An Analysis of the A Study of Electronic Data

Storage Steel Factory in Mumbai

At
Systems Domain Bangalore. BY

SHAMSHUDDIN MERCHANT Roll No :- 511114294

Under the guidance of

In partial fulfilment of the requirement For the award of the degree Of MBA IN Information Systems SMU Sikkim Manipal University NOV 2012
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STUDENTS DECLARATION

I, SHAMSHUDDIN here by declare that this project report titled A Study of Electronic Data Storage Steel Factory in Mumbai is based on original project study conducted at CIERA SOFTECH, Bangalore.

Place: Bangalore Date: Signature of

SHAMSHUDDIN

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

According to the dictionary, wisdom has three components: Knowledge, Insight and Good Sense, or Judgment. One can get Management knowledge from a management course syllabus, but the insight and good sense that knowledge into wisdom comes only from experience. I would thank Balasudhakar.M, my project guide, for his considerate and immense help without which this report would not have been possible. I express my gratitude to Mr. Deepthi .S, Senior Executive- HR, CIERA SOFTECH. and the employees in the company for lending me valuable support for the completion of my project.

Finally I would like to thank every one of my family members and friends who have directly or indirectly contributed to successful completion of my project.
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BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

Certified that this project report titled A Study of Electronic Data Storage Steel Factory in Mumbai is the Bonafide work of

SHAMSHUDDIN who carried out the project work under my

supervision in my company. He has attended all the required guidance session held.

Signature

Balasudhakar.M

Ciera Softech

CONTENTS 1. Abstract

2. Introduction 3. Structure of Indian steel industry 4. SWOT Analysis 5. Logistics in Indian steel industry
6. Future outlook for the Indian steel industry

7. Electronic Data Storage Introduction 8. Underlying Technology 9. Structure 10. Data Storage 11. Hardware 12. HVD

13. Conclusion 14. Reference

ABSTRACT

The Indian steel industry has made a rapid progress on strong fundamentals over the recent few years. The industry is getting all essential ingredients required for dynamic growth. The government is backing the industry through favorable industrial reforms, while the private sector is supporting it with investments worth billions of dollars. Even in the tough times of economic slowdown, the industry succeeded to sustain its positive growth momentum on the strong fundamentals of domestic demand from construction, automobile and infrastructure sectors. With an impressive track record, the country has become a reputed name in the world steel industry. In this report a brief overview on the Indian steel industry is given. Its current position and future outlook is also discussed. Also the Indian steel industry with respect to logistics is also discussed to certain extent. SWOT analysis for the Indian steel industry is done to find out the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and treats faced by the industry. Logistics and supply chain is one of the key drawbacks for the Indian steel industry. In this report the current scenario of handling and transportation of steel
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is discussed briefly. Finally some measures which are to be taken by the industry to be competent in the global market are analyzed and discussed.

INTRODUCTION

Iron and steel represents one of the most energy intensive sectors in any economy and therefore this industry has such a prominent role. Steel industry in India has dominated the other energy intensive industries such as aluminum, cement, fertilizers, glass and paper etc. With the improvement in production technologies and transport means, demand for steel production is increasing. Due to many reasons such as the infrastructure development in developing countries, improvements in automobile industry, increasing industrial capacity etc, demand for steel is increasing drastically. Industries which are closely related to steel industry and helping the growth of Indian steel industry are power generation, infrastructure, urban and rural infrastructure and real estates. There have been almost revolutionary changes in the global steel scene with fierce competitive pressures on performance, productivity, price reduction and customer satisfaction. National boundaries have melted to encompass an ever increasing world market. Trade in steel products has been on the upswing with the production facilities of both the developed and the developing countries complementing each other in the making of steel of different grades and specialty for the world market. Also with increasing concerns such as eco friendly production, reduction in carbon emissions, safe and hygienic transportation etc made global steel manufacturers to concentrate on production and supply processes.

