Shyam Steel Industries Ltd. Durgapur: Industrial Visit

The shop floor collective of our college organized an industrial visit for the 1st year students to Shyam Steel Industries Ltd., Durgapur plant on  11th September,2015.A total of 37 students along with  Professor Divyesh Shah, professor in-charge of Shop floor went for the trip.

It was a 4 hour journey and we reached there at 10:30AM.We were welcomed and greeted by Mr. Anil Tiwari, the factory representative who had been in contact with the college before hand and helped in co-coordinating and organizing this visit. The students  were escorted to the factory office and each were  given a visitor’s id card. The students were told to be seated inside a conference room and were offered refreshments. The factory representatives were very hospitable and warm. Then the students were given a brief introduction by the General Manager-Mr. Deepak Chaudhary and the Factory Manager as well. They divided the students into three  groups, gave them protective helmets and then they headed towards the factory guided by the authorities. The students were 1st taken to the power house of the plant where they were shown and explained in simple terms as to how they produce electricity for their plant and direct it towards the main unit. It was an integrated factory i.e. they produce everything from scratch. Their electricity requirements is fulfilled by the 10 Megawatts of power which they produce by boiling 10 lakh liters of water and then turning it into steam which in turn is fed to a turbine that helps in converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. Then the students were shown samples of the raw materials used in the production process – dolomite, iron ore, sponge iron and coal. The students were then taken to the next stage of production where they were shown how iron ore is filtered and the magnetic and  non- magnetic substances are separated by a disc magnet and then the filtered iron ore is heated up to 1600 degree Celsius and the oxides are removed. This process helps in making sponge iron which is used to make billets which are then pressed and turned into TMT bars. The last stop in the factory was the testing laboratory where the students were given a demonstration of the strength of the TMT bars which Shyam  Steel produces and which proved that their product’s quality was way higher than the prescribed standards of ‘ISI’. Then the students were taken to the factory’s dining hall and proper vegetarian lunch had been prepared for them. They had even prepared pure Jain food for those students who follow Jainism. After lunch the factory representatives hosted an interactive session for the students where they got to know and learn a lot about the factory’s profile. The factory started its operations in the year 2002 and has transformed a lot since then. It has production capacity of 800tons which includes mainly- TMT bars of various sizes and billets. They even supply their sponge iron to other steel companies. Their electricity requirements are also fulfilled by the Durgapur power limited besides their own production. They regularly check pollution and also give life protection to their factory laborers by providing them safety gears. They also give their workers bonuses, life insurance and mediclaim facilities. After the interactive session was over the managers and other heads bid us farewell with a momento which included- raw materials and a polished 8mm TMT bar with their company name “shyam steel” branded on it. They also gave each of the students a refreshment package for their return journey to Kolkata.

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They  left the factory premises at 4:15pm and reached the college by 9:30pm. The students really enjoyed the industrial visit and it proved to be a fun learning experience for them. They realised that learning can also be done outside the class rooms and that their textbooks are not the only tool of knowledge and learning.
Sourabh Jain
B.Com(H),morning(1st year).