That was the line illuminating Tata InnoVista 2012, the annual

That was the line illuminating Tata InnoVista 2012, the annual
festival of creativity Tata companies celebrate, and it was an
appropriately individualistic touch to yet another assemblage
of innovative ideas — some realised, others with promise —
born and bred across the Tata group of companies
By Cynthia Rodrigues, Gayatri Kamath, Sangeeta Menon and Suchita Vemuri
special report
Thinking out loud
Tata InnoVista, which started as a prize-giving ceremony for creative
efforts, has grown into an international, pan-Tata celebration of
innovation, driving employee engagement and recognising those
with the capacity and the courage to believe in a good idea
T
he best way to have a good idea is to
have a lot of ideas,” said Linus Pauling,
American scientist, author and twotime winner of the Nobel Prize. A similar
philosophy pervades InnoVista, the evergrowing, ever-evolving, ever-maturing
celebration of innovation that has become
a highlight of the Tata calender. Held on
April 26 every year — in memory of the great
Indian mathematician S Ramanujan, who
InnoVista: Over the years
Number of entries received
Companies
3,500
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
68 Tata Review
2006
n
2007
June 2012
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
died on that day in 1920 — InnoVista’s stock
has risen with every passing year, as has the
power of the ideas unleashed in this crucible
of creativity.
Innovation was not always such a big deal
in the Tata group. “There was a time when Tata
companies neither recognised nor rewarded
innovativeness,” says Sunil Sinha, chief, Group
Quality Management Services. “We studied the
most innovative companies in the world and
realised that they all had one thing in common:
they recognised and rewarded innovation.
Around that time, we surveyed 2,000 people in
the Tata group and found that almost 95 percent
of them thought that Tata companies were not
innovative.”
The results of the survey were shocking.
Employees unconsciously trod the beaten path
because they were not inspired to be innovative.
Their failure to be innovative exacted a heavy
price, causing Tata companies to slide in terms
of mind leadership and market prominence.
This learning resulted in the launch of the
InnoVista, which is now a global platform for
recognising and rewarding innovation and
creativity in the Tata group.
special report
A time to grow
InnoVista started with one category (for the
most successful innovations). Last year there
were three categories:
nPromising Innovations: For the most successfully implemented innovations during the year.
nThe Leading Edge: For the most innovative business idea.
nDare to Try: For sincere and audacious attempts to create a major innovation that failed to obtain the desired results.
Subsequently, the categories were regularly
revised to reflect the changing nature of the
kind of work that was to be encouraged within
the group. This year, for instance, participants in
The Leading Edge: Unproven Ideas category had
to choose from a set of themes provided by Tata
Industries. These themes related to businesses
that Tata Industries was looking to promote — in
areas such as health care, water management, etc
— where it could later choose to finance some of
the winning entries.
Over the years the participation figures
for InnoVista have increased substantially —
from 101 entries from 35 Tata companies in
2006 to 2,852 entries from 71 Tata companies
in 2012. “The numbers prove that more people
are attempting innovations and taking risks,”
says Ravi Arora, vice president, Tata Quality
Management Services. “We have also seen an
improvement in the quality of innovations.”
This year the Tata Group Innovation Forum
(TGIF), which facilitates innovation within
Tata companies, organised a special coaching
programme two weeks before InnoVista. External
faculty members were invited to train the finalists
on the best way to present their ideas to the jury.
All for one
This year’s winners received their awards from
Cyrus Mistry, deputy chairman, Tata Sons. In
his address Mr Mistry said that he would like
to see more collaboration between people of
different companies across sectors. Taking a
cue from the suggestion, TGIF is working on
introducing a category for the most successful
Cyrus Mistry, deputy chairman of Tata Sons, at the event
R Gopalakrishnan, director, Tata Sons, welcomes the gathering
collaborative innovation. This will require
support infrastructure to be put in place and
that is what the forum has set its mind on
accomplishing.
InnoVista has brought about a sea change
in the attitude of Tata managers vis-à-vis
innovation. It has sent a strong message to Tata
managers that innovation is for everyone, and
not just for research and development teams.
It has also enhanced the perception of the Tata
group as an innovative organisation.
The greatest achievement of InnoVista,
though, has been its ability to unify Tata
managers everywhere in the shared pursuit of
innovation and innovativeness. ¨
— Cynthia Rodrigues
June 2012
n
Tata Review
69
special report
Promising Innovation
Quick and green
A new technology allows Jaguar
Land Rover to make automobiles
that are faster off the mark and have
a lighter load of carbon emissions
The background
The reputation of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR)
has always rested on two great automotive
brands that have become iconic thanks to their
exceptional design and engineering capabilities.
Environmental issues have driven new areas of
innovation at JLR and the low-cost, start-stop
device is a great example of this.
Engine stop-start is a technology that
improves the fuel economy in passenger vehicles
by enabling the engine to be turned off when the
vehicle is stationary at signals and in traffic jams.
The challenges in the way of this innovation
were the speed of the eco-start and the noise of
the restart.
The Belt Integrated Starter Generator
(BISG), the original starting device selected
as JLR’s automatic transmission stop-start
enabler, was widely believed to be the only
way to achieve the start time target of 350
milliseconds (msec). It was felt that the starter
motor used in the 2010 Land Rover FreeLander
TD4, a diesel manual vehicle, could start the
vehicle no faster than the target for manual
transmissions of 750msec.
The apparent benefits of low start time
and low noise of the BISG came at a significant
70 Tata Review
n
June 2012
cost, in investment and the requirement of eight
additional hardware components per vehicle.
The innovation
The JLR team of David Marshall, Ben Neaves,
Adam Brant, Chris Carey and Andrew Senior
believed that with some development the
lower-cost starter motor solution could achieve
a similar start time and acceptable noise
performance. The JLR management directed an
eight-week study into the potential of this idea,
despite having already made commitments to
go the BISG way.
Working with a significant time constraint,
the team conducted a feasibility study on
diesel powertrains. Diesel engine start times
were investigated and work started on a
groundbreaking fuelling strategy that used the
starter motor. The results of this study proved
that the team was on the right track.
Meanwhile, discussions were initiated with
Denso UK, a JLR supplier, to determine how
a starter motor could be designed, validated
and manufactured in time for the launch of the
2012 Jaguar XF, a tough timing challenge. It
was necessary to have close collaboration with
Denso UK in the feasibility study to enable the
development of the system.