The steel industry is also highly material intensive. Generally, 1 tons of steel output requires handling and transportation of around 4 tons of bulk materials. Therefore, logistics play a critical role in determining the operational efficiency and cost structure of a steel producer. According to industry estimates, these costs account for over 15% of the total costs of Indian producers of steel. In addition, the specific investment (rupees per ton of capacity) requirement for a steel project is high and therefore the capital outlay for a typical steel project is quite large. Consequently, success or failure in executing projects may impact the financial health of steel companies quite significantly. Structure of Indian steel industry: India has emerged as the 3rd largest exporter of iron ore behind Brazil and Australia. India stands in top 10 countries in producing steel in the world. But its global trade only accounts for only 2% of the global steel trade. The domestic steel industry reported rapid growth during the period between 2003-04 and 2007-08, and steel producers responded positively to this by announcing large Greenfield or Brownfield expansion projects. Almost all domestic steel companies, along with some international majors, have announced large expansion projects. While some of the projects are likely to be deferred or shelved, the capital expenditure for the industry would still be large, given the high capital intensity of steel projects. The last decade of the twentieth century will go down as one of the most turbulent phases for Indian steel industry. The period witnessed sweeping changes in the steel arena, transformation of self contained national markets into linked global markets and consequent fierce competition; oversupply of most kinds of steel resulting in no real appreciation of steel prices and simultaneous rise in input cost;
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and most importantly, rise in customer expectations. The profitability of Indian steel companies has improved in 2009-10 on a quarter-on-quarter basis. Besides a somewhat improving steel price scenario, a significant softening of iron ore and coking coal prices has also contributed to this improvement. India with its abundant availability of high grade iron ore, the requisite technical base and cheap skilled labor is thus well placed for the development of steel industry and to provide a strong manufacturing base for the metallurgical industries. Companies in more mature industrial countries like India are increasingly forced to look to assets (and growth) by setting up production operations (steel factories) in key developing economies that places then close to natural resource supplies (both in terms of inputs and energy). Recent years have witnessed unprecedented turmoil in the global steel market. The crisis in the international steel market might be attributed to the misbalance between capacity, demand and production and consequent drop in prices. Availability of iron ore was and is not an issue, as the domestic production of iron ore is sufficient to meet demand. Secondary steel producers require closely sized lumps (CLO) which generate fines. In addition, at the time of mining 60% of the ore comes as fines and balance 40% as lumps (including big boulders). Thus, in the total production of iron ore 70-72% are fines either at the time of mining or while crushing into CLO or handling (loading/unloading) operations at mines, railway stations or at ports. India is 5th largest producer of steel with total production of 53.08 MT in 2007. The crude steel production in India registered a moderate year-on-year growth of 2.7% in 2009 and reached 56.6 Million Metric Tons. On the other side, some
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Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea saw significant decline in their production levels. In 2008, per capita finished steel consumption stood at an estimated volume of around 44 Kg, which represents tremendous growth potential for coming years. This further signifies the resilience and strength of the Indian steel industry against external risk factors. Indian steel industry mainly consists of three distinct groups. The first group comprises the integrated steel producers which produces greater than 1MT and includes Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), Tata Steel (capacity 3 Mt) and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) (3 Mt). SAIL has four integrated steel plants at Bhilai (4 Mt), Bokaro (4 Mt), Durgapur (2 Mt) and Rourkela (1.8 Mt). The group of secondary majors consists of the Ispat Group, Jindal Group, Lloyds and Essar. Their capacities range between 1 Mt and 2 Mt using a mix of technologies, with much lesser degree of backward integration. These two strategic groups together hold around 70% of the mild steel capacity in the Indian steel industry. The third groups of tertiary producers are mini-steel plants, using electric arc or induction furnaces and are very small in size. There have been almost revolutionary changes in the global steel scene with fierce competitive pressures on performance, productivity, price reduction and customer satisfaction. National boundaries have melted to encompass an ever increasing world market. Trade in steel products has been on the upswing with the production facilities of both the developed and the developing countries complementing each other in the making of steel of different grades and specialty for the world market. The Indian steel industry comprises of the producers of finished steel, semifinished steel, stainless steel and pig iron. Indian steel industry, having participation from both public sector and private sector enterprises, is one of the

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fastest growing markets for steel and is also increasingly looking towards exports as driving the growth of the industry. The Endeavour is not only in tandem with India's National Steel Policy of achieving a production level of 110 Mt of crude steel by the year 2020. The timely completion of the projects for new forthcoming steel plants is of great challenge in the present Indian scenario. Factors which influenced growth of Indian steel industry: Factors which were favorable for the growth of Indian steel industry are:

Global steel consumption: The global steel consumption due to many reasons is increasing consistently year by year. The main cause is the development of infrastructure in the developing countries, also with the other growth of other complementary industries such as automobiles; construction, urban infrastructure etc helped the steel industry to grow at a rapid pace.

