, first of all,
rigorous brainstorming sessions had
been done separately with executives as
well as non-executives to gather ideas
to improve the utilization of Sinter
machines so as to meet the production
target of Sinter Plant. After several
brainstorming sessions, it had been
found out that there were mainly four
areas which could lead to improvement
in utilization of Sinter machines, if
dealt carefully. These four areas of
improvement were:-
A. Increase the productivity of machines
B. Increase the efficiency of machines
(Reduce rejection of Sinter)
C. Capacity improvement of machines
D. Reduce delays
24
While considering all the above
solutions, it was evident that if these
solutions would be implemented, then
the mind-set of the workforce couldn’t
be changed. And it was very important
to change the mind-set of the workforce
by looking at the long term perspective
of the plant. So, it was like a challenge
which had to be converted into an
opportunity to kill two birds with one
stone. i.e., one solution would be found
out which could help Sinter Plant to
achieve its production target as well as
change the mind-set of workers (The
mind-set of workers was “Sinter Plant
to nahi sudhrega”, “Naya Plant na ane se
iskaa kuch nahi hoga”). This perspective
had been put up in front of the top
management of Sinter Plant, after
which it was decided that an alternative
had to be found out to solve this matter.
This time, rigorous brainstorming
sessions had been conducted, and after
a few days of hard work, a solution
came, which was to reduce delay. The
executives were ecstatic about this
solution, but there were also some
risks involved with this solution. The
risk was in case the solution failed to
achieve the desired outcome, then the
workforce of Sinter Plant would think
that they were always right i.e., “Sinter
Plant to nahi sudhrega”, “Naya Plant na ane
se iskaa kuch nahi hoga”. And in future it
would be very difficult to change this
mind-set, if the management would fail
by opting for the fourth option i.e., to
reduce delay. Again, the pros and cons
of this solution had been put up in
front of the top management of Sinter
 Table 1: Comparisons of available options thought of during brainstorming

Requirement Productivity Efficiency Capacity Delay

Capital High High High Low / Moderate
Manpower High High High High
Time More More More Moderate / More
Production Hamper Yes Yes Yes No
Change of Mind-set No No No Yes

Plant, after which the top management

51.25hrs. of
decided to opt for the fourth option daily running

as it was a situation like it’s now or

76.8% utilization of
never. And the management was fully available hours
97.6% External
committed to first craft a strategy which fulfilment of
production
Sinter in
BaSP Blast
target Furnaces
would be robust so that there wouldn’t
Low Yield
be any chance of failure. Hence, work
started on fourth option. 11.05% of -5mm
Sinter
To get a view of all the options, a small
Frequent Machine
comparison had been made which was Stop
shown in Table 1.
Fig. 5: Root cause analysis of non
Essentially the first step was to break fulfillment of monthly production target
the complex topic of Sinter Plant delay
into smaller parts to gain a better which were being put in Annexure III
understanding of it, through data and Annexure IV. The 5Ws are:
collection and analysis. Number of • Who filled out the check sheet?
interdependent causes acted behind (Operator, fitter, welder, shift I/c,
the poor performance and any delay
section I/c etc.)
in small parts ultimately led to overall
plant stoppage; hence root-cause • What was collected? (Start / stop
analysis was carried out. Figure 5 shows time for delay, reasons for delay)
the diagram. • Where did the collection take place?
(machine, room, section)
Data Collection
• When did the collection take place?
Data from every available source were
(hour, shift, day of the week)
collected, recorded and organized. Both
Quantitative as well as Qualitative data • Why did the data are collected?
were collected through customized (characterize and analyze sinter
check sheetanswering the Five Ws, machine delays)

25
 Next level, inch arges of functional
37.83
areas e.g. Production, Mechanical, 40.00

Delay hours
30.25
and Electrical were required to fill 30.00
22.33
19.66 19.91
check sheet so as to enable 20.00
12.17
• To check the shape of the probability 10.00
distribution of a process 0.00

• To quantify defects by type 1 2 3 4 5 6

Months
• To quantify defects by location
• To quantify defects by cause Fig. 8 : Production Delay, H1, 2013-14
(machine, worker)
• To keep track of the completion of 200.00 179.58
steps in a multistep procedure (in
Delay hours 15.00 123.08 127.16
other words, as an SOP/SMP) 109.67
116.08

