Mr. Karan Mittal, Managing Director, Mittal Corp Ltd. spoke with team WCI about the humongous success which his company had in the last 7 years and above all the preparation to achieve the next level of growth. Edited excerpts.
Wire & Cable India: Take us through journey of Mittal Corp Ltd. (MCL) along with the achievements in the course?
Karan Mittal: In short span of 7 years we have:
• Expanded capacity from 18,000 TPA to 120,000 TPA.
• Installed new bar & wire rod mill of 150,000 TPA capacity taken from Danieli Morgardshammar, Italy at capex of Rs. 150 crores.
• Increase in turnover to Rs. 722 crores during 2011-12 from merely Rs. 29 crores during 2005-06 registering growth of 25 times.
Consistent quality and aggressive marketing strategy made the company most preferred supplier of 200 series stainless steel flats and company attained the position of second largest producer of stainless steel in 200 series.
Currently, we are operating steel making unit of 120,000 TPA and bar & wire rod mill of 150,000 TPA in Pithampur, M.P., producing billets, flats, wires, bars, rebars, angles etc. of different grades of stainless steel and alloy steel having wide range of industrial applications.
We will be first in India to manufacture stainless steel reinforcement bars used for construction. To our credit, Mittal Corp is the first to implement the project as per the MoU signed with the State Government in 2010. We have worked diligently on our plans and strived to keep the schedule intact.
WCI: “By commissioning the new mill, MCL turnover will cross Rs. 1000 crores”, highlight the plan to reach that goal along with the various activities you will undertake?
KM: Turnover is a matter of numbers but most important thing will be that the product from the new facilities will touch every aspect of life through product application which shall be made from our products. Market spread and penetration of the company product will increase by several notches. More segments will come under company fold and value addition will also improve the bottom line. We have planned to cover the export market and would like to establish company not only in India but also in the international markets as the most consistent quality suppliers.
WCI: “Equipment being installed incorporates contemporary technology and process, which will be used for the first time in India for stainless steel, alloy steel and carbon steel”, kindly detail us about the technical capabilities of the project?
KM: Major technical features are such as:
• The design is implicitly focused upon achieving the shortest possible stress path and eliminates any clearance at the area of stress transfer from one element to another whilst providing the roller bearing with the most rigid support possible.
• By using no-twist wire – rod block having 10 stands and before block there are 15 stands with vertical & horizontal configuration for tension free rolling, the continuous mill provides reliable production with close tolerance product and facilitate the rolling of sophisticated steel grades like boron steel, ball bearing steel & high tensile steel etc.
• Reheating furnace with moving hearth for uniform heating and low scale formation, with input size of 160 x 160 mm billets for better grain size/structure in the finish product due to high reduction ration.
• De-scalar before roughing mill to remove scale formed during reheating to avoid imbedded scale in the final products and achieve better surface finish.
WCI: Any impediment you foresee in meeting the expected production level?
KM: We had set clear goals and objectives aligned to our growth strategy. The management had made sure that every employee understands the organization’s mission and strategy ensuring everyone knows how to translate these expectations into goals. Management is in constant dialogue between department heads, managers and staffs about the clarity of the expectations. Apart from unpredictable issues and on the basis of our strategy, we don’t look any such hurdles, which hold us in achieving our production level.
WCI: What’s the current scenario of the steel market in India and its challenges and opportunities you foresee?
KM: The Indian steel industry has entered into a new development stage from 2007-08, riding high on the resurgent economy and rising demand for steel. Rapid rise in production has resulted in India becoming the 4th largest producer of crude steel and by the end of 12th five year plan India is expected to move to 2nd rank. India is the largest producer of sponge iron or DRI in the world. World steel association has projected growth rate of apparent steel use in 2012 at 6.9% for India, much above the Chinese and world steel consumption at approx 4% for the same year.
The demand for steel in the country is currently growing at the rate of over 8.4% and it is expected that the demand would grow over by 10% in the next five years. Our per capita consumption of steel is around 110 pounds as compared to 330 pounds for the global average. This indicates that there is a lot of potential for increasing the steel consumption in India.
Despite of better future prospects, the industry will face some of the challenges including generational shift and competition for skills, raw material & suppliers, technical development, emission rights and carbon dioxide restrictions but the same will be faced over the period of time.
WCI: What are your major strengths for retaining the position and brand of MCL?
KM: MCL have a proper planning for backward integration, quality resources, new technology, sound network and a dedicated team, which makes MCL different from others.
The company is best in:
a) Technology: state-of-the-art contemporary technology from Danieli Morgardshammar, Italy
b) The man behind the machine: Mittal Corp Ltd recognizes that its people are one of the most important pillars in the progress and success of the company through the years. Management therefore follows deliberate policy to develop the potential of the employee to maximize productivity, ensuring transparency, fairness, openness and mutual trust to enhance team work with aim to attract best available talent to become partner in achieving excellence of performance benchmarked against best policies followed globally.
c) Geographical location of the Plant with cluster of consuming industries of MCL products like tyre bead manufacturers, LRPC, PC wire manufacturers and host of wire drawing in proximity. Plant is strategically located near to inland container depot across the road to facilitate export movement and import of raw material.
d) Major consuming centers are Delhi- NCR, Gujarat, Maharashtra which are well connected to Pithampur, Indore and the finished goods can be made available to the consumers with JIT concepts.
e) Wide range of product applications – Wire rods mill will increase the client base with different industrial application like tyre bead wire, electrode quality wire, cable armouring, weldmesh wire, pre-stressed concrete wire & strands, barbed concertina, cold heading quality wire, roping wire etc.
WCI: MCL recognizes that its people are one of the most important pillars in the progress and success of the company through the year. Comment?
KM: It is our firm belief human resource is important pillar in running an organization and is most valuable asset. It’s my personal belief that any organization will stand and grow when it treat it employees as family. Focus is on recruiting the best talent, developing new capabilities and retaining the talent. We always believed that growing together with customers, employees, shareholders and communities is the essence of being a good corporate citizen. It was our vision and foresight to pursue innovative approaches and optimize operational efficiencies.