6 / 8
BEST IN CLASS
thoughts and methods. It’s a
pleasure to see our company
working in this way.”
All of these company-wide
initiatives have come together
in a very short time frame. In
12 months, Hritz and his team
have completely turned the
plate mill around on safety,
quality, and productivity. In
fact, the company reduced
OSHA recordables by 66
percent, mill downtime by 54
percent, overall rejections by
47 percent, re-leveling by 76
percent, customer claims by
91 percent and cost of quality
reductions by 50 percent.
“To have these giant energy
companies’ approval is so
important in our line of
business. To get that approval
is not an easy thing, so I’m
proud of our team for getting
us so far in such a short
amount of time.”
By improving the productivity,
efficiency, and quality of its
mills in less than a year, and
in one of the worst steel and
energy markets in the last 20
years, JSW’s leadership now
has another thing on its mind:
investing in the future.
The executive team is
currently seeking investment
into the mill, and possibly
a majority share of the
company, to turn its steel mill
into the future of plate and
pipe steel fabrication. The
Jindal Group, JSW Steel’s
parent company, has decided
to exit the discrete plate
and large diameter energy
transmission pipe business
in the U.S., giving another
company the opportunity
to benefit from JSW Steel’s
recent improvements.
The company’s engineering
and operations team spent
months with engineers from
four of the most prominent
equipment suppliers to
conclude a design of the
widest and most capable
plate mill of the future for
North America.
The investment would
go towards a plethora of
upgrades, including a 3,000
pound-per-square-inch
descaler, inspection stations,
shearing equipment,
accelerated cooling, a new
5,000 ton hot leveler, and
inline cold leveling.
JSW Steel, like
many others in
the industry, is
anticipating
robust
infrastructure
spending after
November’s presidential
election, regardless of
who is elected. It’s the
perfect time to make
steel news history—
which new investors
will be along for
the ride?