100.00 86.16
The occurring of delay due to each of
the factors had been shown below. 50.00

0.00
1 2 3 4 5 6
37.91
40.00 Months
31.66
29.08
30.00 Fig. 9 : Delay due to customer side, H1, 2013-14
Delay hours

23.08 21.08
18.66
20.00
120.00 107.09
10.00
100.00 84.16 76.08
Delay hours

0.00 80.00
1 2 3 4 5 6 60.00
39.16
Months 40.00
17.66
20.00 6.99
Fig. 6 : Electrical Delay, H1, 2013-14 0.00
1 2 3 4 5 6

Months
119.41 114.66
120.00
98.33 Fig. 10 : Delay due to supplier side, H1, 2013-14
100.00
Delay hours

74.66 81.66
80.00
55.91 Data analysis
60.00
40.00 Analysing data involved examining it
20.00 in ways that reveal the relationships,
0.00
1 2 3 4 5 6 patterns, trends, etc. that could be found
Months within it. By subjecting it to statistical
operations to find out what kinds of
Fig. 7 : Mechanical Delay, H1, 2013-14 relationships seemed to exist among

26
variables and to what level outcomes 500.00 100%
could be trusted. The basic objective
400.00
80%
was to get an accurate assessment in

Delay hrs.
300.00
order to better understand trends and 60%

200.00
its effects on Sinter Plant performance. 40%

100.00
The delay data so collected were first 20%
0.00
analyzed in graphical representation,
and Histograms were used to plot the Agency
density of data, and often for density
estimation: estimating the probability
Fig. 12 : Pareto analysis of Delays, June 2013
density function of the underlying
variable. BF (Blast Furnace) belt relationships underlying a particular
stoppage during July’13 is attached as problem. Application of the technique
Figure 11, showing the trend of small to determine high occurrence of
value but high frequency. mechanical and electrical delay is
presented in Figure. That encouraged
60 the troubleshooter to avoid assumptions
Frquency of stop

50
and logic traps and instead trace the
40
chain of causality in direct increments
30
from the effect through any layers of
20

10
abstraction to the root cause. The fifth
0
why suggested a broken process, which
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 was indicative of reaching the root-
Days cause level.
Fig. 11 : Histogram of daily machine delay The 5 Why technique had been depicted
due to BF belt stop, July 2013 below.
Problem : Mechanical & Electrical
Data from check sheets, plotted against
stoppages are very high
a Pareto chart, containing both bars and
a line graph. The chart highlighted the 1. Why? Frequent breakdowns,
most important among a (typically large) Machine reliability poor
set of delay reasons. Hence, the most 3. Why? Depleting manpower,
common sources of delays, the highest preventive maintenance limited
occurring type shown in Figure 12, or 2. Why? No condition based
the most frequent reasons for customer maintenance of equipment
complaints could be identified. 4. Why? Inspection schedule not
Besides the quantitative analysis, 5 properly maintained
why’s technique was also applied 5. Why? Poor house-keeping makes
to explore the cause-and-effect inspection impossible

27
LAKSHYA: Formulating vision
statement
After analysis of the delay situation, it
was evident that production target could
not be met with such high occurrence
of delays. So, it was clear that if delay
could be reduced then production
target could have been met in future.
And, if delay could be minimized each
and every time, then production target
would not have been missed even for
a single time due to delay. Hence, to
maintain the process for long term, it
was needed to make a vision statement,
so that even after getting success for a
few occasions in reducing delay to the
optimum level, people wouldn’t forget
to maintain or get carried away by
other responsibilities. Hence, a vision,
quite simply was being made and
Fig. 13 : Loss in productivity due to unplanned delays
28
communicated. The vision statement is
as follows.
Zero Delays
Zero Abnormalities
Perfect Quantity and Quality
SAKSHYAM: Capacity building
stage
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up
the men to gather wood, divide the work and
give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for
the vast and endless sea.”
– Antoine de Saint-Exupery
In fulfilling the targets and realizing
the vision, first step was taken towards
capacity building. Building capacity,
that it could not only turnaround Sinter
Plant by then, but also during lasting
future too.
 Communication Brain storming
Communication initiatives had been Acting hands on the equipment,
taken to focus Sinter Plant team to employees could be the best judge of
achieve the overall objectives of their problems. Brainstorming sessions
department and organization as a were organized. Concerned people
whole. Objectives were broken down including executives and workforce
to identifiable targets in the audience were called, the situation/challenge
groups’ sphere of influence. Variety put forth and questions e.g. “HOW
of communications modes e.g., CAN WE?” were asked. Letting the
Public display boards in each section, possibilities come forward, discussed
presentation by sectional incharges about pros & cons, effective solutions
and closed group interaction were could be implemented on reality.
implemented, to hard hit all people
down the line.
In addition, top management of BaSP
e.g., CEO (Chief Executive Officer) and Excellence
ED (W) (Executive Director (Works)) Idealistic, Functionality,
Philosophy Space/Time/Interface,
started to visit the shop periodically, Complete problem solving
interacted directly with employees and Method process
Trend Analysis, Best Practice,
their concerns. Tool SOP, SMP, Knowledge Sharing