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Implementing latest technologies for improving the quality and productivity also helped the industry. This led the manufacturers to focus on improving the customer delivery times and also decrease the costs of production and transportation.

Making strategic alliances: The manufacturers started making strategic alliances with the other OEM (original equipment manufacturers) in long term which helped them in mitigating demand risks and uncertainties, high product take off and better capacity utilization.

Government initiatives: The government policies and initiatives helped the domestic steel manufacturers to a great extent. This is also key for the growth of the Indian steel industry. Also, increased infrastructure spending by the Government of India and development of roads could generate significant savings in freight and transportation cost, making Indian steel companies and other industries globally competitive.

Impact of liberalization: The economic reforms initiated by the government in 1991 have added new dimensions to the industrial growth in general, and steel industry in particular. Automatic approval granted for foreign equity investment in steel has been increased up to 74% [Government of India 1999]. Restrictions on external trade, both in import and export, have been removed. Import tariff reduced from 105% in 1992/93, to 30% in 1996-97.

Other policy measures like convertibility of rupee on trade account, permission to mobilize resources from overseas financial markets, and rationalization of existing tax structure. Cost competitiveness of Indian steel industry:
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The cost of major raw materials like iron ore, coking coal, and other raw materials is less in India among the countries mentioned. The labor cost is low, but it is neutralized by its low level of productivity. The financial cost and the cost of power, oil and some other materials are high. Energy accounts for about 35 - 40% of the cost of steel production in 13 India, whereas it is about 28% in the developed countries. All these make the pre-tax cost of steelmaking in India higher than that of South Korea, Australia, Mexico, and CIS countries. India has a definite advantage of having low wage rates compared to all the other countries. The wage rates and other related costs accounts to 15% of the total costs for production of steel, it is almost half compared with other countries which is 30% of the total costs. Current projects under progress:

Bhushan Steel plans to invest US$ 5.72 billion for building 12 million toncapacity in the states of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Orissa.

Non-ferrous metals giant, Vedanta Resources, plans to invest around US$ 4.79 billion in a 5 million ton steel plant in Keonjhar district of Orissa and envisages its commissioning by 201213.

Tata Steel is also planning to build a 5 million ton plant in Chhattisgarh with an investment of around US$ 3.59 billion. The steel major is setting up Greenfield projects in Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh. While in Jharkhand it is likely to invest about US$ 8.38 billion for a 12 million ton

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integrated steel plant, in Orissa it plans to pour in almost US$ 4.39 billion for a six million ton capacity plant.

Mesco Steel plans to invest US$ 2.20 billion for expansion of two of its steel plants in Orissa.

Reliance Infrastructure, (part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group) plans to build a 12-million ton steel plant in Jharkhand, which is likely to be completed by 2012.

Indian Railways plans to invest around US$ 437.25 million per annum to raise its consumption of stainless steel for adding new alloy-made wagons and coaches to its portfolio.

Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohren, (one of the largest steel pipe makers in India), plans to increase the capacity of its pipe plant by 75 per cent to 1.75 million tons with an investment of US$ 222.52 million.

The JSW group plans an outlay of US$ 40 billion for steel and power projects. These projects will be completed by 2020.

Visa Steel has lined up a US$ 1.51 billion US$ 2.02 billion integrated steel project in Chhattisgarh.

Sarralle India, a subsidiary of Sarralle Equipos of Spain and one of the largest designers of steel plant equipment, has decided to set up a manufacturing base in Uluberia in West Bengal.

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Interarch Building Products Private, (the largest player in pre-engineered steel buildings space) plans to set up its Greenfield manufacturing facility in Gujarat by 200910.

