The two-day international Conference on ‘Automotive Steel — Outlook & Perspective (AutoSOP 2015)’ organised by SAIl’s Bokaro Steel Plant (BSl) and the Bokaro Chapter of the Indian Institute of Metals (IIM) in association with the Research & Development Centre for Iron & Steel (RDCIS), Ranchi concluded here on Saturday.
The seminar was attended by more than 120 delegates representing industry, consultant, academia and research institutes from all over the country as well as overseas.
On the concluding day of the seminar, three technical sessions were organised at Bokaro Niwas. During these sessions, the technologists and experts deliberated on a wide range of issues related to the latest trends and emerging technologies in the area of automotive steel manufacturing.
The deliberations aimed at equipping steel manufacturers with the required technical know-how to enable them fully tap the potential of this emerging market segment. The sessions on ‘Advances in High Strength Steel Processing, Emerging Technologies for Production of Auto Steel & Quality of Auto Steel’ witnessed technical paper presentations by PSI Metals Group Germany, JSW Steel limited, Tata Steel limited, SAIl’s RDCIS & BSl, Danieli Wean United, SMS India, Primetals Technologies, MECON, lechler India, Vesuvius India ltd etc. During the valedictory session held later in the day, a panel discussion on the topic Challenges for Production of Automotive Steel in India was organised. The panellists included Dr. V Ramaswamy, Ex- ED, RDCIS & Professor, Department of Metallurgical Engineering, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, Dr Sandip Bhattacharya, Chief of Scientific Services-Tata Steel and Rajesh Garg, Associate Vice President, SMS India Pvt ltd.
The conference was inaugurated on 11th December by Director (Technical), SAIl S.S. Mohanty in the presence of CEO, BSl Anutosh Maitra, ED (Works), BSl A Bandyopadhyay, ED (RDCIS) Dr BK Jha, Dr Ramaswamy, former Professor IIT, Kanpur Dr RK Ray and other eminent technologists.
The seminar provided a unique opportunity to the industry experts, researchers and automotive steel manufacturers to share their experiences in this area and prepare ground for the future course of action. Notably, Automobile sector consumes about 10 per cent of the country’s steel output. The demand for auto in India, which is mainly linked to the GDP growth, is set to rise with the rising income levels.
The low per capita penetration viz. 16 cars per thousand people, offers phenomenal potential for growth. Bokaro Steel Plant, a dedicated flat steel maker, is contemplating a foray into this lucrative auto steel segment.
The hosting of this International Conference is perhaps symbolic of the beginning of a new chapter in the steel making journey of Bokaro Steel Plant.