The breakthrough came with test
confirmation that the diesel engine could
indeed be reliably started and brought to its
idle speed in less than 350msec, this by using
a conventional starter motor, something
considered impossible by industry standards.
special report
Category: New product Company: Jaguar Land Rover
Innovation: A low-cost stop-start device
Team: Adam Brant, Chris Carey, David Marshall, Ben Neaves, Andrew Senior
Following this confirmation, the system
was developed into production in a short time to
support the 2012 Jaguar XF. This made JLR the first
company in the automotive industry to market the
stop-start feature in an automatic vehicle.
For customers the development ensures
improved fuel economy and vehicle range, and
reduced release of CO2. For JLR the innovation
promises a green, marketable technology that
can ensure a big reduction in the company’s
carbon footprint. ¨
The payoff
Stop-start technology is designed to recover idle
fuel when the vehicle is stationary. On the ‘new
European driving cycle’ — employed to represent
the typical usage of a car in Europe, this also
assesses the emission levels of car engines — it
is estimated that the fuel recovered through this
feature would be approximately 8-10 percent,
depending on the capacity of the vehicle’s engine.
On a Jaguar XF 2.2l this feature would ensure
CO2 reduction of approximately 10-15g/km. This
figure, multiplied by the number of vehicles sold
and the distance they would cover, will ensure a
positive impact on the environment. JLR can now
use the technology in future vehicles.
June 2012
n
Tata Review
71
special report
Promising Innovation
No crack on this track
By making rail steel stronger and
less prone to wear and tear, Tata
Steel in Europe has helped make
railway journeys less expensive
The background
The key to the safe transportation of humans
and goods lies, to a significant extent, in the
systematic and judicious care with which rail
infrastructure is maintained. Every year rail
companies spend enormous amounts of money
in their attempts to ensure that rail tracks are
kept in good condition.
Conventional pearlite rail steels have
undergone incremental increases in hardness
to address the problem of degradation of
tracks. In recent years heat treatment has been
widely used to refine the microstructure to
produce harder and more wear-resistant rails.
These have been successful and account for,
typically, 25 percent of world rail demand.
Considerable research has also been
carried out into the potential use of other
steel microstructures, including bainitic
and martensitic steels, but these have made
minimal impact on the market thus far.
There are three dominant failure modes for
rail in most railways: wear, plastic deformation
and rolling contact fatigue (cracking). Heattreated rails have been successful in improving
the wear performance and resistance to plastic
deformation of rail, as compared with standard
72 Tata Review
n
June 2012
grades, especially on heavy haul railways where
wear and plastic deformation are the dominant
forms of rail degradation. However, many
experts believe that there is an unavoidable
balance to be struck, with softer rail required to
control cracking and harder rail to control wear.
Network Rail, a customer, approached Tata
Steel’s Europe operations for help in optimising
the rail-wheel interface and to develop a railgrade strategy that would minimise their cost.
Initial investigation was focused on performance
on track, to understand degradation
mechanisms and the attributes required in a rail
to offer improved performance. This was then
used to guide laboratory research to develop an
improved rail.
The innovation
The team, led by Dr Jay Jaiswal, began
by challenging the prevalent belief that
increasing hardness was the only way to build
resistance against wear. They experimented
with the microstructure of rail steels to
develop rail steel with improved resistance to
wear and a step change in resistance to rolling
contact fatigue.
They used a three-pronged approach
to metallurgically engineer the pearlite
microstructure in an attempt to reduce the
incidence of ratcheting, which denoted
cumulative plastic strain. This approach
required an increase in the carbon and silicon
content, and additions of vanadium. The
result was the development of HPrail®, high-
special report
Category: New productCompany: Tata Steel’s Europe operations
Innovation: Tata Steel HPrail
Team: George Ibbeson, Dr Jay Jaiswal, Dr Howard Smith, Andrew Wilson, Dale Winney
performance steel, which was initially tested
in seven sites in England and is now being
introduced widely across the network.
The payoff
On the first HPrail trial site, the cost of 1,208m
of HPrail was about 10 percent higher than
standard rail, an increase of about £4,000. This
amount was more than recovered six months
later, when the customer realised savings of
close to £5,000 from not having to undergo
two cycles of maintenance. At this one site
alone, Network Rail has projected savings on
maintenance and inspection over a five-year
period of £140,000 relative to standard rail,
which translates into more than three times
the cost of the rail.
In the United Kingdom alone, the
objective is to grow sales to 40ktpa to address
the high-duty areas of corners and also
switches and crossings. Additional profit for
Tata Steel of £2.4 million per year is projected
for this volume of sales. The income-generating
potential of this innovation will be multiplied
as the product is introduced in other countries
in the European Union and beyond.
Network Rail was delighted with the
HPrail development and it has been
fully engaged in trials, benefit evaluation
and approval for widespread use across
their network.
For Tata Steel, HPrail enhances its railproducts portfolio, differentiating it from
competitors. HPrail has already been granted a
European patent, which will benefit Tata Steel.
This is also an environment-friendly product,
reducing the carbon footprint of rail by over
50 percent over its lifecycle (when compared
with standard-grade rail). Tata Steel’s Europe
operations has the satisfaction of having risen
admirably to a difficult challenge that had been
plaguing the steel rail industry for years. ¨
June 2012
n
Tata Review
73
special report
Promising Innovation
Speed aligned to quality
By using workstation graphic cards
for computation, Tata Technologies
has come up with a way to design
new products quickly and cheaply
The background
There is a rising demand for tools that enable
the design and development of new products
in the fastest possible time, which means with
the shortest time-to-market. This is especially
true in the automotive industry worldwide.
Most automakers opt for new technologies
like knowledge-based engineering (KBE) and
product lifecycle management (PLM) tools
that allow them to drastically reduce cycle time
for new product introduction. KBE empowers
designers to quickly navigate through the
number of iterations involved in the design
process and arrive at an optimised solution.
In today’s product design environment there
exist numerous KBE applications in the fields of
vehicle ergonomics, suspension systems, noisevibration-harshness, safety, regulations, etc. Some
of these have brought design time down from days
to mere minutes, but there are several complex
applications that still take long.
Tata Technologies has developed its own
propriety software framework in line with
next-generation KBE technology, and this has
already been put to work at Tata Motors’ Pune
plant. What the company has done is to speed up
KBE applications by using the graphic cards of
74 Tata Review
n
June 2012
existing workstations for computational purposes,
in essence enabling parallel processing without
having to source additional hardware.