Also, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) plans to start six new small and medium enterprises clusters for steel companies in Visakhapatnam. It will also set up a steel task force to propel growth in the steel clusters. SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths: Abundant supply of iron ore Low cost and reasonable efficient labor force Strong man power capability and improving productivity History in steel making and acquired skill Strongly globalised Industry and emerging global competitiveness Increases in productivity through the adoption of more efficient and cleaner technologies in the manufacturing sector will be effective in merging economic, environmental, and social development objectives. Strong steel production base and achieved productivity levels High degree of entrepreneurship Availability of investments and capital back up
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 Support from government which helped in growth of the steel industry The biggest boost to efficiency in the steel industry has come from the increased use of continuous casting an indicator of the modernity of the production process. Availability of good rail way network for domestic shipping Weaknesses: Limited availability of coking coal High transportation and handling costs.

Mining costs are also high. Implementing latest technology has become a concern for the Indian steel industry.

Steel industry in India did not attain self sufficiency in constructing and efficiently maintain steel plants. It still relies on the countries like Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan etc. for installing new steel plant in India.

Although India has modernized its steelmaking considerably over the past decades, nearly 6% of its crude steel is nevertheless still produced using the outdated open-hearth process

Quality is also one of the drawbacks India is focusing. Quality of either flat steel or long steel is becoming an issue for reaching international quality standards.

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Logistics for steel industry is one of the constraints for the competing in the global markets. Industry has to concentrate on the supply of the raw materials and reaching the customers delivery times. The loading and unloading rates at ports, container handling, in plant logistics were also weak in terms of Indian steel industry.

With 1 ton of finished steel requiring handling and transportation of around 4 tonnes of bulk material, the anticipated expansion of steel capacity, even accounting for delays, would exert tremendous pressure on Indias logistics infrastructure post-commissioning of projects. The problem would get aggravated if the future capacities show regional concentration, which is likely. Opportunities: Increase in steel consumption hugely will result in tremendous growth in steel industry in coming years India has all the resources and capabilities to become a global supplier of quality steel Low steel prices smooth the way for imports from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. The geographical proximity of Japan, South Korea and China makes them important suppliers as well. With the decreased potential for steel in developed countries, India have opportunities for becoming the world leader in production and supply of steel and iron ore
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Concurrently industries like automobiles and urban infrastructure are also growing simultaneously.

Threats: Infrastructure is becoming a major threat for the steel industry. Insufficient infrastructure in terms of transportation and logistics is becoming concern for Indian steel industry. Government is also planning to increase its share of infrastructure in GDP from 2.5% currently Huge competition in the global markets. In the Indian markets also, with the entry of the foreign players the domestic steel producers are facing high market competition.

Increasing concern for the global climate change is becoming a threat to the industry. With the concern over the climate change countries are focusing on the reduction in carbon emissions particularly with respect to the energy intense industries like steel, cement etc. The steel industry accounts for between 5 and 6% of total man-made CO 2 emissions. This is less than accounted for by transport or power use by the general public, it does mean that the steel industry is in the frontline in making a contribution to fight global warming.

Future energy use and carbon emissions depend on the level of production and the technologies employed. Furthermore, different economic and policy settings affect structures and efficiencies within the sector.
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 Issues with dumping of low priced steel products from the Chinese and companies of other countries is also becoming a barrier for the growth of Indian steel industry.

Infrastructure with respect to steel plants and logistics of steel industry is also one of the key challenges for the Indian steel industry.

LOGISTICS IN INDIAN STEEL INDUSTRY

There is a growing concern for the macro and micro level logistics of Indian steel industry. The customer delivery times, inventory management, cargo handling at ports, procurement of iron ore and other raw materials are some of the areas in which steel manufacturers are focusing at micro level. Some of the concerns of logistics for the steel industry at macro level are:

High transportation costs: This is one of the major concerns which is affecting the growth of the industry. Due to the problems in infrastructure and also with low levels of productivity in terms of handling and transporting cargo, the costs of transportation were soaring day by day.
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Lack of connectivity to the ports with sufficient rail and road networks is also one of the causes for high transportation costs.

