Mumbai: Tata Steel has been recognised as one of the top 25 most innovative Indian Companies by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for its product, process, and business innovation. As part of the submission process, multiple innovation cases were presented to showcase the innovation culture in the organisation including two shining cases – ‘First-of-its-kind’ 5 tonnes per day CO2 capture plant and ‘First-in-World’ Digital Twin in Sinter Making.
The award evaluates all kinds of new processes, products, services, technologies, innovations, and approaches which have brought tangible results or made radical changes within or across the industry. Tata Steel was felicitated with the ‘CII Industrial Innovation Award’ at a virtual award ceremony held during the 27th edition of DST-CII Technology Summit 2021. Kris Gopalakrishnan, Past President, CII and Chairman, CII Industrial Innovation Awards 2021 along with Dr S Chandrashekhar, Secretary-DST, Government of India presented the award to Tata Steel.
Dr. Debashish Bhattachharjee, Vice President, Technology & New Materials Business, Tata Steel, said: “It is an honour to be recognised by CII for Excellence in Manufacturing & Innovation and declared as one of the joint winners in the Large Manufacturing category. Innovation is the new engine of socio-economic growth and a key lever for business sustenance, productivity, and future readiness in any industry. We will continue to focus on manufacturing, digitalisation, and sustainability as key pillars of our organisation. This award is a testimony to our commitment to be the global steel industry benchmark for Value Creation and Corporate Citizenship.”
Tata Steel commissioned a 5 tonnes per day (TPD) carbon capture plant at its Jamshedpur Works in September 2021, making it the country’s first steel company to adopt such a carbon capture technology that extracts CO2 directly from the Blast Furnace gas and reuse the captured CO2 on site to promote the circular carbon economy. As the next step, the Company aims to establish scaled up facilities of CO2 capture installations integrated with utilisation avenues. “Digital Twin”, the replica of sintering process, was conceptualised as a first-in-world solution to reduce stack emission in Sinter making process. This entails a cognitive soft sensor created to determine the best possible change in control levers to help achieve maximum stability in the process and maximise performance of KPIs. This indigenous innovation helped reduce return fines, stack emission by 60% resulting in considerable savings.
Tata Steel is continuously investing in innovation. The Company’s objective is to indigenously develop and utilise new cutting-edge technologies and work towards long term vision of self-reliance. This endeavour will not only lower the product and services cost but also will make technology accessible within the related industry ecosystem. Tata Steel has empowered itself to transform digitally and leverage technology to enhance its product and services offerings.
The CII Industrial Innovation Awards were instituted in 2014 to identify and celebrate innovative Indian enterprises across industry segments and sectors. The awards give national and international platform to the companies for their innovative products and services. These awards have established themselves as one of the most coveted innovation awards in the country. The awards evaluate all kinds of new processes, products, services, technologies, and other types of innovations which can fuel growth in the industry.
Grand Jury for CII Industrial Innovation Awards 2021 comprised S Gopalakrishnan, Past President, CII; Prof. Y S Rajan, Former Chairman NITM and Former ISRO Professor, Prof. V Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi, Prof. Pankaj Chandra, Vice-Chancellor, Ahmedabad University, Prof. Devang Khakhar, Professor, IIT Bombay, Dr Himanshu Rai, Director, IIM Indore, Prof. Gagandeep Kang, FRS Professor, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Prof. Soumitra Dutta, Founding Dean, Cornell University, Prof. UB Desai, Founding Director, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Prof. Rishikesha T Krishnan, Director, IIM Bangalore, Jaya Panvalkar, Chairperson, Board of governors SVNIT, Surat.