Using graphics processing unit (GPU)
computing and compute unified device
architecture (CUDA), the KBE kernel has
been restructured to incorporate a parallel
programming model that helps applications
run faster on the GPU, thus achieving time
reduction from hours to seconds.
The innovation
In all software applications, arithmetic calculation
happens in the central processing unit (CPU)
of the computer and visualisation or graphics
processing through the GPU. With its newgeneration graphic cards, Tata Technologies has
successfully applied a parallel processing algorithm
for all iterative calculations using threads at one go.
This generates a huge performance boost;
KBE applications, which used to take hours to
deliver results, can now be executed in seconds.
The model also saves on cost as it uses existing
graphic card capability instead of increasing the
hardware configuration.
The next-generation KBE system provides far
more power and flexibility in the development of
engineering products. These systems are designed
to incorporate complex rules, artificial intelligence
and agents to be embedded in the system. In
addition, they provide more direct control over
geometry and topology creation, manipulation
and advanced geometry introspection capabilities.
They leverage reuse of corporate design
special report
Category: New serviceCompany: Tata Technologies
Innovation: KBE applications using GPU computing
Team: Dr Milind Ambardekar, Yogesh Deo, Prasad Kulkarni, Dilip Sahu, Avijit Santra
knowledge to the maximum extent possible,
eliminating mundane tasks within the complex
process of transforming a product concept into
production-ready details.
With the implementation of GPU technology,
KBE applications get even better. Productivity
increases as the designer can do many more
iterations in less amount of time and spend more
time on creative thinking. At Tata Motors all CAD
workstations are equipped with CUDA-enabled
NVIDIA graphic cards. The KBE applications take
advantage of GPU computation capability without
compromising on visualisation quality.
This innovation required a lot of hard work.
Tata Technologies’ programming experts were
trained for two weeks in CUDA technology at
NVIDIA, Pune (NVIDIA is the inventor of the
graphic card and CUDA language). Then the
developers had to delve deep into engineering
mathematics, KBE kernel mathematical
algorithms, parallel processing algorithms,
CUDA, etc before practically rewriting the KBE
algorithms for thread processing. This took up
almost half of the total development time.
The payoff
The impact of the new product is huge. The
savings per workstation configuration works out
to `30,000, which means `15 million in savings
across 500 workstations. By making additional
hardware unnecessary, the company is also
reducing environmental load and contributing to
energy savings. The new technology will not only
improve Tata Motors’ product design time and
quality, but also improve the brand image of Tata
Technologies as a tech-savvy company.
The knowledge-based engineering kernel
(KNEXT) is a totally in-house developed,
proprietary product of Tata Technologies. The
lesson learnt: it’s better to use existing resources
to their optimal strength. And there are big
advantages in thinking laterally. ¨
June 2012
n
Tata Review
75
special report
Promising Innovation
Partnership payback
Tata Power Delhi Distribution used
community development initiatives
in slum clusters to enhance its
revenues, cut distribution losses
and build bridges with consumers
The background
India has one of the highest levels of aggregate
technical and commercial (AT&C) losses in power
distribution, averaging 30 percent of total power
distributed. About 5 percent of this happens due to
power theft in slum clusters, through practices like
‘hooking’ from open network cables.
Within the area served by Tata Power Delhi
Distribution (TPDDL), there are more than 220
slums. Having managed to reduce AT&C losses
from 53 percent in 2002 (at its inception) to 15
percent in 2009, TPDDL decided to focus on
last-mile losses in slum clusters. This challenge
was special and needed a sensitive approach.
Committed by people without much money in
their pockets, power theft in slums is mostly due
to need and the lack of resources to pay.
A new business model was needed to provide
affordable, legitimate electricity connections to
slum dwellers. TPDDL set up a ‘special consumer
group’ to address this issue.
The innovation
The social innovation initiative began with a
survey, conducted in partnership with Koreth
Consultancy, to identify activities that could
76 Tata Review
n
June 2012
serve as bridges to the community, such as
education and health care, along with the
generation of livelihood opportunities that
would enhance the capacity of community
members to pay.
Nonprofits partnered the TPDDL team to
mobilise community members and organise
activities such as free medical facilities,
accident insurance schemes, drug deaddiction programmes, training courses, and
educational support through scholarships and
remedial education.
But the most innovative aspect of the
plan was to involve community members as
franchisees for metering and bill collection
in the slum clusters, thereby introducing new
livelihood and entrepreneurship opportunities.
The franchisee model was creatively used to
encourage consumers to get legal connections,
improve collections, motivate residents to take
advantage of the socioeconomic improvement
offers from TPDDL, and in acting as a bridge
between the company and consumers for
improved services and complaint redress.
In the first year itself about 1,200
community members took advantage of the
vocational training courses for electricians,
plumbers, beauticians, tailors and computer
literacy. About 750 children, all students in
government-run schools, benefited from
scholarships and special tutorial classes, while
about 540 women attended classes to improve
their functional literacy. Arrangements were
made for mobile dispensaries and special health
special report
Category: Support processCompany: Tata Power Delhi Distribution
Innovation: Last mile AT&C loss reduction through corporate sustainability initiative
Team: Sumit Sachdev, B Bhushan Sachdeva, Sudarshan Kumar Saini, Ramkrishna Singh,
Sushil Kumar Srivastava
camps. About 30 drug de-addiction camps were
organised through 2010-11, benefiting more
than 4,600 individuals.
Once interactions with community
members had been established, the TPDDL
team initiated discussions on safe, secure and
affordable electricity connections. The company
offered to waive outstanding dues and provide
metered connections at vastly discounted rates,
with simplified document requirements. New
connections were provided within 24 hours of
application. Endorsement letters from members
of the legislative assembly were accepted as
proof of identity and residence for each of the
households in the slum clusters. Bill payment
dates were synchronised with the residents’
paydays to make payments easier.
Alongside, through technical improvements
that reduced options for ‘hooking’ onto power
cables, TPDDL made the network safer.
The payoff
The business model, based on social innovation,
has created a win-win scenario. For TPDDL it
has helped curtail losses, increase revenue and
create a strong relationship with an important
and large category of customers. For the
community it has provided security of residence,
access to an important service and opened up
entrepreneurship opportunities.
While new connections in the slum clusters
went up by 100,000 within three years, the
collection rate is today more than 90 percent.
Customer satisfaction levels have increased
and the metering of power has led to energy
conservation through more careful consumption.
Doorstep services and spot billing have reduced
the carbon footprint created by paper billing.
