Bhubaneswar: Tata Steel Kalinganagar (TSK) has been included in the list of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Lighthouse Network, a community of manufacturers that are showing leadership in applying Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies to drive financial and operational impact.
TSK is the first and the only Indian manufacturing plant to be included in the WEF’s Lighthouse Network. The WEF announced the addition of 10 new factories, including TSK, to its Global Lighthouse Network on July 3, 2019.
The factories join a network of 16 existing lighthouses across multiple geographies and industries. They serve as beacons to guide others to overcome challenges in upgrading systems and applying cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data analytics and 3D printing. The factories were selected based on their success in integrating these technologies to increase efficiency and drive innovation. Tata Steel’s IJmuiden plant at Netherlands is already a member of this network.
“It is a proud moment for all of us as Tata Steel Kalinganagar joins the prestigious Lighthouse Network of the World Economic Forum. TSK has the distinction of featuring several firsts in the Indian steel industry. At Kalinganagar, we not only have state-of-the-art equipment and utilities but also drive higher productivity through automation and digital interventions. As we increase our capacity at TSK to 8 MnTPA, we will continue to implement the best technologies and innovate across the value-chain to drive operational excellence,” said Mr. T. V. Narendran, CEO & MD, Tata Steel.
Commissioned in 2016, TSK attained production levels at its rated capacity in less than two years. Spread over 3,000 acres of land, Tata Steel Kalinganagar steel plant is the largest single-location greenfield steel project in India.
“The global Lighthouse Network offers an unrivalled opportunity not only to highlight the transformational efforts of the world’s most advanced manufacturers but also, more importantly, to create a shared learning journey that will help manufacturers around the world, across value chains and of all sizes to access and capitalize on the positive potential of the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” said Francisco Betti, Head of Advanced Manufacturing Industry, World Economic Forum.
One of the key elements of the Lighthouse Network is its commitment to discovering and elevating solutions that can be scaled up in cost-effective ways across companies and industries.
“The 10 new lighthouses confirm that frontrunners in the Fourth Industrial Revolution draw a competitive advantage from either innovating their production system or by innovating their entire value chains and offering new products and services that were not possible before,” said Enno de Boer, Partner and Head of McKinsey & Company’s Global Manufacturing Practice, which collaborated with the Forum on the project.
“What all frontrunners have in common is that they work hard to find ways to scale. For example, Tata not only cracked the code on how to bring predictive maintenance to 50,000 different machines, but they also mastered the challenge of rolling out best practices to a site with a relatively inexperienced site team, supporting them with world-class data insights. Not imaginable before, the site is a benchmark in their network for productivity and time-to-market.” Mr. Enno de Boer added.
The lighthouses have agreed to share their knowledge with other manufacturing businesses, helping them successfully adopt the technologies of the future.
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