A few months back, the Essar Steel Plate Mill had indigenously developed India’s first hot roll bonded cladded steel plate. Today, the company successfully dispatched the first order for such plates to an EPC major. Dilip Oommen, CEO, Essar Steel India, flagged off the goods truck carrying the maiden consignment from in front of the Plate Mill in Hazira.
The manufacturing of these cladded plates is a true “Make in India” story. Essar Steel is also the first Indian steel company to make these plates that find extensive usage in the oil & gas, petrochemical, coal gassification and other process industries. The indigenous development will translate to huge cost savings and supply reliability for customers who manufacture equipment for these industries. By manufacturing these plates, Essar Steel is driving import substitution and enabling the conservation of the country’s forex reserves.
The plates, conforming to the SA-264 (SA-516M Gr 485 + SA -240M Type 304L) specification of ASME section II, Edition 2013, material conforming to NACE MR0103, Edition 2012, had to be hitherto imported. India currently imports more than 30,000 tonnes of cladded plates from various countries like Japan, Germany, Austria and France. The ability to manufacture these plates has once again put Essar Steel in the league of global steel majors.
