Konecranes India is capitalising on its local and global steel industry successes to target growing demand in maintenance and production optimisation expertise to support the country's local production growth and export push.

India's crude steel production now exceeds 106.5 mt, according to figures published this year by the World Steel Association, which means India has replaced Japan as the world's second largest steel producing country behind only China.

The Steel Authority of India (SAIL), India's largest steelmaker, is gearing up for a big expansion drive as it aims to increase its capacity to meet demand from infrastructure and construction projects.

Konecranes'steel industry experience includes highly successful partnerships with leading Indian steelmakers and exporters, including particularly SAIL, which has offered strong testimonials for its Konecranes"service agreement work, which has a KPI for maintaining 98 per cent availability of cranes while maintaining site safety and compliance at the highest levels at SAIL's Bokaro plant.

SAIL Bokaro: Safety and efficiency
The service successes in India are among more than 150 service agreements with steel customers worldwide where Konecranes combines comprehensive local and global resources to deliver outstanding service over fixed terms, including an initial three-year commitment contract with SAIL Bokaro unit in Jharkhand state.

Konecranes" MAINMAN Planned Maintenance product is the foundation of its CARE Preventive Maintenance Program, which is tailored based on individual site needs taking into account the crane usage, operating environment, duty classification, manufacturer's recommendations and local regulations.

Global leadership, local service at SAIL
Konecranes is the world's largest crane service organisation, with more than 600,000 equipment under service contract worldwide. It receives more than two million service calls annually and has more than 600 locations worldwide, including Konecranes India's comprehensive national network from which the company is a leading provider of crane service to the steel industry. Konecranes has been a steel industry material handling leader for generations.

"Our strength in crane service is in providing global leadership with local excellence, which is a foundation upon which we will be building as we expand in partnership with the local steel industry," said Suvendu Das, Konecranes General Manager " East & North Branch.

"SAIL Bokaro's agreement is one of Konecranes India's biggest steel industry agreements, where we are committed in maintaining a KPI of 98 per cent of availability of cranes while maintaining site safety and compliance at the highest levels."

Konecranes" responsibilities at the Bokaro Integrated Steel plant "where the contract started in 2017 ' encompass maintenance of:

• 23 M8 class heavy-duty electric overhead travelling (EOT) cranes, of which 11 cranes are most critical to production and continuous running of the mill
• 23 feed system telphers at the
• CRM III complex
• Motorised coil lifting tongs
• Motorised double C hooks
• and magnets important to production processes.

"Konecranes India has a solid track record in crane maintenance and optimisation services throughout India, including a very harmonious service and maintenance contract at SAIL's Bokaro Integrated plant. This plant will be very important to SAIL's expansion plans as it specialises in flat steel products and special steel," Das adds.
Prem Prakash, AGM/DSO at SAIL's Bokaro plant, says "Konecranes"safety initiatives and processes during its annual maintenance contracts (AMCs) have set an example on the site which encourages other agencies in CRM III."
"The Konecranes team is very proactive regarding safety and they have built up a culture of safety at the site," he says. "The team conducts daily toolbox talks, conducts regular safety inspections of tools and equipment and attends safety meetings and audits on a regular basis. The team constantly encourages technicians and other people to follow safety rules and regulations."

Safety is critical at SAIL Bokaro, which produces flat products like hot rolled coils, hot rolled plates, hot rolled sheets, cold rolled coils, cold rolled sheets, tin mill black plates (TMBP) and galvanised plain and corrugated (GP/GC) sheets.

Das says user experiences such as these verify the benefits of having the largest and most extensive service network in the industry. "We strive to be the leading local crane maintenance provider in all markets. Whether around the corner or around the globe, we can handle assignments ranging from close partnerships with local plants, through to accessing global technologies such as Lifecycle Care in real time, which is a comprehensive and systematic approach to maintenance; connecting data, machines and people."

"It results in the highest lifecycle value "maximising the productivity of uptime and minimising the cost of downtime. Our crane experts apply a systematic "Risk and Recommendation Method" of evaluation and a consultative planning and review process to drive continuous improvement in safety and productivity."

Preventive maintenance
In addition to comprehensive daily maintenance programmes aimed at optimising crane performance and ensuring safety compliance in partnership with local producers, Konecranes also offers preventive maintenance programmes that identify safety risks and performance improvement opportunities. During such programmes, Konecranes certified inspectors and trained technicians provide an assessment of the condition of equipment, evaluating risks, identifying improvement opportunities and providing recommendations. "An active preventive maintenance program is crucial in improving safety and productivity," says Das."Preventive maintenance can reduce downtime and increase reliability. We create a proactive customised maintenance plan based on individual customers' equipment, application and duty cycle. Our experience and expertise throughout India allow us to tailor preventive maintenance to each user's needs."

Complementary compliance inspections, meanwhile, are designed to satisfy regulatory requirements where Konecranes" trained inspectors and technicians can provide expert guidance on local regulations. These essential inspection and preventative maintenance tasks may be bundled into service products which are combined to form individually tailored service programmes for steel industry customers.