• Communicatingcrossingthebarrier:
Fig. 15 : Brainstorming to find out the
Informal communications at job possible solution of problems
loca tions, to share concerns
• Cross border communication: Morale boosting
Customers, suppliers and services Chronic under-performance mostly
units of BaSP were invited to attend eroded confidence of employees and
formal communication meetings attitude of no hope was evident. So the
and participate can–do approach was first traded to all
of Sinter Plant. Through each and every
14393
14194
interaction,pessimism of the future,
14194 confidence on employees, trust and
12419
12300 mutual belief were traded.
12000 12000
“No matter how bad things got, no matter
how anxious the staff become, the commander
Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar
has to preserve optimism in himself and his
men”
2013 - 14
– Gen. D.E. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander,
Allied Expeditionary Force, WW II
Fig. 14 : Daily Sinter production target (in Tons)

29
Instilling Confidence upon i.e.
front line managers by assigning
greater responsibility created
exceptional positive spirit. One-to-
one communication with senior
management level and problem facing
head-on inspired all to Win.
KARMA: Application stage
To attain the goal, emphasis was
given to Preventive Maintenance i.e.
to treat causes of breakdowns before
they actually happen. In realizing the
goal, 4R strategy i.e. Retrenchment,
Repositioning, Reorganisation and
Renewal were applied.
Retrenchment
The Retrenchment strategy included
wide-ranging short-term actions, aimed
to stabilize the delays and to work
against the root causes.
Improve upon House keeping
House-keeping was outsourced section-
wise, with specific mention to the quantity
in the payment terms. On contract to the
earlier practice of private supervision,
monitoring by Sinter Plant employees
was introduced. Cleaning being a hands-
on activity, people supervising during
cleaning the machines had the best
chance of detecting any failure. As they
touched and looked at the machine,
loose bolts shouted to them. Part of the
cleaning process was looking for ways
to make cleaning easier or maintenance
avoidable. In some cases, the source of
dirt could be isolated to reduce the need
for cleaning.
30
Cleaning Program Checklist
1. Cleaning main body of machine,
checking and tightening bolts
2. Cleaning ancillary equipment,
checking and tightening bolts
3. Cleaning lubrication areas before
performing lubrication
4. Cleaning around equipment
5. Treating the causes of dirt, dust,
leaks, and contamination
6. Improving access to hard-to-reach
areas
7. Developing cleaning standards
“This hand-on approach also increased
the person’s respect for the machine. This
process of cleaning, seeing, touching, and
respecting the machine was essential to
increase reliability”
– GM, Sinter Plant
Besides, keeping overall cleanliness
of area was another priority, scrap
removal and peripheral cleaning was
carried out in massive scale. This could
be ensured by systematic elimination
of sources of dirt and clutter such
as misplaced trash containers, lack
of proper storage, broken tools, bad
ventilation, inadequate lighting etc.;
which ultimately helped in spreading
positive mood and morale among
workforce.
Vigorous inspection
All three key aspects of an inspection
i.e. inspector competence, reliability of
inspection and quality of information
used and created by the inspector
were carefully enhanced. Inspector
competence in terms of skill, knowledge
and ability to assess risk; to recognize a
defect, while categorizing and reporting
defects reliably and quickly were
ensured. Inspectors visually inspected
the item and, where relevant listened to
it, felt it and possibly smelt it. Inspection
data were recorded and made accurate
comparisons from one inspection to
the next, thereby allowing defects to
be monitored and either repaired, or
replaced in an organized manner.
Besides, 3-tier inspection, by operator,
supervisor and sectional incharges were
introduced, which could seal any possible
leakages in single layer of inspection.
Autonomous maintenance practice
Reliability based maintenance system
utilizing proactive, predictive, and
preventative maintenance practices
focusing on the entire equipment life
cycle was established. Implemented
team-based (including all departments
e.g. operation, mechanical, electrical,
and instrumentation) activities aimed
at the organization-wide goal of zero
defects and zero breakdowns. A work
order system and equipment data base
maintained, to monitor and support
continuous equipment improvement.
Also it was ensured that maintenance to
treat root cause and not the symptom,
so that maintenance personnel could be
moved from the “fire-fighting” mode to
the prevention mode. Daily 2-3 hours
planned shutdown and immediate
liquidation of defects identified
(Schedule for monitoring is attached in
(Annexure V) was introduced.

