Management of Technology & Innovation

Quarter- V

Project Topic:
Innovation Audit of Tata Steel in Steel Industry

Prepared By-
Antesh Kumar
EPGP-13A-021

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Contents
1. Introduction 3
2. Technological Changes in Tata Steel 3
3. Recent News for Innovation at Tata Steel 4
4. Discussion on Likely Disruption due to Energy Management 5
5. Discussion on Likely Disruption due to Alternative Materials 8
6. Conclusion 8
7. References 9

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1. Introduction
Tata Steel was established in India in 1907. It was Asia’s first integrated private steel organization.
Today, Tata Steel is one of the leading steel companies across the globe. The annual crude steel
capacity across Indian operations is nearly 20 MnTPA with a turnover of INR 91,037 crore in FY21.
This includes the 3mtpa greenfield plant set-up in Jajpur district of Odisha. The plant is undergoing
expansion to 8 mtpa capacity. Apart from integrated steel plants, there are several coal, iron ore and
ferro alloy mines that help Tata Steel maintain its cost- competitiveness and production efficiencies
through an uninterrupted supply of raw material.

The Indian product portfolio caters to four market segments – Automotive and Special Products;
Industrial Products, Projects and Exports; Branded Products and Retail; and Services and Solutions.
The Company produces hot-rolled, cold-rolled, galvanised, branded products and more.

Globalization acted as fertilizer for need of innovative restructuring of steel industries which gave
birth to new technologies that led to technological leapfrogging in unexpected places which makes
the technological innovation a critical driver for the development of international competitiveness.

Innovation plays a crucial role in improving business efficiency, performance, and competitiveness
on a global scale. How innovation activities act as a source of knowledge resources that enhances
the growth and competitiveness of companies is explained by Penrose’s growth theory (1959, 1965).

Some contemporary studies argue that having natural resources appears not to be an essential
element when analysing the factors of competitiveness and power of countries in the international
arena. The knowledge acquisition and learning by organizations across national boundaries is critical
for sustained innovation and growth.

2. Technological Changes in Tata Steel

Major developments in ironmaking and steelmaking include:

1. Pneumatic steelmaking—initially Open Hearth Furnaces were replaced by the Bessemer

process, and recently the basic oxygen converters have come in
2. Hot-blast techniques permitting continuous production of liquid hot metal in the blast
furnace
3. The electric arc furnace (EAF)
4. Continuous casting
5. Continuous rolling facilities in flat and long steel products

Tata Steel has kept pace with the technology through its innovative approach. Even after adopting a
new technology, the team strives to make efficiency improvements while using the new technology.
But the future is filled with many challenges. With rapid development of infrastructure, there is a
need for steel industry to achieve:

1. Economies of scale

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 2. Make steel visually appealing
3. Cater to wide variety of demand for steel products
4. Reduce carbon emission
5. Protect its stature with respect to alternative products

Out of the above, the most pressing concern to drive technological innovation is to produce steel in
sustainable way. With growing environmental concern, customers are demanding green steel. Also,
for the survival of steel industry in the long run it is most imperative to come up with processes that
enable manufacturing of steel in a sustainable way- using less resources and reducing the carbon
footprint.

3. Recent News for Innovations at Tata Steel

1. On 11th Jan, 2022 Tata Steel was recognised as one of the top 25 most innovative Indian
Companies by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for its product, process, and
business innovation. Many innovation cases were presented to the jury to showcase the
innovation culture at the organization. The list of cases included two of the most innovative
cases- ‘First-of-its-kind’ 5 tonnes per day CO2 capture plant and ‘First-in-World’ Digital Twin
in Sinter Making

2. Tata Steel developed XPF800 & Trimawall products. XPF 800 increases vehicle’s fuel
efficiency and Trimawall offers foam insulated wall sandwich flat panel.
3. Using Grease pots for maintenance activities- ~800 grease pots have been installed in
difficult to access areas. Temperature and vibration give information about the bearing

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 condition. Based on these conditions, the grease pots automatically releases grease into the
bearings. This connected system is not yet available in the market.
4. Use of AI/ ML technology to improve Steel defect detection
5. Use of Digital Twins to enable advanced product-mix, process optimisations and enhance
predictive maintenance. Factories are fitted with sensors for improved connectivity.
6. Improve complaints analyses- for a given defect, systems identify and assign a cause to the
defect and immediately stops other products of same batch from being delivered to
customers.
7. Tata Steel has been experimenting on an alternative process called the HISARNA which is a
replacement of the traditional blast furnace. HISARNA technology would reduce the CO2
emission by 20% and also reduce energy consumption in the process by 20%.
8. Keeping sustainability at the core, Tata Steel has adopted zero liquid discharge policy. All the
plants where effluent discharge happens at the end of the process are being installed with
ZLD unit to lower the amount of toxic elements being released to the lowest level.
9. The number of patent being filed and granted has increased year-on-year over the last 5
years.
10. Tata Steel has a separate department for driving innovation across all of its business units.