The ethos of mutual respect engendered by
this innovative approach has reaped benefits for
everyone involved. ¨
June 2012
n
Tata Review
77
special report
Promising Innovation
Technology tweakers
By rejigging the inside elements
of a crucial piece of equipment,
a team from Tata Chemicals has
improved productivity, reduced
emissions and increased revenues
The background
With nearly half its revenue coming from
agricultural products, the voice of the farmer is
an important one for Tata Chemicals. A critical
finding from farmer customer surveys in India
showed that farmers were unhappy with the
scarcity of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP)
fertiliser, one of Tata Chemicals’ products. The
reason for this was that the DAP plant had low
uptime, caused by a variety of factors.
DAP is produced by having phosphoric
acid react with ammonia and crystallising the
resulting slurry in a granulation process. The
granulator itself is a rotary drum designed with
a slope to help transport the material through
the drum. Ammonium phosphate slurry is
sprayed into the rolling bed of the granulator.
The granulator also contains four ploughshares
that enable the further ammoniation required
for the final product.
The issue with the standard equipment was
that material would build up and accumulate
over the ploughshares inside the granulator. This
meant that the entire production line would
have to be stopped and the build-up manually
broken up. Apart from the downtime of the
78 Tata Review
n
June 2012
plant, this was also a safety concern due to
confined vessel entry.
This build-up may also lead to other
process problems such as recycle duct choking,
fines hopper choking, ammonia scrubber
choking, reactor overflow, etc, all of which
often led to several hours of plant stoppage and,
consequently, loss in production.
What the Tata Chemicals team did was
completely rethink the way the granulator
worked. By changing the original design,
the team solved the problem of build-up
and thereby increased productivity, reduced
material loss, increased output and revenues,
and also improved plant safety. Remarkably,
the total cost of implementing the new design
was only `10,000. The impact — and the
payoff — in terms of higher revenue, is more
than `50 million per year.
The innovation
Traditionally, granulators contain four
ploughshares. The Tata Chemicals team
redesigned the DAP granulator to work with
only three ploughshares. They also changed the
position and angles of the nozzle sprays inside
the drum to optimise for maximum efficiency.
The innovation was not as easy as it
sounds. When the team changed the internal
arrangement of ploughshares, a new problem
arose: there was a slight over-agglomeration
of DAP granules at the granulator outlet,
leading to oversized granules being produced.
The team then concentrated its attention on
special report
Category: Core processCompany: Tata Chemicals
Innovation: Innovative DAP granulation
Team: Santanu Bose, Chandan Chakrabarti, Dibyendu Ghosh, Jitendra Ghosh, Man Mohan
Shrotriya
changing the spray distribution pattern inside
the granulator.
Another problem that occurred was
the loss of ammonia from the granulator. By
the cutting down on one ploughshare, the
ammonia spray zone inside the granulator
bed got reduced and excess ammonia gas
escaped from the granulator. This caused a
decrease in ammonia scrubber efficiency. To
overcome this hurdle the team analysed where
the ammonia loss was occurring inside the
granulator and adjusted the ammonia flow
distribution to minimise the loss.
The payoff
This is the first time in the DAP
manufacturing process that a granulator
has been run with three ploughshares. The
innovation hugely reduces the build-up
formation over the ploughshares. As a result,
plant uptime and revenues have increased,
and that too, without any capital expenditure.
The plant production has stabilised because
frequent start-stops are now being avoided. In
addition, the plant has achieved better technical
efficiency of raw materials (phosphate and
ammonia), which contribute nearly `20 million
to savings. The process can be replicated in
other plants, for instance, the NPK fertiliser
manufacturing plant.
There is also a strong environmental
impact as the solid particulate matter level
(SPM) in the stack has gone down from
150ppm (parts per million) to less than
120ppm without any additional investment.
This has a big safety impact on the surrounding
community, as well as in helping to reduce
the carbon footprint. But the biggest benefit is
to the Indian farmer, who is assured of better
supply of a vital fertiliser. ¨
June 2012
n
Tata Review
79
special report
Promising Innovation
Galvanised to deliver
Tata Steel’s plant at Llanwern,
UK, has invented a new low-cost
technique that produces smooth,
perfectly-coated galvanised steel
The background
With green concerns reigning supreme, car
manufacturers are looking for steel that gives
their vehicles better performance, not to
mention a smaller carbon footprint. In other
words, they need steels that are lighter but
stronger.
Steels alloyed with manganese, silicon
and aluminium are called advanced highstrength steel (AHSS). These steels are used to
make cars and other vehicles lightweight and,
hence, more fuel efficient, yet safer thanks to
better crash-resistance performance.
The Zodiac unit of Tata Steel’s Europe
operations is a hot-dip strip steel galvanising
plant at Llanwern, UK, that processes 420,000
tonnes of AHSS every year. Galvanisation
is the process of applying a protective zinc
coating to steel or iron in order to prevent
rusting and corrosion.
What Zodiac does is heat treat the
steel in a gas-fired furnace to produce a
surface that is not oxidised, and then apply
a galvanised coating by way of a molten zinc
bath to protect the steel against corrosion.
The problem with conventional
galvanisation techniques is that the steel
80 Tata Review
n
June 2012
produced is inconsistently or inadequately
coated. There are always bare spots that are
prone to rusting. In spite of talking to other
galvanisers around the world, the Zodiac team
could not find an easy solution. To change the
existing techniques would have cost the unit at
least £500,000 and possibly led to patent issues.
The Zodiac team put on its thinking
cap to work out a new processing technique.
In a completely in-house initiative, it has
conceived, designed and implemented
an innovative pre-oxidation technique
that provides ‘wettability’ for successfully
galvanising AHSS.
This solution is not just a much better
process, it is also cheaper. The new technique
and installed equipment provide cost-effective
and improved galvanised coating quality and
consistency, and no little bit of satisfaction.
This allows Zodiac to charge a price
premium for its higher-quality product. It has
already successfully commercialised one of its
product lines and is working to develop other
AHSS grades. And its customers — BMW,
Jaguar Land Rover and Nissan — are already
buying the new steel.
The innovation
Pre-oxidation is the best technique for
galvanising AHSS. However, the standard
practice is to achieve pre-oxidation by
adjusting the combustion ratio control of
direct fired burners.
What the Zodiac team did was to look
special report
Category: Support process Company: Tata Steel’s Europe operations
Innovation: Advanced high-strength steel coating
Team: Iwan Davies and Craig Phillips
at novel ways to “wet the surface” with zinc.