Reacting Responding Prevention

Detecting Continous Continuous Rectification of
Detecting
Equipment Improvement improvement Reasons
Reasons for

Noise Vibration Deformation Loose Align

Heating Tightening
Lack of
Wear & Tear
lubrication Greasing
Misalignment
Cleaning
Jam Corrosion
Equipment leading Equipment Not Keep
to Filure 100% Equipment
T 100%

FIX IT FIX IT MAINTAIN IT

Fig. 16 : Autonomous maintenance parctic

31
 Step Process name
1 Clean & inspect
2 Eliminate problem sources and
inaccessible areas
3 Draw up cleaning and greasing
standards
4 Conduct general inspection
5 Conduct autonomous inspection
6 Standardise through visual
workplace management
7 Implementing autonomous
equipment management
Repositioning
Repositioning is the strategy, to move
people for improved effectiveness and
incorporation of various managerial
and operational changes.
Job defining and placing people
accordingly
Job definition is the list that an employee
had to do with a position. The skills
required and expectations in terms
of quantified outcomes were clearly
spelled out. Accordingly, employees
were relocated as per requirement.
Some key position demanded people to
develop future plan and projections of
needs. Efficient utilization of available
resources could improve collective
performances.
Activities
CGT (Cleaning, greasing, Tightening)
Correction of dirt sources, preventing spillage,
improving accessibility and shorten time
Standards and schedule for CGT well
documented and reviewed periodically
Skill training and enhancing capabilities
Standard check sheets and standards for
inspection prepared and followed
Standardise all work process:
• Work area material flow
• Data recording methods
• Spare management
Improvement in everyday practices, maintain
reliable MTBF (mean time before failures) data,
analysis and using it for further improvement
Place Time
Mind
Fig. 17 : Right People, Right Job, Right Time
Gap analysis and revival strategy
Analysing the Gap i.e. comparison
of actual performance with potential
performance pointed areas where best
use of available resources was missing.
It involved determining, documenting,
and approving the difference between
requirements and current capabilities.
32
 Identify core Internal External data Analysis Change
issues baseline data collection Implementation

Issues Process Benchmark Compare and Implementation

overview questionnaire contrast plan
• Customer
demand Current benchmark
• Performance measures
data
gap Other
• Problem areas departments

• Defined • Process flow • Other SAIL • Gap • Plan to close

benchmark mapping units • Process gap
area • Validate • Process reengineering • Actions
• Overview of • Target sister analysis, opportunities • Recalibrate
key process departments performance • New benchmarks
• Selected • Short term assessment o Flows • Additional
performance operational and measures o Policies analysis
measures improvements o Procedures
• Implementation
plan

Fig. 18 : comparison of actual performance with potential performance

Gap analysis also used to compare Technical interventions for recurring

existing processes to processes
performed elsewhere, such as those
obtained by benchmarking. In this
usage, each process was compared side-
by-side and step-by-step and actions
planned for differences (Annexure VI).
Step Description
1 Existing process identified
2 Existing outcome identified
3 Desired outcome identified
4 Process to achieve desired
outcome identified
5 Identify the Gap and document it
6 Develop means to fill the Gap
7 Develop and prioritize
requirements to bridge the Gap
problems
For system reliability study and
failure analysis, first Failure Mode
and Effects Analysis (FMEA) was
applied. It involved reviewing as
many components, assemblies, and
subsystems as possible to identify failure
modes, and their causes and effects. For
each component, the failure modes and
their resulting effects on the rest of the
system were recorded in specific FMEA
worksheet (Annexure VII). It helped to
identify potential failure modes based
on experience with similar products
and processes - or based on common
physics of failure logic. And through
this analysis, frequent failure of hot

