The Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST) is currently holding the fourth AIST International Steel Academy (ISA) meet here which began on January 16. The meet will conclude on January 20. This event is a key element of AIST’s strategic plan for industry collaboration in steel making regions around the world. Around 164 delegates from SAIl, Essar Steel, TATA Steel, JSPl, NMDC, Harsco, RINl and many other organisations, including educational institutes, attended the programme. Delegates from Germany, Thailand and Turkey were also among them.
CS Verma, chairman, Steel Authority of India (SAIl), addressed the delegates during the opening ceremony of the ISA. Under Verma’s leadership, SAIl, is in the process of modernising and expanding its production units, raw material resources and other facilities to maintain its dominant position in the Indian steel market.
The objective is to enhance the production capacity to 23.5 MTPA of Hot Metal from the installed production capacity of 13.8 MTPA. At the inaugural ceremony, Director (Technical), SAIl and Chairman AIST India Member Chapter, SS Mohanty, Director (Projects & Business Planning), SAIl, and Chief Executive Officer, SAIl-BSP, S Chandrasekaran were also present.
For more than a century, AIST has fostered the dissemination and exchange of steel technology through a variety of technical programs and publications. In recent years, AIST has implemented initiatives such as the ISA to export the AIST brand of networking and education to developing steel markets. The International Steel Academy programme addresses a number of key technological issues generated by the tremendous growth of steel production in India.
These issues include technology selection, investment and innovation in research and development, benchmarking the present production facilities and their modernization, infrastructure constraints, raw material beneficiation, utilization of waste materials and technical manpower availability. The ISA represents a positive step toward addressing these concerns.
R K Bhatnagar, Director – Hazira Complex, Essar Steel ltd., expressed his views from the 2013 International Steel Academy Raigarh, India, “The International Steel Academy covered A to Z of steel manufacturing, from both the shop floor point of view and the fundamental theoretical concepts. It was an excellent blend of both aspects and therefore suitable to both experienced and young steel professionals.
The breadth and depth of knowledge demonstrated at the ISA is unparalleled – thanks to the instructors and AIST. It was also an excellent platform of interaction between the steel industry and academia, making it conducive to working together in solving problems of the industry. An excellent networking platform, he said.
Designed to bring world-class steel education directly to regions experiencing accelerated growth, the AIST International Steel Academy provides a broad and deep understanding of the steel manufacturing process. Two separate courses, The Making, Shaping and Treating of Steel (MSTS) 201: Steelmaking and MSTS 202: Steel Shaping and Treating, bring together decades of internationally recognized efforts acquired in industry and academia, reflecting the vitality and global nature of steel manufacturing innovation. Held concurrently over four days, the individual courses are subdivided into the major elements required to produce quality steel products in today’s economy.
The lead instructors for MSTS: 201 and MSTS: 202 are Dr. Ing. Jürgen Cappel and Prof. Dr. Ir. B.C. De Cooman, respectively. Dr. Cappel is a respected steel industry consultant from Germany with more than 20 years of experience working in iron- and steelmaking facilities. Dr. De Cooman is a professor at the Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology (GIFT) at the Pohang University of Science and Technology Science (POSTECH), Korea.
The 2013 International Steel Academy was held on 9–13 December 2013 at Jindal Steel & Power ltd. in Raigarh, India. The 2012 International Steel Academy was held on 3–6 December 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey. The inaugural AIST International Steel Academy was held on 5–8 December 2011 at the Tata Steel ltd. Shavak Nanavati Technical Institute in Jamshedpur, India.