Zodiac developed a new technique that
involves applying a jet of gas at a specific
oxygen concentration directly onto the strip
surface within the annealing furnace.
New equipment has been designed to
apply the gas mixture evenly across the strip
surface. Additionally, a gas-mixing system
was conceived to provide an accurate and
consistent supply of oxygen.
The biggest concern during
implementation was designing a system that
was intrinsically safe and did not affect the
integrity of the annealing furnace. A detailed
hazard study was done and the technology
was adapted for full safety.
In order to minimise downtime during
the changeover, a full management-of-change
study was done. All trials and modifications
were conducted within the normal and
scheduled maintenance periods.
The payoff
There are several benefits of Zodiac’s
innovative technique. There is a cost saving in
that the in-house developed solution was less
expensive and cost only £150,000. Then there
is the fact that Tata Europe can gain increases
on the enhanced product over average hot dip
galvanised sales values.
Zodiac is now the only known
galvanising line in the world to use this
solution. A patent has been filed and is in the
process of being granted. Moreover, the team
has developed a high degree of expertise in
pre-oxidation technology, better than any
other galvaniser in the world.
Then there is the very satisfying
insight that solutions to problems can come
from within. All that is needed is a sound
understanding of the key principles of the
problem and a thirst for developing a better
solution. ¨
June 2012
n
Tata Review
81
special report
The Leading Edge
Hope and more in HOPS
The work of a team from Tata
Chemicals points the way to a
breakthrough reduction in the cost
of generating alternative energy
The background
Direct methanol fuel cells and polymer
electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells are
highly efficient energy delivery systems and an
alternative to conventional energy. However, the
biggest stumbling block to adoption of fuel cells
is their high cost.
Fuel cells use expensive proton-conducting
membranes that are used as electrolytes in both
methanol and PEM fuel cells. These membranes
account for half the cost of the membrane
electrolyte assembly.
Until the cost of production of PEM fuel
cells is reduced by at least 30 percent, it will
be difficult to create a significant commercial
market for them in India.
The innovation
Based on a detailed, component-wise analysis
of the costing of the various parts of PEM fuel
cells, a team from Tata Chemicals decided to
develop a new type of membrane. They came
up with the idea of replacing the costly Nafion
membrane with a novel transparent sulphonic
acid containing hybrid oxide polymer (HOP).
The HOP membrane is 50 times cheaper
than the Nafion membrane (at just `4,974
82 Tata Review
n
June 2012
per kg as compared to `248,700 per kg). Besides
the cost, HOP has several advantages over
commercial Nafion. The acid site in HOP is
four times higher than Nafion. This acid group
(SO3H) is responsible for proton conduction in
the membrane.
At low relative humidity (of less than 20
percent), the proton conductivity of HOP is 10
times higher than that of Nafion. Even at very
high relative humidity (more than 90 percent),
the proton conductivity of HOP is nine times
higher than Nafion’s.
Additionally, HOP has negligible
methanol crossover because it is a nonporous
material. Nafion’s porosity allows free
methanol crossover, which reduces the
efficiency of methanol utilisation and poisons
the cathode catalyst.
Unlike Nafion, which can be operated at
temperatures of up to 80°C only, HOP can be
operated even at 160°C. Anode catalysts get
poisoned in the presence of carbon monoxide,
if operated below 150°C. Even at 80°C, HOP is
expected to perform better than Nafion because
of higher proton conductivity.
Moreover, unlike Nafion, HOP swells
relatively less in water or methanol. HOP would
significantly enhance the scope of green fuel
cells for large (up to 100MW), medium and
small scale (1-5KW) power generation units.
HOP will also have a substantial impact
on metrics relating to economic (more costeffective), social (can enable better lighting
in villages) and environmental (100 percent
special report
Category: Unproven ideas Company: Tata Chemicals
Innovation: Development of novel membranes for fuel cells
Team: Alkesh Ahire and Dr Nawal Mal
green with zero pollution) dimensions. Its low
cost will make it affordable in more sectors,
among them construction, automobiles and
telecom services.
Apart from fuel cells, there’s another
market for HOP. In India 85-90 percent
of caustic soda plants are chloro-alkali
plants, which use the Nafion membrane.
Replacing Nafion with HOP will provide the
plants with considerable benefits, including
cost reduction.
The payoff
At present no company produces HOP. In other
words, there is no alternative to the Nafion
membrane — owned by DuPont — in Indian
and worldwide markets. If developed, HOP
would be the first alternative to Nafion.
Let’s look at some numbers to put this
in perspective. The size of the membrane
industry for fuel cells in the United States
alone is a whopping $3.4 billion; this is
expected to grow by a further 8 percent by the
year 2014.
The global membrane industry for chlorocaustic plants is an estimated $4.73 billion.
Thus, the size of the membrane industry for just
these two segments is $8.13 billion. In India, the
membrane market for chloro-caustic plants and
cheap fuel cells that can replace diesel generator
sets is estimated at `120 billion.
If successfully developed and presented as
an alternative to existing options, HOP could
deliver plenty in revenue for Tata Chemicals.
For instance, replacing Nafion membrane in 10
percent of the chloro-caustic plants worldwide
would translate into `21.7 billion. A 50 percent
market share to replace diesel generator sets
by fuel cells in India would translate into
`11.5 billion.
But the bigger story will be the impact of
making fuel cell technology cheaper. That would
be one way to ensure the world gets another step
closer generating greener energy. ¨
June 2012
n
Tata Review
83
special report
The Leading Edge
Silica boost for nutrition
Tata Chemicals is working on a
health drink that delivers nutrition
through silica nanoparticles
The background
It is one of the great ironies of our time: a
shocking 60 percent of children under five years
of age die due to malnutrition in developing
countries even as a staggering 1.2 billion suffer
from obesity. Worse, a significant section of the
society has begun its journey away from fresh
food towards unhealthy and processed junk
food, adding another layer of woefulness to the
issue of nutrition.
Poor nutrition, owing to financial reasons
or to a general lack of awareness, can be blamed
for a large number of ailments, especially among
the urban population. The overexploitation of
existing agricultural resources has resulted in
nutrient-deficient crops.
A complex combination of factors are
involved in the widespread lack of nutrition,
which has become such a hugely worrying social
phenomenon. The solution lies in providing the
right nutrition at the right cost.
The innovation
The trigger for the innovation was provided by
Tata Chemicals’ patented low-cost process for the
synthesis of high surface area silica nanoparticles
that are bio-compatible. Apart from bulk
applications of silica (as with rubber, paint and
84 Tata Review
n
June 2012
in the construction industry), the team started
exploring niche applications for silica.
