IIM Raipur students visit Bhilai Steel Plant

On Monday, 17th October 2011 the whole batch of PGP 2010-12 and PGP 2011-13 of  Indian Institute of Management, Raipur visited the Bhilai Steel Plant, Bhilai, Chhatisgarh.

Bhilai Steel Plant, located about 35 Kms from the capital city of Chhatisgarh, Raipur is one of the major producers of steel plates, wire rods and other structural parts. It also boasts of being the only producer of steel rails.

The students had the opportunity of visiting three sections of the plant namely the Blast Furnace, the Plate Mill and the Rail and Structural Mill

The blast furnace was seen from a distance due to security and safety issues. But still the students were able to get a view of the red hot liquid iron being poured. Students were made to understand how fuel, ore and flux (limestone in this case) are supplied through the top of the furnace and how occasional blasts of air are given from the bottom to bring about the chemical reaction.

The students were guided by Mr. Patel throughout the visit and were explained about the intricacies of steel production from mining to the final product. It was a new experience for many who were new to the industry to find the automated process heating the steel converting it into plates and then cooling it for the purpose of quenching and stress relieving. The plates produced here are widely used in the defense sector and ship building processes.

The Rail & Structural Mill which is one of its kind facility in steel plants across India has an annual capacity of 7.5 Lakh tonnes of steel. The product from this mill is used by the Indian Railways and various other companies in the business of construction equipment development. The rails produced from this section are used in making the boom of cranes.

All in all it was a great learning experience for the students and there was a healthy discussion between the officials of Bhilai Steel Plant and the students of IIM Raipur.

InterfaceFLOR’s Closed Loop Manufacturing System

InterfaceFLOR is a worldwide leader in the design of innovative modular flooring and a recognized environmental pioneer. The company is well known for its sustainable efforts in carpet recycling, closed loop manufacturing system and “Mission Zero” goal. There wasn’t much impact in the mid-nineties when InterfaceFLOR publicly committed to sustainability by pledging to eliminate its impact on the environment by 2020. Other players in the industry thought it’s just another CSR effort for sheer publicity. But today to their surprise these sustainability efforts are totally incorporated in the company’s DNA. Its products have also received several awards, specifically for design and innovation. Some of the recent awards are Guardian Sustainable Business Award for Waste & Recycling 2011 and The Environment Agency Sustainable Pioneer Awards 2010.

It all started in 2000 when InterfaceFLOR used “Life cycle assessment” to study the environmental foot prints of its products. They found out that around 50% of its carpet’s environmental foot print is due to the usage of virgin oil rich yarn. Since then they started working on finding new recycling processes which will help them in reducing the usage of virgin yarn. In carpet production, the petrochemical nylon6 is the face fiber which after the usage can be either recycled to caprolactam or can be down cycled to automobile parts and other plastic items. Caprolactam, the feedstock got after recycling nylon6 can be again used for producing nylon6 thus closing the loop and preventing the further usage of virgin yarn. Thus the quality of the recycling processes determines how much of it can be recycled and down cycled. The processes used so far were able to help them to involve only 40% of the recycled yarn in their total production plan. Though it is far better than what they were in 1996 in recycling, still their single goal was to close the manufacturing loop by using 100% recycled yarn. To attain this they not only motivated their internal teams but also invited their suppliers and vendors to create a better tomorrow together.

In 2010 interfaceFLOR came up with a state of art recycling process technology called ReEntry 2.0, which enables significant and scalable recycling of carpet tiles, representing a breakthrough in the closed-loop manufacturing system. It uses a highly efficient technology that separates yarn and other materials from used carpet tiles, so that they can be recycled into yarn for new carpet tiles. The process ensures that every single component of the carpet tile retains its material value, allowing it to be re-used as new raw material for new carpets. ReEntry 2.0 is expected to divert around 2,700 tonnes of oil-intensive material annually from disposal and also Life cycle assessment shows that the materials recycled through ReEntry 2.0 require four times less energy to process than the equivalent virgin materials for carpets.

Recently in 2011, through the ReEntry 2.0 process, they have introduced a carpet collection called Biosfera I, which is first in the industry to include 100% recycled yarn. Biosfera I consists of 30% post consumer recycled raw materials from a variety of sources including reclaimed commercial fishing nets and yarn from used carpet tiles. The backing material is taken from InterfaceFLOR’s own products. Thus InterfaceFLOR has set an example in their sustainability efforts for everyone in the industry to follow.

In the beginning there was a myth that it is impossible to recycle nylon yarn, an oil-rich material that is integral in carpet tile manufacturing but interfaceFLOR has dispelled this myth. Biosfera I is a result of its focused, collaborative work and the product has unprecedented environmental qualities throughout its entire lifecycle, right from the sourcing of materials, through to production, installation and till disposal.

InterfaceFLOR has strategically spread up production capacities in different countries based on the demand in the corresponding regions. But they have recycling facilities in some European countries and United States alone. They have good supply chain reverse logistics in those countries to support the collection of used carpet tiles. Now they are planning to start recycling capacities in other countries as well. Their next goal is “Mission Zero” targeted for the year 2020 which will eliminate the carbon footprint by the company in all aspects completely. Thus InterfaceFLOR is a role model for all the companies who want to have sustainable growth without affecting the environment.