33
screen could be identified. Accordingly,
technical interventions e.g.
• Heat shield modification
• Additional grease station for vibrator
• Changing grease quality to
withstand heatwere implemented
as per in-house design
“This power of thinking out and executing
is initiative, and freedom to propose and to
execute belongs too in a way, to initiative.
The collective initiative of all employees
represents a great source of strength of
businesses. Henri”
– Henri Fayol
Applying JIT in Spare Management
Applying Just-In-Time (JIT) in spare
management i.e.,‘the exact item needed,
when it is needed, and in the quantity
needed’. Weekly projection of spare
demand and managing supply chain to
ensure required items to be available on
site close to when they were needed and
not held in inventory for a lengthy time.
Extensive planning and scheduling
requiring highly responsive production
and supply systems were introduced.
Reorganization
The reorganization strategy introduced
some managerial changes in Sinter
Plant as:
Each section as value creation point
Here goal of each section clearly stated
so that every employee, working in any
section could relate to it. For example,
stock bin sections were given targets
34
Value Value Creation
Proposition How will you work
What will your with your customers
servic do? and supplier to
creat and deliver the
service?
Value Capture
How will you ensure that you
benefit from creating the
service?
Fig. 19 : Development of value creation point
of uninterrupted supply in required
quantity, flux and fuel crushing section
was given target to maintain crushing
index respectively at 80 & 85%. Each
section was defined as customer and
supplier to another, and ought to deliver
value to them. It was also a goal clearly
tied to the system output, a collective
overarching goal that subsumed
functional goals and depended upon
concerted efforts of people at all levels.
It created a super-charged atmosphere
in Sinter Plant whole, with people knew
what exactly their role in quantitative
terms and wanted to fulfill them. There
was a buzz in the workplace and a number
of small initiatives in every section began
to have a cumulative effect in terms of
better coordination and performance.
Teamwork at its best
“Talent wins games, but teamwork wins
championships”
- Michael Jordan
 The Integrated Team Development Framework

Performing
Norming
Storming
Forming

Task
Individual No
Opt Out? Agree? Yes
Group
Environment

No
Yes Storming

Norming

Norming
Storming
Understanding & acceptance
of issues associated with the
basic element by team
Members.
Yes
Acceptance and understanding
of issues associted with the
Agree?
basic element by some team
members.

No
Non-Shared assumptions about
issues associated with the basic

Fig. 20 : The integrated team development framework

Conventional concept of teamwork Renewal

development i.e. Forming, Storming, Renewals, strategy pursuing long-
Norming and Performing were term actions were supposed to end in
implemented in all new cross-functional a successful managerial performance.
(Goal Congruence) paradigms. Enabling The first step was analysing the existing
factors of teamwork i.e. focusing on the structures within the organisation.
goal, placing the right people, enabling This examination lead to enhancing
to working together were all provided innovative core competencies, concluded
on one hand; on the other teams were in an increase of knowledge and a
continuously challenged with one stabilization of the organisation value.
another. Improving Cross functional
collaboration conflicted at a number of Improve upon core competencies of employees
levels both up and down the hierarchy Core competency was the specific factor
and across functions andwork groups. that was seemed central for long term
In safety aspect, daily 10 minute safety sustainable performance. Technical/
talk before job distribution (by sectional subject matter know-how, a reliable
in-charges) and weekly safety meeting process and/or close relationships with
(by General Manager himself) instilled customers and suppliers were the core
a culture of safe working. competencies targeted for improvement.

