Corporate Feature     

Published: July 15, 2024
Updated: July 15, 2024

Tata Steel-Global Wires India

Partnering India growth story by focusing on Technology & Downstream Solutions

Tata Steel is among the top global steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of 35 million tonnes per annum. It is one of the world’s most geographically diversified steel producers, with operations and a commercial presence across the world.

At the Tarapur plant, GWI focuses on providing value to customers by manufacturing downstream products in synergy with steel manufacturing. At the Tarapur plant, we operate a wire rod mill and 3 wire plants having wire drawing units with multiple dedicated machines for high carbon and low carbon wires, with degree of interchangeability between product lines. The spring steel wire plant is dedicated to producing steel spring wires as well as induction hardened and tempered wires. Additionally, we have the Tarapur Wire Plant 1 with a patented facility specialized in manufacturing bronze-coated tyre bead wires. The Tarapur Wire Plant 2 is dedicated to producing GI wire (zinc- coated wires) and LRPC (low relaxation pre-stressed strands). Our Tarapur facility has an advanced ‘automated fumeless pickling’ system, a common facility for all products.

Furthermore, we have established a zero liquid discharge plant to reprocess effluent water and an acid regeneration plant to treat waste pickled liquor generated during the manufacturing process, aligning with our commitment to environmental sustainability. Additionally, our testing facilities are equipped with cutting-edge technology to ensure accuracy and efficiency in various testing processes. Our laboratories are accredited to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 (NABL standards) for testing LRPC strands as per various national and international standards.

OUTPUT TARGET

Global Wires India (GWI), being the downstream division of Tata Steel, has taken up a target of becoming a 1.1 million tonnes per annum player by FY30. GWI took nearly a decade to grow from 0.3 to 0.4 million tonnes per annum, but the current pace of growth would enable addition of ~0.1 million tonnes per annum every year to reach our target of 1.1 million tonnes per annum by FY30.

Our growth journey is also directed towards supporting the Atma Nirbar Bharat initiatives. We have set up a line to produce IHT (induction hardened tempered) wires which are used in high- end two-wheelers. While this product was being imported till two years back, now we are able to meet customer requirements.

The growth that we are envisioning will happen in the infrastructure, automotive and retail segments. To cater to the increasing demand in infrastructure projects, we are setting up new LRPC capacities to continue to be the most preferred and trusted brand in the segment. As India grows in the automotive sector, the tyre industry will boom and tyre manufacturers aim to make India an export hub for the global tyre market. We have successfully commissioned our new tyre bead capacity at Tarapur to capitalize on this growth. Similarly, in the retail segment, we are introducing some of the finest fencing solutions from across the world in India. As a starting step towards this direction, we have launched ‘Knotted Fence’ and ‘3D Weld Mesh’, which are receiving positive responses from the customers for their strength and aesthetics alike.

‘ZERO HARM’

Safety remains at the core of our growth journey, with a commitment to achieving ‘zero harm’ through various initiatives. As market leaders, we strive to set benchmarks for the industry through sustainable practices, aiming to become water neutral by FY30 and increase renewable energy usage to 20%

Emphasizing diversity and skill development, we target to increase our diversity ratio and establish a ‘School of Excellence’ to enhance technical knowledge among our workforce.

Digital will be a common thread across these initiatives which will facilitate faster, consistent and responsible growth. As we grow multi-locational, consistency is required in operations, safety and supply chain, and digital technology will facilitate the successful execution of all these. As a small step in this direction, we have set up a ‘Digital Twin’ at Tarapur for remote monitoring and control of our Pithampur LRPC lines. We further plan to extend this concept to our key products like MTB (motor tyre bead) and GI (galvanized iron). Furthermore, we aspire to venture into technology-intensive products like tyre cord and wire rope to enrich our product portfolio and maintain technology leadership in the industry.