Saksham Quality Circle team of New Plate Mill of SAIL, Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) has brought laurels to the city by winning Gold in the 49th International Convention on Quality Control Circles 2024 held from 11th November – 14th November at Colombo, Sri Lanka. The theme of this year’s convention was ‘Beyond Boundaries: A Quest for Quality, Productivity, and Innovation”.
The team comprised Mr. Soubhagya Ranjan Sahoo, Mr. Benu Sahu, Mr. Shushil Prasad Gupta, and Mr. Sumit Panigrahi all OCTs from New Plate Mill, led by Mr. Sumit Tripathy, OCT (NPM). Mr. Deepak K, Senior Manager, (NPM) was the facilitator of the team.The theme of their presentation was, “Improving the availability of Side-guide system in Finishing-Mill’.
Notably, the “Saksham” quality circle team identified frequent failures in the side-guide system of the New Plate Mill, specifically due to premature failures in hydraulic cylinders and pipelines. These failures led to production delays, equipment damage, and increased operational costs.
To address the issue, the team used cause-and-effect analysis and why-why analysis to identify root causes, then implemented solutions such as increasing the PLC deadband to prevent premature cylinder failure and generating trigger signals in the IBA software to monitor pipeline health. Additionally, they modified the system by connecting a flexible hose directly from the side manifold to the cylinder, reducing replacement time. These changes are expected to enhance efficiency and yield annual savings of Rs.3.83 crores.