Since silica nanoparticles are highly porous
and have a high surface area (~500 m2/g),
the team began looking at the possibility of
using these particles as delivery vehicles for
pharmaceutical, agricultural and other products,
by encapsulating certain plant micronutrients
and drugs. The results were impressive: these
particles displayed great versatility at loading
water soluble as well as insoluble compounds.
Silica is essential in the development of the
human skeleton and calcium deposition. It helps
to prevent baldness, stimulates healthier hair
growth and is believed to be useful in preventing
veins and arteries from getting hard and stiff.
As we age, scientific measurements have shown,
the ability of the human body to absorb silica
reduces. Moreover, silica is not present in
sufficient amounts in a wide variety of foodstuffs
today due to food processing; this makes silica
supplementation essential.
Armed with these insights, the Tata
Chemicals team developed the idea of
combining the inherent nutrition of silica
with its ability to load water soluble and
insoluble compounds to find a solution to the
nutrition problem: to add essential nutrients
such as zinc, iron, copper, magnesium, etc,
vitamins (soluble and insoluble), omega 3 and
6 fatty acids into the silica nanoparticles for
delivering of nutrition to humans.
Nutrient-loaded silica nanoparticles serve
a dual purpose: they are inherently nutritious
special report
Category: Unproven ideasCompany: Tata Chemicals
Innovation: Nutritious silica nanoparticles for health
Team: Dr Anand Gole and Dr Debabrata Rautaray
and they work well as an carrier of other
nutrients. This, along with a cost-effective
process, seemed like an ideal combination to
target an entire range of stakeholders. The Tata
Chemicals team proposed the use of nutrientloaded silica nanoparticles as ingredients
for food, health drinks and food additives to
benefit all sections of society.
The payoff
To put the potential of the innovation in
perspective, the vitamins and minerals market
was estimated at $11.7 billion in 2006, whereas
the sports nutrition product market was
estimated at $6.6 million in 2004.
Silica particles, by themselves or fortified
with different value-added molecules and
elements, have been sold by a number of small
companies in the West. The Tata Chemicals
team proposes developing a silica-based
health drink with all the added minerals,
vitamins and essential fatty acids, customised
for all ages. This is in alignment with the
nutraceuticals business that Tata Chemicals
has set its mind on pursuing.
There’s potential also in the food additives
market as silica is a well-known anti-caking
agent. The plan is to fortify the silica particles
with different additives and then add to salt or
other foodstuffs, providing a value addition to
the existing product.
Tata Chemicals has an existing consumer
products business and an upcoming
nutraceuticals business, where the new
product would fit in perfectly. The existing
distribution channels in these businesses can
be used for the new product as well.
Although there are couple of US-based
multinationals selling similar products in
the market, Tata Chemicals would have the
advantage of being cost competitive and
innovative, which will give it wider reach
across various socioeconomic segments
of consumers. ¨
June 2012
n
Tata Review
85
special report
The Leading Edge
A solution that lasts
By enhancing the durability of the
embedded rail lines used in urban
centres, Tata Steel in Europe has
placed itself on a profitable track
with a premium product
The background
Ever wondered what happens as that tram
passes through your city centre, taking people
to their workplaces, homes or wherever it is
they want to go? The tramway often shares
its route with road vehicles and its rails are,
therefore, embedded in the road surface. As it
winds its way through the city, the wear and
tear is acute, especially where there are steep
gradients and tight curves.
Replacing the embedded track poses a
complex challenge to light-rail infrastructure
managers: besides the high cost of excavation,
there is also disruption to road traffic sharing
the route. The solution — as envisaged by Tata
Steel’s Europe operations — lies in a premium
grade grooved rail that is designed to extend
the track’s serviceable life, provide increased
resistance to wear-and-contact fatigue, and
also be restorable by welding.
The innovation
The team at Tata Steel’s Europe operations set
out with the idea of creating a harder rail steel
that could be repaired through welding and,
thereby, have a longer usage period. The result
86 Tata Review
n
June 2012
was the 330V, which has a wear resistance
above that of anything available in the market
and is compatible with Tata Steel’s patented
high-integrity weld-repair process.
The 330V, which the company has
patented, addresses the customer requirement
for a premium product to be used on the tight
radius corners that are required for trams in
an urban environment.
Modern rail steels, typically, have a fully
pearlitic microstructure, comprising layers
of a ‘hard’ cementite phase and a ‘soft’ ferrite
phase. Traditionally, the properties of the rail
are modified by alloy additions, giving added
solution strengthening to the ferrite, or by
additional heat treatment processing to refine
the pearlite layer thickness.
The first novel step in the 330V
development is the precipitation hardening of
the ferrite layers. Precise levels of vanadium
are added; these precipitate as vanadium
carbides in the ferrite matrix, resulting in
higher wear and rolling contact fatigue
resistance than is possible through solid
solution strengthening alone.
The 330V is a premium-grade steel
which, unlike heat-treated premium grades,
is weld-restorable in service. Levels of
carbon and other alloying additions are
carefully chosen and controlled, such that
the martensite start-and-finish temperatures
allow a robust weld deposit to be applied
to the gauge corner, in line with Tata Steel’s
patented weld-restoration procedure.
special report
Category: Proven technologies Company: Tata Steel’s Europe operations
Innovation: 330V premium grade rail for embedded track
Team: Dr Jay Jaiswal, Dr Edward Mcgee, Mike Poulter, Pascal Secordel, Dr Howard Smith
This composition is the only rail steel in
the market that offers first-life performance
that is the equivalent of the best available
heat-treated product, as well as the weldreparability of standard grade. This allows a
worn rail to be restored to its original profile
(rather than have it be replaced).
Compared with downstream heattreatment processing, which requires an
additional plant and incurs additional cost,
the 330V achieves these premium properties
in the ‘as-rolled’ condition through the
intelligent design of chemical composition.
The payoff
The development of 330V allows Tata Steel’s
Europe operations to overcome the competitive
disadvantage it faced vis-a-vis its rival Voest
Alpine on wear-and-contact fatigue resistance,
and to create a unique selling point of a weldrepairable premium grade rail.
Increasing the serviceable life of grooved
rail and reducing the frequency of replacement
provide significant financial benefit to the
network operator, since the cost of rail only
makes up a fraction of the cost of replacement
(less than 10 percent).
