Thursday, November 12, 2009

IMPLEMENTATION OF MANUFACTURING EXECUTION SYSTEM AT SAIL-BSP

Bhilai Steel Plant Signs Contract for MES Project with POSDATA, Korea

With the signing of contract with M/s Posdata, Korea on 10th November 2009, Bhilai Steel Plant, the first PSU Integrated Steel Plant to have successfully implemented Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) – SAP, has now taken up the implementation of MES, an Industrial IT tool for improvisation in Production Scheduling and Optimization of manufacturing operations. The flagship unit of navratna PSU and steel major SAIL thus joins the elite club of integrated steel majors such as POSCO-Korea, ISPAT who have already deployed MES to achieve ‘manufacturing excellence to enhance customer delight.’

For Bhilai have embraced newer technologies and IT initiatives to serve its customers all around the globe is nothing new. Before implementing ERP from 1st April 2009 and successfully deploying it accross the organisation, Bhilai Steel Plant has had multiple IT legacy / home-grown systems developed exclusively to cater varied requirements of Business as well as Production Systems.

MES is aimed at achieving quicker responsiveness to customer’s ever increasing demands, sustaining the business growth and also connecting the ‘Shop floor Production information to the Boardroom / Management Business information’ are the needs of today’s competitive business era.

The contract for Implementation of Manufacturing Execution System – (MES) between BSP, SAIL and M/s Posdata, Korea was signed in Bhilai on 10th November, 2009 in the presence of Shri. R. Ramaraju, Managing Director, BSP-SAIL. Aimed at integrating the manufacturing operations of Steel Melting Shop -2 (Consisting LD Convertors & Slab / Bloom Continuous casters), Plate Mill and Rail & Structural Mill, MES would be implemented in three packages, namely Core MES Software with yard management System, Support MES with Integration of ERP-SAP and procurement of PCs alongwith its peripherals. The MES project – Package 1A is scheduled to be completed by June 2011.

The contract was signed by Shri. S.C. Anand, G.M (Projects) on behalf of BSP-SAIL and Mr DONG-KIL YOUM, Senior Vice-President on behalf of M/s Posdata. Present were Shri. Tanmay Roy, GM (C& IT) and Mrs. Ranjana Muley, DGM I/c MES from BSP and Mr SUNG-HYUN BAEK, Project Manger and Shri. TAE HEOUN KIM, Sales Manager from M/s Posdata.

Congratulating M/s POSDATA on being awarded this prestigious MES Project, Shri Ramaraju, MD assured them of all support. POSCO is the one of the finest global steel producers, he said. For such an organisation to bring the ‘global best practices’ to boost the business propositions of BSP – SAIL augurs well for our organisation, he said. Reiterating faith in the BHILAI-MES core team’s knowledge, positive attitude, expertise and their eagerness to go ahead with the project, Mr Ramaraju commended the Bhilai culture of owning such projects as has been demonstrated in the case of ERP deployment. Referring to the MoU that exists between POSCO & SAIL, he looked forward to the BHILAI-MES team sharing its experiences with other SAIL units.

Congratulating the Bhilai collective for what he described as a milestone achievement, Shri T.K Gupta, ED (F& A) said implementation efforts should aim at curtailing the schedule and smoother & successful execution. This project opens up a whole lot of opportunities, both for SAIL-BSP and POSCO, he said.
Emphasising that MES implementation is to be expedited & completed within 11 months as against the scheduled 18 months period, Shri. Tanmay Roy, G.M (C& IT) said that for M/s Posdata this is an opportunity for showcasing their world class MES product and ‘best of breed technology’. Also present at the signing of contract were Shri Kiran Kapoor, ED (MM), Shri S.S.Mohanty, ED (Projects), all GMs/HODs of related areas.

Thanking the Managing Director for having encouraged and supported the MES team, Mrs.Ranjana Muley, DGM I/c MES and Project Coordinator & Key Driver assured all present that implementation activities would start immediately. To facilitate continuous monitoring and review of the progress, different committees such as Apex Committee, Steering Committee and a Task force have been constituted. Shri R Sreenivasan, DGM (SMS-II) is the designated Project Manager. Members of the MES Core Team and senior officers from Project Department were also present.

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