Along with the transportation costs, the costs of order placement and transactions costs are also increasing. Industry should look for the efficient flow of information from end to end in the supply chain. Implementation of technologies like EDI (electronic data interchange) and ERP (enterprise resource planning) will help to improve reliability of the information flow and also reduce the costs to a greater extent. The implementation of these technologies and also the other strategies like BPR (business process reengineering) are at the initial stages in the industry. Apart from some major producers of steel like Tata, JSW, ISPAT etc were able to successfully implement them in their steel plants which helped them in reducing the inventory lead times and also improved the information flow. These technologies must be implemented in a large scale at a macro level so as to increase the growth of Indian steel industry. Creating the virtual information networks from end to end will not only save in terms of costs but also the time for order placing and procurement can be done. Lead times and delivery schedules can be improved much better than ever before. The advantage of a proper IT-based information system is that accurate information can be obtained at a much faster rate, reducing downtime and speeding up decision making process. Since, time is more than money; it would have direct impact on cost. The objective would be to implement IT in all operations and to integrate these with day-to-day decision-making process. IT applications will help in streamlining both process chain and

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supply chain and would thereby result in cost reduction and increase in productivity.

Proximity and access to raw materials. Infrastructure development requires the transport of raw materials for steel production for achieving the goal of 75 million ton of additional capacity by 2019-20 will require the movement of an additional 300 million ton of raw material

Freight movements are further delayed by onerous transport regulations, which include restrictions in the hours of the day that heavy vehicles can operate, interstate border crossing closures and lengthy trans- border crossing procedures, frequent tolls and inspections, and road closures at night due to the risk of attacks by insurgents or bandits. The efficiency of Indian ports is affected by shallow draught, low productivity, high costs, long vessel 60 turnaround times, poor governance, and lengthy customs delays. Shipping costs are consequently high a shipment from India to the United States can cost 20 per cent more than from Thailand and 35 per cent more than from China Unlike international ports like Singapore and Rotterdam, the shortage of storage space in the major ports in India had further compounded the problem of speedy evacuation of cargo from port premises. Performance of logistics in Indian steel industry: Some of the key performance indicators of logistics in Indian steel industry are:

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Performance attribute Reliability

Factors

India

International standards 85% 97.5% 14 days Less than 3 hours 15 days

responsiveness

Flexibility

Forecast accuracy Delivery performance to customer request dates Order fulfillment lead times Response time to enquires Re-plan cycle times Inventory turns

50- 70% 40 65% 20 30 days 1day 1 month 1 3 months

Assets

3 5 times

7 times

From the above table it can be observed that the performance of India in terms of logistics is poor and has to improve drastically to be in the global competition. Though Indian companies are excelling in terms of production they are lagging far behind in terms of supply and distribution of the finished product which affects the industry considerably. Some of the other factors which influence the performance of logistics in steel industry are:

Out bound logistics costs: due to the problems with inefficient maintenance of cargo, the out bound costs of the logistics are increasing considerably. Out bound logistics costs includes costs of idle freight, detention, in plant

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logistics, transaction costs, handling and storage costs, lashing and bracing costs etc.

In plant logistics: In plant logistics includes the activities such as Real time location visibility levels, In plant wagon turn around, In plant truck turn around, Dispatch spread, Transit inventory, In plant route network, No of handlings etc. these are the activities which are to be carefully taken care and also the efficient operations of these activities will also reduce the costs considerably.

Selection of and planning for transport minimizes transportation costs in accordance with company documentation.

Planning for the availability of personnel and plant conforms to plant production schedule.

Scheduling of on-line product to customers enables the plant production schedule to be achieved. Load sequencing of on-line and ex-stock product enables the plant production schedule to be achieved Destination sequencing prevents multiple handling of the product en route. Documentation enables transportation of product to required destinations. Handling and transportation of steel and iron ore: Increase there is an increase in use of multi modal transportation for the shipment of cargo. Since, steel and iron ore comes under the dry bulk cargo, handling and maintenance would be a challenge. Though containerization solved the problems of handling cargo to a greater extent, there must be focus on the improvement of
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handling capacities and dispatch of cargo. More than 98% of the steel and iron ore are exported and imported using the seaways. Also for the domestic shipments rail and road networks are the major means of transportation. Cargo handling at Ports: Global sea trade in iron ore is dominated by the countries such as Brazil, China, Australia etc. though India is also a key player in the global steel trade, huge competition in terms of sea trade is given by these countries. Major iron ore exporting countries: Country Brazil Australia India Exports of iron ore in the year 2007 (in MT) 269.40 266.80 90.70