Like in the past technological innovations mainly focussed on reducing costs and achieving
economies of scale. But the innovations of future are quite diverse. Apart from improving efficiency
and reducing costs, there is a huge threat from growing environmental disruptions. These
environmental disruptions are giving way to alternative materials and demand for better energy
management practices. One example of alternative material is steering column of Renault Duster.
Traditionally, Steel was used for making steering column. But in Renault Duster steering column was
made of fibre reinforced polymer which provides strength equivalent to steel but reduces the weight
of the car thereby improving fuel efficiency.

Therefore, Tata Steel may face disruptions in its steel business due to CO2 emission norms which are
becoming stringent day by day and due to replacement of steel by other materials which are equally
cost effective, light weight and have less carbon footprint.

4. Discussion on Likely Disruption due to Energy Management

Integrated Steel Plants (BF-BOF route) constitute around 70% of world steel production and are
energy intensive. Energy savings in integrated steel plants will substantially reduce the overall
specific energy consumption in the steel industry. Reduction in specific energy consumption in steel
plant operations can be classified into 3 broad categories:

1. Minimisation of energy requirement for the process.

2. Maximisation of energy utilisation.
3. Minimisation of energy losses.
For existing steelworks, the focus should be on better operational management to maintain an
uninterrupted process flow and integrate continuous innovation. From a futuristic perspective, the
focus should be on wise technology management with the introduction and absorption of new

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energy efficient technologies and the transition to more continuous operations. Energy conservation
in the steel industry is essential to maintaining competitiveness and sustainability while minimizing
environmental impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions and optimal resource consumption and
management.

Elements of Cost of Steel Making

Energy contributes 20% to 40% to steel production costs in various countries, but the Indian steel
sector alone consumes about 33% of the total energy consumption of the Indian industry, with
energy costs being Indian steel. It accounts for about 40% of production. Saving energy reduces
production costs and improves competitiveness. Coal, iron ore, recycled steel, limestone and other
raw materials require energy to mine, process and transport. Effective energy management
strategies in the steel industry should focus on two general aspects: efficient use and recovery of
energy throughout the steelmaking process.

Energy Expenditure in Integrated Steel Making

The guiding principle is to ensure the quality of the required energy supply, use it efficiently and
recover it to reuse as much as possible. The steel industry needs to continuously reduce the specific
energy consumption expressed in gigacalories (GCal/TCS) per ton of crude steel. The energy
efficiency of steelmaking is affected by several factors, including the production route, the type of
iron ore and coal used, product composition, raw material efficiency, and technology used. The
specific energy consumption in various sub-processes as a percentage of total energy consumption
in an integrated steel plant is given in Table 1.

Table 1

Source of Energy Share

Coking Coal 73%
Boiler Coal 13%
Purchased Power 12%
Petro Fuels 0.6%
Others 1.4%

The reduction in energy costs in steel prices in the developed world is due to lower electricity and
fuel prices, as well as higher rates of continuous casting. While better day-to-day operations and
management of existing plants and facilities (operations management) can lead to additional energy
savings, the adoption and absorption of new energy-saving technologies (Technology management)
can reduce specific energy consumption in the steel industry significantly.

The cornerstone of specific productivity, output, quality and energy consumption reductions in steel
mill operations is effective operations management emphasizing the adoption of incremental
changes on an ongoing basis. Compared with rich countries, India's steel mills consume 3.035% more
coke, 710% more iron ore or calcined ore and 57% more hot metals, scrap and ferrous. Obviously,
the productivity of Indian blast furnaces is low compared to developed countries, and the quality of
coke has a big influence on that.

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However, several other elements of operational management have a significant impact on blast
furnace production and specific energy consumption. For example, a 10 kg reduction in coke
consumption saves about 0.05 G Cal/TCS of energy, while 1 kg of coal bran spraying and 1 kg of
asphalt spraying reduce the coke ratio by 0.92 kg/ton of metal. hot (kg/THM) and 1.4 kg/THM,
respectively. The coke ratio decreased by 1 kg/THM for every 10°C increase in hot blast temperature
from 950°C. The average specific energy consumption in integrated steel plants in some of the
developed countries and India is given in Table 2.

