The Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) would soon procure 2,900 metric tonnes (MT) of natural silica sand required for its steel making processes.
The silica sand plays a key role in metal production where it helps to lower the melting point and viscosity of the slag to make them more efficient for use in the plant.
Notably, the Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP), the flagship unit of Maharatna company, Steel Authority of India ltd (SAIl) received the Prime Minister’s Trophy for the Best Performing Integrated Steel Plant (ISP) in the country for the year 2011-12 at Rourkela in Odisha in April this year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had presented the Trophy for Best Integrated Steel Plant (ISP) in the country to the company.
With this, BSP achieved the unparalleled distinction of being the only steel plant in the country, public or private, to have been selected to receive this pinnacle recognition for an unprecedented 11 times out of 21 times that the award has been given away so far.
The award that also carried a cash reward of `2 crore is given to integrated steel plants (ISPs) on the basis of evaluation by a Panel of Judges appointed every year.
The coveted Prime Minister’s Trophy is awarded to an ISP for their total performance in respect of objective parameters, enabling parameters, customer satisfaction index and observation by the panel of judges based on plant visits.
SAIl’s Bhilai Plant has been ahead of other steel plants in the country in various parameters — including productivity, profitability, quality, product development, systems, work culture, human resource development, deployment of IT-driven modern business tools, sustainability practices and corporate social responsibility.
Steel from Bhilai goes into various strategic sectors and projects of national importance, such as defence, power, infrastructure, heavy machinery, oil and gas, railway, space sector, atomic energy among others.
The entire network of Indian Railways runs on rails supplied by Bhilai Steel Plant. The plant has been supplying rails since inception. Indian Railways sources rails up to length of 260 metre from Bhilai.
Known for its culture of excellence and dedication to quality, the plant has achieved distinction in various enabling parameters including leadership, policy & strategy, people development, resource management & process management. Its deployment of modern IT-driven business and knowledge tools to bring in excellence and continuous improvement in business performance, environment conservation, fulfillment of corporate social responsibilities & sustainability practices, among others, has enabled it maintain a position of leadership in Indian Steel Industry.
It may be recalled that apart from the PM’s Trophy that Bhilai received for 2011-12, BSP had won the first two PM’s Trophies for the Years 1992-93 and 93-94. The plant then made a hat-trick by winning the Trophy for the years 95-96, 96-97 and 97-98. The Plant again won the trophy for two consecutive years in 2003-04 and 2004-05. This feat was again repeated when Bhilai won the Trophy for years 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2009-10.