35
 Knowledge
Performance Skill up renewal
enhancement gradation

Improving core
competency
Mentoring Delegation
Resource
provision

Fig. 21 : Fish Bone diagram for improving core competency

Shown in fig. 21. For that, subjective Promoting innovative culture

delegation of authority to employees Challenging target demanded
and committing them resources were creativity, i.e. viewing existing facts
implemented. from a new perspective allowed
Nurturing young leaders individuals to come up with ingenious
Nurturing young leaders through ways to solve seemingly impossible
Encouraging, Involving & Enabling problems. Experimentation based on
front line managers paid excellent reverse logic was encouraged, which
dividends not only in enhanced ultimately lead shaping many ideas at
decision making speed, but also competitive cost. Introduction of a ‘Flap
boosted confidence in long term. gate arrangement’ in sinter transfer belt
Shift managers were empowered to was classic example of such realistic
communicate with customer & supplier innovation, which actually reduced
department and resolve issues delay due to BF belt substantially.
quickly. Similarly quick shutdown for
Development of human resources
smaller maintenance jobs was
authorized to shift level executives. “Workshop on Sintering Technology”
was organized in Sinter Plant seminar
room, and shift level employees who
Degree of Empowered Lower

Enabling lower
management to
were otherwise left out in any such
take bigger training programs were covered. Basic
Involving lower
management with
objective was to update knowledge on
 Get closer to customer
more responsibility  Get closer to Supplier sinter making and disseminate latest
Leadership

Encouraging lower  Increase service delivery

management to  Innovate continuously advancements in the same. Interactions
take more active  Enhance efficiency
and discussions on problems and their
BaSP benefit possible solutions were organised, which
Fig. 22 : Enable, Involve, Encourage lower helped in confidence building of each
leadership one.

36
Reaping the results
• Drastic reduction in internal delay i.e. due to mechanical, electrical and production
stoppages could be achieved which had been shown in figures 23, 24, and 25
respectively.

Fig. 23 : Delay due to electrical stoppages, FY 2013-14

Fig. 24 : Delay due to mechanical stoppages, FY 2013-14

Fig. 25 : Delay due to production stoppages, FY 2013-14

37
• Delay due to BF belt stoppage reduced by around 50% (shown in Figure 26

180

130

80

30

Fig. 26 : Delay due to BF belt stoppage, FY 2013-14

• Supplier side delay also reduced substantially, to near ZERO in March 2014
(Figure 27)

Fig. 27 : Delay due to supplier side, FY 2013-14

• Daily running hours could be improved up to 58.23 hours during H2, 2013-14 while
68 hours of running was realised on daily basis, which was all time record (Figure 28)

Fig. 28 : Daily average running hours, FY 2013-14

38
• 101.5% fulfilment of monthly production target could be achieved in FY 13-14
(Shown in Figure 29)

Fig. 29 : %age of Fulfilment of production target, FY 2013-14

• Requirement of external sinter in BaSP reduced to 3893 tons/moth only, thus

improving productivity and overall cost efficiency of BaSP
• Operational stability as achieved could improve sinter quality. -5 mm in sinter
reduced by 20% (Shown in Figure 30)

Fig. 30 : 5 mm Sinter, FY 2013-14

Conclusion
This case study outlined the turnaround of an age-old sinter plant, from state of acute
distress to exceptional performance. Root causes for deterioration were identified
and analysed. The vision formed and well-marketed to have ‘Zero Delays’. First steps
taken were morale boosting and building capability of workforce. Then 4R strategy
was carefully designed and implemented in Sinter Plant. As a result, more than 100%
of targets could be achieved, just within 6 months.
The Steely Glitter in Eyes of Each Employee tells about the RESURGENT SINTER PLANT

39
References
1. www.LCE.com
2. www.cimaglobal.com/insight
3. www.globalturnaround.com
4. www.globalturnaround.com
5. www.insol.org
6. www.instituteforturnaround.com/default.asp
7. www.tma-uk.org
8. http://www.amazon.com/Autonomous-Maintenance-Seven-Steps-Implementing
9. http://www.implement-lean-manufacturing.com
10. www.tpmonline.com
11. http://bokarosteel.com/
12. Piotrowski, J., April 2, 2001. “Pro-Active Maintenance for Pumps”, Archives, February 2001,
Pump-Zone.com [Report online].
13. Arunagiri. P. & Babu, Dr A.Gnanavel, “Review on Reduction of Delay in manufacturing process
using Lean six sigma (LSS) systems”, International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications,
Volume 3, Issue 2, February 2013 1 ISSN 2250-3153
14. “Root Cause Analysis For Beginners” by James J. Rooney and Lee N. Vanden Heuvel
15. Gupta Desh & Sathye Milind, “Financial Turnaround of the Indian Railways: A Case Study”,
Faculty of Business & Government , University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia

40
Teaching Notes
KAYAPALAT – to a Resurgent Sinter Plant
The case had been prepared after the implementation of a strategy to assist Sinter
plant in achieving its production target. It had been observed in H1 of the year 2013-14
that Sinter Plant was not able to meet its desired production target, but other shops /
departments which were involved directly with steel production, met their production
targets successfully for which Sinter Plant became the bottleneck in Steel making process
for Bara Steel Plant. A thorough research revealed that Sinter machines were being used
only for 76.8% of its available running hours. After getting this clue, the job was to how
to solve this problem. Various questions could be framed at this juncture which were:
1. What were the reasons for which utilization factor for machines was only 76.8%?
2. Was this the only reason for which production target had not been met or else apart
from this, there was/were other reason/s also, which was/were significant?
3. Was there any raw material issue like the raw materials procured for Sinter Plant was
having low quality during this period, for which it was like garbage in, garbage out?
4. If utilization factor for machines being 76.8% was the only reason, then what were the
causes for this problem?
Then, after having brainstorming sessions with executives as well as with non-executives,
the team found various ways to solve the issue of utilization factor to be only 76.8%.
These were:
• Increase efficiency of machines
• Increase productivity of machines
• Increase capacity of machines
Apart from these three solutions, one insight came to the team was that the mind-set of
people working in Sinter Plant i.e., “Sinter Plant to nahi sudhrega”, “Naya Plant na ane
se iskaa kuch nahi hoga”. This was the general sentiment among the workforce of Sinter
Plant. At this point various questions could come to any leader’s mind:
I. Should we solve all the three or only one or else any two among these options?
II. Should we upgrade all the three machines simultaneously and during these periods,
procure Sinter from outside temporarily?

Or else Stop the production during these periods, and start capital repair in all other shops/
departments so that all our guns will blaze after a few days even with high production
capacity to mitigate the production loss occurred during these days?
III. By following Step-II could we satisfy our customers (Were they ready to wait for that
period or else did we have enough inventories to satisfy their respective demands
on time?)?

41
IV. Should we upgrade one machine at a time so that desired production target wouldn’t
get hampered as extra Sinter could be procured from outside till all machines got
upgraded one by one?
V. Were any of the above steps actually right by looking in the long term?
VI. What about the mind-set of the workforce? If machines would be upgraded right
now, could the mind-set of workforce be changed?
VII. Was changing the mind-set of workforce important for Sinter Plant?
VIII. Which one would be better in long term? Upgrading machines or changing the
mind-set of the workforce of Sinter Plant.
After looking at the above options, the team decided that changing the mind-set of people
was more important than upgrading the machines of Sinter Plant, and it discussed this
important issue with higher authorities of Sinter Plant to find a way anyhow to solve the
issue as well as change the mind-set of the workforce. In other words, the team took this
challenge as a golden opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. After many days of
rigorous brainstorming the team found a way to solve the problem and the way was to
reduce the delay. Even at this point, the team faced many questions regarding the impact
of the solution which could be
1st. Would this solution help Sinter Plant to achieve the production target?
2nd. If this wouldn’t fulfill the target, what might happen to customer satisfaction?
3rd. Wouldn’t the credibility of Bara Steel Plant be at stake?
4th. If this solution would fail, then could the mind-set of workforce i.e., “Sinter Plant to
nahi sudhrega”, “Naya Plant na ane se iskaa kuch nahi hoga” be changed in future?
5th. Who knows if it would fail, workers would laugh at the leadership of the top
management and the grip of shop floor managers on workers would be lost. Even
because of the negative mind-set, workers would always have an excuse i.e., nothing
could be done without new machines.
The stakes were high, for which the executives planned to make sure that they would
make it happen because the situation was kind of it’s now or never. After careful
consideration, strategies had been crafted to turnaround the situation and the successful
implementation had been done with the help of 4R strategy, which helped immensely in
achieving the objective set by management of Sinter Plant.
This report tries to throw some light on how the management of a Sinter Plant overcame
from the problem of not achieving its production target. But, more importantly, it tries
to show the thought process of how the management tried change the mind-set of the
workforce by changing the way to achieve the desired objective for long term benefit of
its parent firm.

42