Innovation in practice

THE QUALITY CONUNDRUM

How Indian Industry is managing quality?

In my previous articles, I discussed the various principles that need to be followed by companies on the path to innovation. I will now discuss the actual practice of innovation in some Indian companies that has delivered innovative solutions. In this article, I will discuss an innovation made by Tata Refractories, which has actually solved a number of problems for many in the steel industry.

But first, a little background about innovation at the Tata Group. The innovation programme is being led by none other than J J Irani himself "" if you recall, I have earlier written about the need for a visionary leader or the CEO to make innovation his personal agenda and also lead by example. Irani has put together a large team of change leaders who are providing the right impetus to innovation.

He has also taken a number of important steps that define the seriousness he attaches to innovation. These include setting up of innovation forums within the group, setting goals for business volumes to be achieved through innovation for the next decade, and so on. Thus, the Tata Group focuses on innovation as a strategic tool.

One real change leader in the group is K N Das of Tata Refractories. Das listened to the voice of his customer Tayo Rolls when it discussed with him a problem related to the impurities that seeped into their rolls during the production process. He knew that he could find a solution to this problem and set out to work on the groundbreaking material to line the inner walls of the containers holding molten steel.

These containers are normally lined by bricks, which erode steadily, resulting in impurities entering liquid steel. The presence of even a small piece of impurity can damage steel rolls as well as sheets being rolled. That will not only affect the quality of the steel sheet being produced, it can also lead to huge financial losses.

What the Tata Refractories team did was to develop precast containers that can be inserted into the ladles with the help of cranes. This container has no joints and is made of erosion-resistant material, both features helping to reduce inclusions in molten steel; it is stronger and is also corrosion resistant.

No solution that satisfied all these conditions was available when the Refractories team set out on its search. A new approach had to be developed by the team members. As far as is known, their solution is a "first of its kind" anywhere in the world.

While it took the team over 18 months to complete the project, the members were convinced they were on the right track; most of all, it was Das who was convinced about his hunch. He was not ready to give up and the CEO of Tata Refractories was giving him complete support on the project.

The result is that the company today has a product with a business potential of over Rs 30 crore a year, and its order books are bursting at the seams. The ladle has now six times higher life (600 heats compared to 100 heats previously). And, all this has been achieved at a cost of just Rs 3.3 lakh.

There are some principles I would like to stress upon from this case study, some of which are self-apparent.

The CEO or the visionary leader must make innovation his primary agenda.

He must listen to the customer's voice for weak signals and work steadfast to arrive at solutions.

He must encourage his team to innovate and must assign sufficient resources for the project.

Innovation does not require large financial commitments.

And the leader never gives up.

Dr Surinder Kapur is chairman, CII Mission for Manufacturing Innovation, and chairman and managing director, Sona Koyo Steering Systems