References :

http://whyentrepreneurs.wordpress.com/2011/03/07/interfaceflor-pioneers-ground-breaking-recycling-process-for-carpets/

http://www.smartoman.com/sales-a-marketing/retail/3238-interfaceflor-launches-biosfera-i-the-industrys-most-sustainable-carpet-tiles

S Madhula has done her B.Tech. in Computer Science & Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Trichy and can be reached at madhula24@gmail.com

RESEARCH IN MOTION

Research in Motion (RIM), features in Gartner’s list of Top 25 Supply Chains of the World at Fourth Position after Apple, Dell and P&G. Major features of its Supply Chain are resilience and Demand Driven Supply Chain which leads which leads to a 3-year weighted ROA of 25.1% which is the best among the Top 25 Supply Chains of the World. [1]

The key teams supporting Global Manufacturing are:

• Manufacturing Production
• Manufacturing Engineering Support
• Global Supply Chain
• New Product Introduction
• Global Repair Services
• Manufacturing and Supplier Quality Engineering[2]

According to the Official Website, “The Supply Chain, Materials and Inventory Management teams are responsible for managing the sourcing, planning, tracking and distribution of all manufacturing parts and materials, as well as managing vendor relationships, ensuring a cost-effective and smooth manufacturing process globally. Positions in this area include: Commodity Manager, Production Planner, Master Scheduler, Buyer/Planner, Warehouse Manager, and Materials Operator”

RIM also makes use of SAP for in-house manufacturing. Daily feeds of information go from SAP into RapidResponse thus providing a comprehensive view of the upstream of RIM’s Supply Chain. SAP is also used for report generation which aid the different departments in decision making. [3]

In 2009, RIM partnered with SAP to allow its customers access to SAP Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications on Blackberry smartphones. The new application gives sales representatives simple, secure, Real-time access to customer information which helps them in retaining existing customers. [4]

In 2009, RIM also launched a Cost Optimization Program focusing on eliminating redundancies and reallocating resources to focus on areas that offer the highest growth opportunities and alignment with RIM’s strategic objectives. [5]
RIM also became a member of the Global eSustainability Initiative (GESI). “GESI is an industry & NGO stakeholder body which commits to promote sustainability performance and focuses on three areas for peer and industry wide improvement: climate change, e-waste and supply chain.” Some of the members of GESI are HP, Ericsson, Cisco Systems, Nokia, Vodafone, Microsoft, Deutsche Telekom, World Wildlife Fund and Carbon Disclosure Project.[6] This is a signal that RIM wants to focus on having a Green Supply Chain.

REFERENCES

[1] http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1710016 (last accessed 5/9/2011)

[2] http://www.rim.com/careers/why_rim/careers/global_manufacturing.shtml (last accessed        5/9/2011)

[3] http://www.kinaxis.com/downloads/customer_spotlight/spotlight-RIM.html (last accessed 5/9/2011)

[4] http://www.sap.com/corporate-en/press.epx?pressid=11330 (last accessed 5/9/2011)

[5] http://press.rim.com/release.jsp?id=5121 (last accessed 5/9/2011)

[6] http://www.zdnet.com/blog/sustainability/from-blackberry-to-greenberry-rim-goes-green-at-cebit/188 (last accessed 5/9/2011)

Rohit Bhagat has done his B.E. in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology, Delhi University and can be reached at jeffhardy_027 @ yahoo . co . in

Best Practices In Automobile Companies

Automobile market in India is booming. Growth for the next five years is forecasted to be around 12-15% every year. Almost all the big automotive giants are in India or are planning to enter India very soon. This has increased competition in India like anything and is pressurizing the existing players on each prospects of market, be it cost, distribution, after sales service, features, mileage etc. Increased complex and technical products, narrow product launch window, shortened product life cycle and presence of global players adds to the cut throat competition today. Sustainability is the biggest challenge automotive companies are facing today.

Maruti Suzuki who is market leader in passenger car segment is losing its market share due to high competition but at the same time market is also growing. Hyundai and Tata Motors, being second and third position respectively in terms of market share are working hard to gain more market share every day. Indian market is very price sensitive and after sales service, mileage, resale value, and brand are the most important factors in decision making.

Manufacturers do their best to reduce cost of the car by Cost Reduction, Value Addition and Value Engineering ideas. Here few examples are given how manufacturers implement such ideas.

Daimler India Commercial Vehicle

Project Managers in Daimler are leaders and continuously inspire employees to think out of the box and reward them for the same. Daimler has many processes for such motivational activities which encourage employees to think out of the box and which are related to their day to day activities. One example is explained here :-

Mahindra and Mahindra

M&M encourages each employee at all levels to give their ideas which are not restricted to cost reduction but to improve safety, reduce energy consumption, improve 5S etc. They have implemented a process called “I” or ideas under engineer’s drive. Each employee is asked to submit twenty ideas a year. They are given the theme for the ideas and he/she is awarded based on the number of ideas implemented. This motivates employees to think about everything in the plant and even their working condition. M&M has implemented many such big ideas which have improved the efficiency in very significant manner.

Maruti Suzuki

Maruti is the market leader in passenger cars in India with approximately 50% market share. Maruti in strategic partnership with its suppliers continuously works hard to reduce its inventory and improve product design with lower cost. Maruti gives suppliers a target every year to reduce cost by implementing value added and value engineering ideas. It maintains one day of inventory in its plant through VMI (vendor managed inventory), which gives Maruti a competitive edge over others.

Through above examples, we saw how excellence is achieved by companies by involving their employees and suppliers in order to achieve high operational efficiency by implementing value added, value engineering ideas, inventory management etc. This helps them to sustain in such a highly competitive market.

I would like to thank Mr. Niranjan Deshamane from M&M and Mr. Satyendra Kumar from DICV for their valuable support.  

 Ranjit Ram has done his B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Madras. Before joining Indian Institute of Management, Raipur, he had a combined experience of 51 months in Renault Nissan and Sterlite Optical Technology.