The market price for rival heat-treated rail
is 10-15 percent above standard grade based
on first-life benefits. Since weld restoration
helps it achieve multiple lives, the 330V offers
considerable additional value over competing
products.
Lengths of 330V rail are now with some
of the company’s light-rail customers and
awaiting installation at the trial sites of Sheffield
Supertram, the Brussels Metro and French
tramways in Paris and Strasbourg. These are
expected to be installed in 2012.
The demand for such a premium product
is expected to increase Tata Steel’s market share
in this segment from 25 percent to 50 percent
by 2016, generating an additional £1 million in
profits every year. ¨
June 2012
n
Tata Review
87
special report
The Leading Edge
Low is the high here
Thanks to a unique process that
enables the reduction of ash content
in the coal it sources, Tata Steel is in
a position to reap multiple benefits
The background
As oil sources become scarce, the importance of
coal for energy needs has got reinforced. While
that may seem like good news for India — the
world’s third-largest coal producer — the poor
quality of coal being mined in the country tones
down much of the optimism.
High ash content makes Indian coal unfit
for direct use in industrial applications like steel
making, power generation and synthetic fuel
generation. Add to that Indian coal’s lower calorific
value and poor combustibility. For efficient and
sustainable steel production, plants across the
world need coal with ash content of 8-10 percent.
Indian steelmakers are faced with the problem of
run-of-mine (ROM) ash content as high as 30-35
percent.
Tata Steel’s washeries currently produce
coal with an ash level of 15 percent at 39 percent
yield, using physical beneficiation techniques.
In 2006, the company set itself the target of
achieving 8 percent ash content at 45 percent
yield, either by altering its existing process or by
developing a new technology.
Baseline studies indicated that modifying
the existing process would improve yield by a
mere 4-5 percent. Therefore, Tata Steel’s research
88 Tata Review
n
June 2012
department took on the challenge of achieving 8
percent ash clean coal without diminishing the
yield by developing a new technology.
The innovation
A team comprising Dr PS Dash, RK Lingam, SK
Sriramoju, A Suresh and Dr PK Banerjee came up
with this solution, using leaching technology to
produce low-ash coal from captive mines.
The leaching process involves addition of
chemicals which react with the minerals locked
inside the coal matrix, allowing them to be easily
removed. The process can reduce ash content by
about 60 percent, at more than 70 percent yield,
without any deterioration in the coking properties.
A specific breakthrough in this innovation
is the development of a unique, patented processflow sheet for the leaching of coal. Another is the
development of the regeneration process for the
alkali reagent used in the process. By injecting
carbon dioxide into the solution, silica present in
the spent solution as sodium silicate is converted to
pure silica and sodium carbonate. The precipitate is
removed by filtration and the filtrate is causticised
to regenerate the caustic solution. This yields
efficiency of more than 95 percent regeneration
(compared with the 80 percent achieved by
conventional regeneration).
Since this technology can also be applied
with non-coking coals, the low-ash coal thus
produced can be utilised for pulverised coal
injection (PCI). As 1 tonne of PCI coal can
replace 1.4 tonne of coking coal for steel
production, the use of this technology can ensure
special report
Category: Proven technologies Company: Tata Steel
Innovation: Clean coal for green steel
Team: Dr PK Banerjee, Dr Pratik Swarup Dash, Ravi Kumar Lingam, Santosh Kumar Sriramoju,
A Suresh
the longevity of India’s coking coal reserves.
Moreover, the average net efficiency of coalbased power plants in India is just 33 percent,
mainly due to the low quality of Indian coal.
The combustion of low-ash coal can improve
the efficiency of a power plant to 53 percent and
reduce CO2 emissions by 24 percent.
This chemical-leaching technology for
coal is unique. Although the application of
leaching technology for ores is well established,
the implementation of leaching for coal on a
commercial scale is still in the research phase due
to the various complexities in scaling up.
The payoff
Tata Steel’s ‘8 percent ash coal’ project was
launched as a ‘seeding strategy’ to ensure raw
material security. After completing trials, it is set
to become a ‘harvesting strategy’ and a part of
future investment plans.
The technology can be applied to both coking
and non-coking coals, enabling maximum
utilisation. Middlings and rejects from the
coal washeries contain around 50 percent
carbon, which can be utilised as coking coal by
way of the leaching method. At present, Tata
Steel’s production capacity is about 6.8mtpa. It is
estimated that even a 1 percent drop in ash from
the current level with same yield could benefit
the company to the tune of `580 million per
year. Similarly, every 1 percent increase in yield
maintaining the same ash percentage could save
up to `300 million annually.
The technology will also help Tata Steel
achieve its target of 1.8 tonne of CO2 emission
per tonne of steel by 2012 and 1.5 tonne by 2020
(against the present 2 tonne CO2 per tonne of
steel produced). The leaching technology will
help in achieving this goal by producing lowash, clean coal for coke, by consuming CO2 for
chemical reagent regeneration and in
acid leaching. ¨
June 2012
n
Tata Review
89
special report
The Leading Edge
No need to choose now
Jaguar Land Rover has engineered
an ‘automatic’ technology that
lightens the load of off-road driving
by making it easier for those who find
it difficult to pick from many options
The background
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) produces the finest
all-terrain vehicles in the world and this makes
off-road capability is a core attribute of the brand.
Over the years JLR has retained its leadership
position in this space with innovative off-road
technologies such as ‘terrain response’ (TR). But
TR, introduced in 2004, has found its match is
technologies introduced by the competition. The
felt need, therefore, was for JLR to develop a new
technology that would increase the competitive
advantage of its models.
Data indicated that many JLR customers
drive their vehicles off-road at least once per
month on a range of terrains. Driving off-road
places a significant workload on the driver,
and it involves tasks such as selecting vehicle
gear, obstacle recognition and avoidance, and
planning the vehicle path. In JLR vehicles the
tasks include selecting the appropriate TR
special programme and changing the vehicle
configuration by selecting the appropriate
air suspension ride height (standard or offroad) and transfer box ratio (high or low
range). According to available data, customers
seldom use these special programmes and
90 Tata Review
n
June 2012
configurations. Such insights provided the
inspiration for the ‘automatic terrain response’
(ATR) that was developed.
The innovation
Sam Anker, Dan Dennehy, Dr Andrew
Fairgrieve, Elliot Hemes and James Kelly
developed the ATR system, a unique
technology which significantly reduces driver
workload during off-road driving by removing
the need for the driver to recognise that a
special programme or vehicle configuration
needs to be changed.