Major iron ore importing countries: Country China Imports of iron ore in 2007 (in MT) 383.10

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Japan South Korea Germany

138.90 46.20 46.20

From the exports and imports of some of the top countries in the global steel trade, it can be observed that India is one of the largest exporters of iron ore in the world. Though India is in such a dominating position in the exports of iron ore and steel production in India, its share to GDP is comparatively low with less than 2%. China seems to be dominating the global steel industry with 47% of the iron ore imports and stood as world leader in the production of steel with 36% of the global production. China have very limited mineral resources compared to India, but its the market leader in the steel production. India, being one of the largest manufacturer of iron ore and major producer of steel has huge opportunities for increasing its exports and become a dominant player in global industry. Also the domestic consumption of steel for India is very little with per capita of only about 48 KG where as the per capita of steel consumption for other major countries is 340 KG in EU, 1200 KG in Singapore, 420 KG in north America, 635 KG in Taiwan etc. There are 12 Major Ports, 185 nos. of Minor and Intermediate Ports Cargo basket moving away from being bulk cargo Centric. Minor ports market share increased from 9.9% in 1997 to 28.8% in 2007. Major sea ports accounted for traffic of steel

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and iron ore cargo are JNPT, Mumbai, VPT, Visakhapatnam, ports of Chennai, Mangalore etc. In almost all the ports iron ore loading is a mixture of mechanical loading systems which consists of conveyors, stack reclaimers and ship loaders and manual loading process using shore cranes and ships gears and grabs. The existing mechanical loading systems are becoming old and obsolete and there is an immediate requirement for upgrading the infrastructure in the ports particularly with respect to loading and unloading of cargo. Also poor infrastructure at ports leads to high through put times, high turnaround times for ships, slower loading rates, delays due to break downs etc. This in turn results in higher incidents of demurrage costs and over all high costs for loading and unloading cargo. Rail connectivity: Rail networks are the most preferred means of transportation of steel and iron ore for domestic shipping. It is also the most commonly used mode of transportation. As per the statistics of 2007, iron ore is the second largest commodity moved by rail accounting for 16% of the total traffic, coal being the first with 43% of the share. About 116 MT of iron ore is moved out of ports using rail of which 38.84 MT were for exports. Iron is moved from mines to steel plants, sponge iron and pig iron plants. Keeping in view the significance of port connectivity for efficient evacuation of cargo from the ports and its impact on international trade, the Committee on Infrastructure recommended (2006) minimum double-line rail connectivity for

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major ports, which was to be achieved within the stipulated time frame of three years. JNPT, Kandla, Mumbai, and Paradip ports had double lines in parts of their rail networks whereas the ports at Chennai, Cochin, Goa, Haldia, Kolkata, Tuticorin and Visakhapatnam continued to have single-line connectivity, resulting in slower movement and inefficient cargo dispersal. Although NMDP envisaged taking up 16 railway schemes for laying of new lines, no specific scheme for conversion of single lines to double lines had been mooted. Despite the emphasis on exclusive freight corridors by the Government, passenger and freight systems shared the same railway networks outside the port areas. Rail networks at ports other than Mormugao were not connected to the hook points and the cargo had to be intercarted74 to the sidings using dumpers, trucks and trailers. Such multiple handling of cargo could only add to increase in the handling time and the cost of handling. Port users at Chennai felt that the long distances between railway sidings and the berths needed to be addressed by laying railway tracks just along the berths which would result in quicker, easier and cheaper loading / unloading operations. The sidings at JNPT, Haldia, and New Mangalore could handle full rakes of 59 wagons, while only some sidings at Chennai (two sidings), Paradip (21 out of 41) and Visakhapatnam (eight out of 15) could handle full rakes. Out of 18 sidings at Mumbai, only two had the length to accommodate 40 wagons whereas the other sidings could accommodate 20 or less wagons. At other ports, the sidings could not accommodate even half rakes. At Mumbai, even the two sidings having capacity of 40 wagons each could not be optimally utilized as the low capacity locomotives used for hauling could not handle rakes having more than 20 wagons. Users at Kolkata port stated that full rakes could not be handled at the berths at
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Netaji Dock and Kidderpore Dock due to which longer time was required for handling the rakes, resulting in increased detention charges for wagons. International railway systems carry more than 100 wagons per rake with the Australian system carrying over 300 wagons per rake. Compared to this, a rake in India handles 58 BOX wagons as the length of the loops in the yards and stations in India is only 686 m, limiting the length of the trains. Even rakes of 58 wagons cannot be handled at sidings of some ports. The space envelope82 in India does not permit the movement of double stack container wagons. Since stations, platforms, roofs and bridges had been constructed according to the previously designed space envelopes, the envelopes of existing railway lines cannot be increased, thereby limiting the carrying capacity of the rakes. Load carrying capacity expressed as the ratio of a loaded wagon to an empty one ranges from 4-7 internationally as against 2.5 in India. NMDP envisaged undertaking 11 projects under Phase-I and three projects under Phase-II for improvement of port railways. The scheduled date of completion of the projects under Phase-I was March 2009, whereas the projects under Phase-II were to be completed by 2012. Some of the other challenges with rail connectivity are: Iron ore miners are forced to move out by road due to the lack of proper rail connectivity

