Dr J J lrani inaugurates JSW Steel cold rolling mill complex

Dr J J Irani, director Tata Sons Ltd and former managing director, Tata Steel Ltd, inaugurated the cold rolling mill (CRM) complex of JSW Steel Ltd yesterday.

The CRM complex, which has a production capacity of 1 million tonnes will cater to the growing automobile and auto component industry and also act as a catalyst for attracting further investments in this sector in southern India.

Sajjan Jindal, vice chairman and managing director, JSW Steel Ltd, Sangita Jindal, chairperson, JSW Foundation, Y Siva Sagar Rao, joint and CEO, JSW Steel Ltd, senior officials and distinguished guests including suppliers and potential customers attended the inauguration ceremony.

JSW says its CRM facility, built in a record 22 months, is a forward integration of the existing facilities where hot rolled coils are cold rolled to produce high end cold rolled sheets which cater to the upper segment of the steel market.

The CRM complex would produce coils with a "thickness" of 0.3mm to 3mm and a width range from 800mm to 1650mm. The company also said that the technology providers are global leaders in their fields of expertise. The CRM will roll out 60 tonnes of "jumbo" coils, which will improve the productivity of the Pickling and two-strand reversing mill.

The CRM has level-2 and level-3 automation. The state of the art electrolytic cleaning line coming up with the main plant will ensure that the stringent requirement of surface quality of the auto sector is ensured from day one itself.

The mill would cater to a wide range of industrial applications such as  automobile bodies & components, white goods, electrical panels, drums & barrels, furniture, electrical stampings, packaging etc.

JSW is on an expansion surge and plans to scale up production to 7 mtpa by 2008 and reach the 10 mtpa capacity by 2010, which would make it one of the largest steel plants at one location in India.