February 1, 2005
Plant News: Apr-Dec '04
News from the Plant for the period April to December 2004
The first nine months of Tata Sponge's operations i.e. for the period April-December had been filled a number of activities which primarily comprised of several improvement initiatives being implemented by the company, including its successful venture into changing the grade & size of iron ore to tide over the crisis that took place due to non availability of sized iron ore from its regular source. Coal quality continued to be a matter of concern – the issue is however being addressed by fine tuning various process parameters to accommodate these limitations arising out of inconsistency in quality.
Of the improvement measures initiated during this period, the most prominent were the activities of 32 Jishu Hosen circles which have been formed in the Works with several ‘kobetsu Kaizen' programmes being undertaken by these groups to give fresh impetus a new realm to the maintenance endeavors of the company.
Despite various limitations posed by ore and coal quality, the operations during the first three quarters of the financial year have proved to be fairly good as the plant could register a slightly better performance compared with the previous year, through effective planning & implementation of innovative operational techniques. The summation of this performance heralds our plant into having become one of the most quality conscious & cost competitive coal based DR majors in India , particularly in the wake of the aggressive competition waged by the mini sponge iron plants, which have now been mushrooming predominantly in Eastern India . Our operations team has once again staged a good performance, which has been well supported by the maintenance crews and bolstered by our Marketing Cell by selling all the production at a premium price coupled with a rigorous collection drive to boost the bottom line – a perfect blend of team work and the ‘will' which will aid in Tata Sponge's journey to excellence.
| As at 31st Dec, 05 | In Rs Lakhs |
|---|---|
| Sales & Other Income | 18,347 |
| Profit Before Tax | 7,094 |
| Profit After Tax | 4,482 |
| EPS | 29.10 |
It was therefore a mix of decent production performance and an excellent market scenario to positively reflect upon the company's books of profit, despite increases in the cost of inputs. The company registered a nine monthly PBT of Rs.52 crore, which is the highest achieved since company's inception. Reinforced by the good production and healthy market realization, there was an all round improvement in gross turnover, sales realisation, net worth, PAT & EPS. Some of the financial figures attained during this period are shown alongside.
Sponge Times congratulates the Works team for staging yet another creditable performance and believes that with their proficiency and enthusiasm, they will derive yet higher efficiencies from the two operating kilns while the company gears itself to take on the additional responsibility of installing a third large size kiln which will go into production in early 2006.