Sharing of rail way lines for both passenger and goods is creating a problem resulting in priority of passengers and thereby delays and congestions of good traffic.

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 Low average speed of freight traffic leads to longer lead time and reduced through put. Lower haulage capacity leading to higher lead time.

Frequent changes in freight charges. Freight charges for iron ore are being targeted for frequent hikes leading to increase in costs for rail than by road.

Roads connectivity: About 28 per cent of cargo dealt with by the major ports during 2007-08 was transported through roads. Except for Haldia, Mormugao, Paradip and Visakhapatnam where rail was the preferred mode for dispersal of cargo, the movement at other ports was by roads. most of the major ports except Princess Dock in Mumbai had two to three common entry and exit gates for movement of cargo. JNPT had only one access point to the port. In all the ports, the exit points opened to roads common to general traffic as well and there were no exclusive port roads except for short ones in Kandla and Visakhapatnam. This restricted the free and speedy movement of cargo from the port premises, which was further delayed due to restrictions imposed on cargo movement during working hours. At Chennai, the movement of cargo during the daytime was restricted due to the absence of exclusive approach roads. At Mormugao port, entry for heavy vehicles in the city was restricted during daytime. At Kolkata port, Customs clearances were given from 10 am to 4 pm whereas from 6 am to 6 pm, trucks were not allowed on the roads. The waiting period for trucks to enter the port was thus very long. Due to non-availability of data, the waiting time could not be measured in respect of Kolkata port but the feedback of users disclosed that it was more than a
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day. Thus the lack of exclusive approach roads as well as access restrictions on common roads resulted not only in delays in the movement of cargo but also led to congestion. Ports such as Haldia, Kandla, Mormugao and Visakhapatnam, were connected to one national highway whereas the other ports had connectivity with more than one highway. The National Maritime Development Programme envisaged 22 road connectivity projects under Phase-I and five projects under Phase-II. The projects under Phase-I were to be completed by March 2009 whereas the stipulated date of completion of the projects under Phase II was 2012. Some of the other challenges for road connectivity are: Width of the highways is not sufficient for both passenger and goods to go comfortably.

Maintenance of high ways is also poor. Much of the highway maintenance is underfunded.