The innovative technology uses sensor
fusion and mathematical modelling techniques
to determine terrain conditions. This information
is used to automatically optimise the vehicle
system settings for the terrain, by automatically
selecting the optimum special programme for the
conditions. And it aids vehicle configuration by
advising the driver about which transfer box ratio
and air suspension ride height to select.
The JLR team also developed a human
machine interface (HMI) that allows selection
of the automatic special programme, retains
the manual special programme selection
facility, provides the driver advice, is simple and
intuitive to operate during of off-road driving,
integrates with the existing TR HMI, and
meets the company’s standards and technical
guidelines. The solution was to develop new
switchgear and driver information messages.
The automatic programme selection
allows drivers to make full use of the off-road
special report
Category: Proven technologies Company: Jaguar Land Rover
Innovation: Terrain Response 2: Automatic Terrain Response system
Team: Sam Anker, Dan Dennehy, Dr Andrew Fairgrieve, Elliot Hemes, James Kelly
capability of the vehicle more easily since they
don’t need to manually configure the vehicle.
Such a reduction in the driver’s workload is
particularly beneficial to off-road drivers who
are new to the game.
The payoff
ATR offers JLR a significant feature enhancement
over its competition, besides increasing the
appeal of its products and protecting its market
leadership in the off-road capability attribute.
This patented technology provides a
revenue generation opportunity with a ‘surprise
and delight’ feature that improves the product
appeal, creates a unique selling proposition
and counters the decrease in perceived value of
the existing TR feature (caused by competitor
advancements).
ATR also reaffirms JLR’s existing offroad feature set, increasing both the vehicle’s
capabilities and the utilisation of those
capabilities, while strengthening the brand’s
market leadership position and improving
customer satisfaction. Additionally, the
technology has a green side to it, given that
automatic and optimal configuration of the
vehicle to prevailing conditions minimises the
vehicle’s environmental impact.
As the technology is a patented JLR
property, it has potential to generate further
revenue through licensing. Being a flexible
and adaptable technology, it can be used in
other applications, such as the JaguarDrive
Control system on Jaguar nameplates. It is
also scalable and provides a low-cost route for
further iterations of the TR feature set.
ATR will be introduced in forthcoming
Land Rover models, beginning with the
13MY Range Rover in 2012 and the 14MY
Range Rover Sport in 2013. The technology
may then be rolled out on new and existing
Jaguar and Land Rover products. Off-road
driving with JLR, in the circumstances, is set
to get smoother. ¨
June 2012
n
Tata Review
91
special report
Dare to Try
A pest of a problem
Rallis India’s attempts to make an
important herbicide compliant on
safety and environmental norms
were a failure, but far from futile
The background
Rallis India is a well-known and reputed player
in the business of providing solutions to farmers.
These solutions include agrochemicals, plantgrowth nutrients, seeds and fertilisers.
Product P, a leading herbicide in Rallis’s
portfolio, proved its position as a critical seller
for the company, earning a turnover of about
`67 million last year. This chemical has been
highly successful in the European market and it
has been registered as a safe product, primarily
because it has no or very low levels of nitroso
compound impurity.
For Rallis, there was an urgent need to
make Product P completely safe in the interests
of large-scale handling of the product, as
the nitroso compound is known to impart
mutagenicity. Another aspect of this product
was its colour and the sedimentation of black
particulates when dissolved in solvents.
Customers in European countries had wanted
the colour to be pale yellowish instead of
dark brown and that the product be free from
suspended black particulate matter (these create
spray problems on the field).
In view of the growing demand for Product
P in overseas markets, any improvements in
92 Tata Review
n
June 2012
quality would have a positive environmental
impact, ensuring customer satisfaction and
enhanced volume growth.
The innovation
It was necessary to improve the quality of the
herbicide by removing the impurity through a
safe and optimised process. A cross-functional
team, which included Sebastian Almeida, Suhas
Kodgule, Tapas Kumar Nandi, Anna Bobade and
Chandrashekhar Gharat, was formed to make
Product P free from impurity.
The team conducted trials in the laboratory
using conventional processes. These proved
to be ineffective and failed to satisfy quality
requirements. When conventional methods failed,
the team realised the need for unconventional
solutions. They decided to go in for highertemperature treatment to distil the nitroso
compound from the product. A careful study
was conducted by internal and external experts
(because higher temperatures with nitroso
compounds are a known explosion hazard). The
operational safety with which the team conducted
the tests was validated by accredited labs such as
Intertek and Chilworth.
Initially, the team members studied the
trends at higher temperatures before selecting
the parameters to operate. At this point, they
considered incorporating a catalyst which
would react during the distillation process
and decompose the impurities at a lower
temperature, causing them to be released in a
gaseous form. This innovative idea had never
special report
company: Rallis India
Innovation: Making Product P herbicide safe
Team: Sebastian Almeida, Anna Bobade, Chandrashekhar Gharat, Suhas Kodgule,
Tapas Kumar Nandi
been attempted before at the operational level.
The team conducted 52 trials in all, using the
learnings from each trial to improve the process.
The trials were conducted in association with
Technoforce at Nashik in Maharashtra, India.
Sixteen trials were conducted in an ‘agitated
thin-film evaporator’. The very first trial at the
desired high temperature saw a fire break out in
the residue tank on account of pressurisation,
followed by the bursting of the safety nozzle.
Trials were then resumed at a lower temperature
after analysing the cause behind this failure and
taking the necessary precautions. However, it did
not yield the desired results; the overall recovery
rate was only 82 percent. The risk was found to be
greater at temperatures higher than 275°C.
As a further improvement, short-path
distillation was attempted at a safe temperature
and 36 trials were undertaken. These yielded
recovery rates ranging from 82 to 95 percent.
The sedimentation was brought down from 5–6
percent to less than 1 percent. The colour was
transformed to a brilliant orange, but the trials
were only partially successful on the impurity
content and mutagenicity test.
The payoff
Fifteen samples were checked randomly. Of these,
13 failed the test, resulting in a success rate of 14
percent. Inconsistent product recovery was another
adverse consequence. Had the effort succeeded,
Rallis could have potentially saved the equivalent
of 262.2mt per annum in CO2 emissions. It would
also have resulted in reduced safety hazards,
improved process time cycles, reduced cost of
manpower and consumables, ensured better
housekeeping, and created an additional revenue
of around `77 million. Impressed with the
potential inherent in the innovation, the team is
determined to tackle the problem afresh. ¨
June 2012
n
Tata Review
93