Table 2

Country Specific Energy Consumption (GCal/TCS)

Spain 3.8
Japan 4.2
Italy 4.5
Sweden 4.7
United Kingdom 4.7
Germany 4.8
USA 5.1
India 6.5-8.5

Given the technological and logistical differences between India and developed countries, India's
integrated steel mills have the potential to improve their operations and reduce energy loss and
waste by up to 5-6%, this will require a multi-pronged strategy involving technological discipline and
progressive innovation at every stage of operations.

Technology Management

1. Selective crushing, stamp charging, partial briquetting of coal charge, and dry quenching of
coke are several the technological advances and better procedures within the coal and coke
industry which will lead to significant energy savings.
2. The foremost noticeable change in furnace technology is that the rise in size, which is
combined with increased blast temperature and pressure, to get more hot metal each day.
Alternative iron-making technologies like Corex, Romelt, Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) via the
MIDREX, HYL, and LURGI processes, in addition because the ITmk3 process, are gaining
traction. The most important feature of those new technologies is that they use coal or gas
rather than coke ovens and blast furnaces to supply hot metal, sponge iron, hot briquetted
iron, and iron nuggets.

These techniques, on the opposite hand, have yet to be widely commercialised and stabilised
round the world. Nonetheless, to enhance energy management within the future, these
technologies must be properly implemented. Other than getting used as an immediate fuel
alternative in factory operations, by-product gases from coke ovens, blast furnaces, and BOF can
even be utilized in more novel ways.

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5. Discussion on Likely Disruption due to Alternative Materials
Researchers in entire world have been trying to explore processes that yield materials that are
stronger and lighter, quick to produce and more durable, and economically and environmentally
viable. One such material is Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composites (FRP). In simple words, this
material is stronger and lighter than metals, non-corrosive, quick to produce and recyclable.

FRP was first created in the 1930s. After that it took nearly 40 years for the science to mature into a
stable, reliable product. It has been widely used in Aerospace and Automotive industries since the
1970s and now it is finding new applications in heavy industry and infrastructure.

Tata Steel is one of the first large Indian companies to venture into this material. The know-how of
the steel market helps them understand where the needs are better served by FRP than steel. Tata
Steel is investing heavily in product development and technology to gain know-how of the industry.

Future facing and innovative thinking will have to be applied by Tata Steel to further understand the
market for FRP which is very close to the steel market. FRPs can be used for the creation of High-
Pressure Vessels in the water filtration industry. The corrosion resistant properties of these vessels
make them ideal – they are durable and require low maintenance.

FRP can be used to build bridges that are ideal for canals, foot over bridges in cities and industrial
environments. The bridges are very light in weight, easy to manufacture and install, and are very
cost competitive when compared to steel. FRP pipes can be used underground and over-ground to
carry corrosive liquids. These pipes can be manufactured in longer lengths - which mean a lesser
number of joints and fewer leakages- because of their light weight.

FRP can be used to manufacture smart city products like smart street light poles that have sensors to
gather weather, pollution, and traffic-related data. These are perfect for hilly and hard to reach
areas as these are lightweight and can be easily transported from one place to another. FRP is easily
mouldable which can be leveraged to produce bench for bus stops, fences and other installations.
Due to its corrosion resistance, these can be also used at coastal areas where the rate of corrosion is
very high.

FRP can also be used to manufacture several parts of railway interiors. Due to its smooth finish and
durability, the government spends far less money on repairs and replacements.

6. Conclusion
A thorough analysis of Tata Steel reveals that it is spending a lot of money in R&D to come up with
new technologies to manage energy in better way and reduce the carbon footprint of the
organization. Tata Steel has a strong innovative culture and keeps pace with ongoing technologies
which has helped it survive the test of times. Tata Steel realises that alternative materials are being
preferred as a replacement to steel due to better aesthetics, lower weight, higher corrosion
resistance, etc. To retain the existing customers, Tata Steel has begun its journey of developing
alternative materials to steel.

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7. References

1. Chinmoy Samajdar, 2012, Energy and Environmental Engineering Journal, Reduction in

specific energy consumption in steel industry- with special reference to steel industry
2. Tata Steel Integrated Report, 2020-2021

3. https://www.ibef.org/industry/steel.aspx

4. https://worldsteel.org

5. https://www.tatasteel.com/corporate/our-organisation/innovation/

6. https://www.tatasteeleurope.com/sites/default/files/TS%20Factsheet%20Hisarna%20ENG%
20jan2020%20Vfinal03%204%20pag%20digital.pdf

7. https://www.psimetals.de/fileadmin/files/downloads/PSI_BT/Events/2017/I40/9_1a_Vos_T
ata_Digitilization.pdf

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