Salem Steel Plant (SSP), a unit of

Steel Authority of India Limited Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is an Indian Public sector undertakings in India, public sector steel manufacturing corporation based in New Delhi. It is the largest Government of India, government-owned steel producer, with an annual pr ...

(SAIL), is a

steel plant A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-finish ...

involved in the production of

stainless steel Stainless steel, also known as inox, corrosion-resistant steel (CRES), or rustless steel, is an iron-based alloy that contains chromium, making it resistant to rust and corrosion. Stainless steel's resistance to corrosion comes from its chromi ...

. It is located along the Salem — Bangalore

National Highway 44 The following highways are numbered 44. Australia * Great Western Highway, Parramatta Road (Sydney) * Captain Cook Highway – Queensland State Route 44 (Regional) * Greensborough Highway Canada * Alberta Highway 44 * Manitoba Highway 44 * O ...

in the foothills of

Kanjamalai Kanjamalai is a hill located 14 km west of Salem, in Salem District of Tamil Nadu, India. The estimated terrain elevation above sea level is about 1643 Iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economi ...

Salem district Salem District is one of the 38 districts of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The district is now divided into Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Namakkal as individual districts. Salem is the district headquarters and other major towns in the dis ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

, India. The plant, not only has an installed capacity of 70,000 tonnes per annum in its cold rolling mill and 3,64,000 tonnes per annum in the hot rolling mill., but it also has the country's first stainless steel blanking facility.

History

On 15 May 1972, the Government of India decided to set up a steel plant at Salem for the production of steel and strips of electrical, stainless and other special and mild steel. The construction started on 13 June 1972, after inauguration by then Minister of Steel and Mines Mohan Kumara Mangalam. The cost of first phase of the project was . It brought the latest technology in cold rolling to India at the time. The initial production capacity was 32,000 tones per annum (cold rolled stainless steel strips and wide sheets). Later on 26 March 1991, the second phase at a cost of was realized, increasing production capacity to 70,000 tones per annum. On 24 December 1993, a blanking line was commissioned with a capacity of 3600 tones Bar stock blanks per annum. This was the first such facility to be established in India.

Production

Production facilities

The major facilities at the plant include * Steel Melting Shop * Cold Rolling Mill Complex * Hot Rolling Mill Complex * Stainless Steel Blanking Line SSP specializes in the production of cold rolled stainless steel in the form of coils and sheets. The raw materials are imported and also supplied by Alloy Steel Plant in

Durgapur Durgapur (), is an industrial hub and a planned urban agglomeration in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is stands on the northern bank of the Damodar river and located in Paschim Bardhaman district. Durgapur is a major centre for producin ...

. The steel melting shop's annual capacity is 1,80,000 tonnes of slabs per annum. The hot-rolling mill and cold-rolling mill have capacities of 3,64,000 and 66,600 tonnes per annum respectively. SSP supplies steel to

BHEL Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) is an Indian central public sector undertaking and the largest government-owned electrical/ industrial technology company. It is owned by the Government of India, with administrative control under ...

Tiruchirapalli Tiruchirappalli (), also known as Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with being the best livable and the cleanest city of Ta ...

, HMT,

Bharat Electronics Limited Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) is an Indian Public Sector Undertakings in India, public sector aerospace and Military, defence Electronics, electronics company, headquartered in Bangalore. It primarily manufactures advanced electronic products ...

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

and Indian Telephone Industries. Stainless steel is also exported to over more than 37 countries including Spain, UK, Japan, Germany and Switzerland. Between 1994 and 1995, around 41,500 tonnes to as many as 27 countries.

Achievements

The units of cold rolling mill complex was ISO 9002 certified in April 1993. The hot rolling mill complex received certification two years later. It received ISO 14001 certification, for its pollution free environment, from German RWTÜV in 1999.

Awards

* SAIL Corporate Award 1994-95 * Annual Safety Awards at Visakhapatnam – Ispat Suraksha Puraskar award * Ferrous Division of Indian Institute of Metals – National Sustainability Award 2007

References

{{Public Sector Undertakings in India Economy of Salem, Tamil Nadu Steel Authority of India Steel plants of India Salem, Tamil Nadu Economy of Tamil Nadu 1981 establishments in Tamil Nadu