The Octaφhi News letter 1 OCTANE In this issue Seminar review Steel facts Events and activities Review article Crossword Puzzle Vol 01, April 1, 2012 Feedback at [email protected] This inaugural edition is a significant step forward at the initiative of our students with a strong interest in operations, SCM, and technology – how business school can inform practice and vice versa. -Dr. Michael Barnes (Dean JGBS) The scope attempts to cover all aspects of operations management. I wish it all success!! -Dr. Saroj Koul (Professor, JGBS ) Review on Survival of Manufacturing Industries during Recession -Yatish Prasad Dasari (11 JGBS) Amitava Sircar VP, (Iron Making), JSPL, Raigarh (CG) The Centre for Infrastructure, Energy and Technologies (CIET) and the Octaφhi Operations Club at Jindal Global Business School (JGBS), invited Amitava Sircar, Vice President (Iron Making), JSPL, Raigarh (CG) to present his opinions on the Survival of Manufacturing Industries during Recession. Mr. Sircar an accomplished metallurgical engineer and expert on Blast Furnace operations conveyed that the Steel industry experiences recession almost once in every five years - like a Sine Wave. He mentioned that there is no concrete theory that could be established in identifying the survival strategies for a recession in this sector. While few industries stop production, few others stock the production depending upon the structure and environment. For example, SAIL produced steel to its full capacity during the recession of 2005 and this production helped it churn profits later on, like when the demand for steel sky-rocketed during the XIX Commonwealth Games, 2010. He emphasized that the industry as a thumb rule during recession needs to – Protect their customer base, Re-orient price according to the customer base, Look for innovation, Embrace Technology, and Focus on Lean manufacturing. He further highlighted that adopting Lean manufacturing techniques and focusing on innovation during tough times contributes the most in surviving. As an example on innovation, he quoted the use of non- cooking coal in place of cooking coal for iron making. He further emphasized on the utilization of human resource, focus on achieving zero-defect and having apposite waste management systems in place. Encouraging human creativity at workplace and creating effective workforce must be a top management priority. The country need to add to its pool of steel designers, have many designers like MECON. Mr. Sircar also spoke about the many positives derived from recession, like implementation of new ideas, weeding out of small industries that create hype but do not deliver. Recession also forces companies to think in terms of cost cutting initiatives including non- core assets, investing in new technology, and adopting retrenchment strategies. He assured that such measures will ensure the steel sector to develop and be at par in terms of countries like China that during the past 4-5 decades have built up ample infrastructure. Events/activities by Octaφhi Operations Club Octaphi’s concept of the day Seminar on Survival of Manufacturing Industries during Recession. Steel Facts India is the fifth-largest producer of steel in the world, behind China, Japan, Russia and the United States. India's iron and steel industry contributes about 2% of gross domestic product, or about USD 20 billion to the country's USD 1 trillion economy. State-run Steel Authority of India is the largest producer, with capacity of 13.8 million tons. Tata Steel, the world's No. 8 steelmaker, has capacity in India of 7 million tons, while JSW Steel is third with annual capacity of about 6.9 million tons. Reach us at “FB” Octaφhi Founders Kanishka S Karwasra (10 JGBS) Sunny Malik (10 JGBS) Pankaj Sharma (10 JGBS) Rohit (10 JGBS) Himanshu Aggarwal (10 JGBS) -Thank You