Indian steel industry professional Karan Pahuja talks about the importance of stainless steel in nation building, the rise of India as a strong consumer of stainless steel and challenges faced by industry stakeholders, in a two-part interview series.
Karan Pahuja comes with over 40 years of experience in the steel and stainless steel industries in areas of operations, market development and policy making. He has been President of Indian Stainless-Steel Development Association, where he led efforts for promotion and growth of Indian stainless-steel industry. During his tenure, stainless steel consumption in India grew by almost 40 per cent to reach about 4 MT and India emerged as the fastest growing stainless-steel market in the world.
Earlier, he has been Executive Director at Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) where he was part of corporate operations. He is a mechanical engineer from BITS Pilani and MBA from FMS, Delhi University. He has been a senior assessor for CII-EXIM Bank Business Excellence Award and has been advising many companies on their journey towards excellence and change management. He has also been guest faculty for Strategic Management at IIFT Delhi.
Can you share a brief overview of your experience in the stainless steel manufacturing industry? What initially drew you to this field?
I have been with Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) for more than 36 years, including long years at the corporate level. Salem Steel Plant of SAIL was a pioneer in development of stainless steel in India and I had the good fortune of being part of its growth journey from just a cold rolling plant to hot rolling, and finally integrated operations with steel making. Prior to that we supported the plant by providing stainless steel slabs from Alloy Steel Plant of SAIL.
After leaving SAIL, I had the opportunity of heading the apex stainless steel industry association as President of Indian Stainless Steel Development Association (ISSDA) for six years, which provided me a much broader canvass to work for stainless steel industry. This period saw stainless steel consumption growth rate accelerating to double digit and India emerging as second largest consumer of stainless steel.
How do you ensure the quality and sustainability of raw materials used to manufacture stainless steel?
Stainless steel is produced by the Electric Arc furnace (EAF) or Electric Induction Furnace (EIF) route in India, where the preferred input is stainless steel scrap. Other key raw materials include alloying elements bearing materials like ferro chrome, ferro-nickel, ferro-manganese, silico-manganese, ferro-silicon, etc. Each of these raw materials are backed by their relevant quality standards. The quality is further ensured by checking chemical and physical properties, including third party inspections, at the time of procurement and usage.
What challenges do companies face in sourcing raw materials?
The main raw material for making stainless steel is scrap, preferably stainless-steel scrap. However, its availability in India is low and large quantities need to be imported. In view of high life span of stainless steel, which may range from 20 years to a century, the scrap availability will remain a constraint for meeting rising demand of the country. India does not have nickel resources, which has to imported. Its availability and price volatility are another challenge. India has chrome resources, but they are limited and may last for next two decades or so considering the industry expansion plans. Therefore, any kind of chrome ore export should not be allowed.
What are the key steps involved in the stainless steel manufacturing process?
The key steps in manufacturing process of stainless steel include melting, refining, casting, rolling, heat treatment and finishing. The scrap is charged in an electric furnace and melted. The chemistry is the adjusted as per the grade being produced with alloying elements. The molten material is then transferred to refining in a vacuum oxygen decarburisation (VOD) or argon oxygen decarburisation (AOD) system to remove excess carbon and get final chemistry. The molten metal is then continuously cast to get desired semi-finished billets or slabs. These semis are then rolled in appropriate rolling mills. To relieve internal stresses and get the exact mechanical properties, it may be annealed (heated and cooled under controlled conditions).
After the annealing process, stainless steel is put through a variety of cutting and finishing processes to create an ideal or customised final product for a specific application. Different surface finishes can also be applied to stainless steel products, which gives stainless steel further versatility.
What are the most critical factors to consider during the manufacturing process to ensure high-quality stainless steel?
I think the most critical factor to ensure high quality stainless steel, besides quality of raw materials, is strict process control and adhering to standard operating practices at all stages of manufacture. A range of metallurgical and mechanical testing in steel quality check is part of the process, by testing the steel material in terms of mechanical, thermal, or chemical actions in order to evaluate its properties. Fortunately, the technology now helps with monitoring most of the quality parameters on line, enabling the operators to take quick corrective action and reduce cycle time. Quality control is now integral part of the manufacturing process.
How has technology impacted the manufacturing process in recent years?
There is continues pressure on process industries to improve efficiency and reduce costs. Traditional methods of incremental improvements seem to have reached their limits, necessitating a new and more data centric approach to get better process insights for faster improvements. Higher computing powers and advanced analytics are enabling operators to optimise various processes using data-driven insights. So digital technologies are impacting the stainless steel across the entire manufacturing value chain in a big way. It is still work in progress as greater adoption of technologies, like artificial intelligence, aid business and manufacturing process optimisation, help reduce carbon footprint, enhance safety and sustainability, improve operational efficiency and drive decision-making.
What recent innovations have significantly impacted stainless steel manufacturing?
Innovation can be in the form of new process that replaces or significantly improves existing process or it can be in the form of development of new products that have superior characteristics. Stainless steel faces newer challenges from climate change to bring down carbon footprints and newer substitute materials as we look ahead. Stainless steel industry constantly drives for innovation, for exploring new, more competitive and cleaner ways of making steel for meeting the ever-changing requirements of the stainless-steel consuming industry. The process innovations are towards energy efficiency, waste management and circular economy while product innovations are focused towards making higher strength ductile materials, which can be worked into complex geometries. At the same time, innovations are coming from the manufacturing process of the stainless-steel family of materials with the possibility to manufacturing them as metal powder for 3D printing.