Lack of organized fleet owners is resulting in reduced quality and professionalism. Improper road connectivity resulting in longer lead times Reliability and cargo integrity with other modes of transportation are becoming an issue Iron ore transportation through inland water ways: The riverine system of Goa consisting of Zuari, Mondovi Rivers and Cumbarjua canal is the only water way used for iron ore transportation. Mormugao and Panjim
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ports in Goa state receive iron ore barges from mines and loading jetties on this riverine system. Almost all the iron ore of the Goan origin is transported to ships by barges. This quantity is approximately 33.5 MT in the year 2007. Non Goan iron ore is first transported to nearest rail head or by road to nearest jetty and then moved by barges to the two ports. Any movement of iron ore through water ways in the rest of the country is almost nonexistent. Since water ways is the cheapest and most reliable means for transportation of cargo, government has to take steps to improve the status of national water ways. Other than this only water way system existing in the country for transporting iron ore, many of the major companies uses coastal mode of transportation for iron ore shipments. Companies like ISPAT and ESSAR steel dont have captive mines and thus ships them through coastal shipping. But, the feasibility of coastal shipping is only limited to large sized mills with large requirement of iron ore. Pipeline transportation of iron ore: KIOCL and Hy-Grade pallets of ESSAR group is using pipeline mode of transportation. These pipe lines are privately owned and of captive use. This is the cheapest mode of transportation compared to all modes of transportation irrespective of size of mines and amount of cargo transported. But the small sized mines and dispersed steel mills are becoming barriers for use of this mode of transportation. However, movement of cargo to ports will be a feasible option. However, the only drawback of this pipeline is the requirements of huge initial investments. KIOCL in 1982 has constructed a 67 KM length of pipe line from Malleshwara (Kudremukh) to Panambur near Mangalore. Capacity of this pipe line is 7.5 MT.
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But, this pipe line is not operational since 2006. KIOCL has stopped using as mines in Kudremukh have been banned on mining due to environmental considerations. In early March 2006, Essar Steel commissioned the world's second longest iron ore slurry pipeline. The length of this pipe line is 267 KM long. The pipeline will connect Essar's iron ore beneficiation plant at Bailadila in Chhattisgarh to its pelletization plant at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. The pipeline will traverse Chhattisgarh en route. The Bailadila pipeline, built by Essar Steel, is designed to carry 8 million TPA of slurry and is expected to reduce Essar Steel's transportation cost from Rs.550 per ton to about Rs.80 per ton. The pipeline will help the company save at least Rs.200 crore every year, with its capacity set to increase to 4.6 million tpa from the present 3 million tpa. The pipeline infrastructure includes two pumping stations and a valve choking station, apart from terminalling facilities at Visakhapatnam and Bailadila. The pumping operation from Bailadila to Visakhapatnam is monitored and controlled by a computerized supervisory system. The slurry pumps were supplied by Geho, Netherlands and a consortium of JSC Stroytransgaz and Essar Constructions executed the project.

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FUTURE OUTLOOK FOR THE INDIAN STEEL INDUSTRY

The sponge iron has of late come up as a major input material for steel making through electric furnace route both Electric Arc Furnace and Induction Furnace. Due to long gestation period, huge investments, dependence for coke on foreign suppliers, the steel industry is slowly diverting itself from blast furnace route to electric furnace route and the requirement of Sponge Iron is increasing 67 very fast. Another major reason is the global shortage of scrap. The steel making furnaces in the eastern region use average 70% Sponge Iron in the feed material for steelmaking. The future for the Sponge Iron is therefore quite bright. The steel is today considered as the backbone of India economy. The growth of economy has a direct relation with the demand of steel. With the present steel intensity index, considering the GDP projection by the Government of India, growth of steel demand will be around 11% annually. As per the National Steel Policy issued by the Ministry of Steel India will produce 110 million tons of steel by 2020. The requirement of Sponge Iron as metallic will be 30 million tons. The Ministry of Steel has decided to come out
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with a White Paper on the logistics requirement of the steel industry at a production capacity of 250-300 million tons. The exercise has been prompted by the logistics constraints in the movement of raw materials and end-products faced by the country today when steel production is at 65 million tons. It is expected that India would become the second biggest producer of steel within the year 2016 and the production per year would be 137 million tons. Today India produce 13.9 million tons of sponge iron, out of which 4.2 million ton is gas based and remaining 9.7 million ton is coal based. India has a proven reserve of 410 million ton of high grade iron ore, another 440 million ton of high grade iron ore which will be established. India has total 9992million ton of iron ore reserves (as per IBM report of1995). India has sufficient non-coking coal through of high ash low fixed carbon grade. Coal is used as a reducing for sponge iron making in the furnace. The availability of scrap of required quantum is unlikely and therefore scraps needs to be replaced more and more by DRI. Expanding Indias steel sector depends on lower port costs for handling key inputs such as coking coal which is predominantly imported, as well as servicing potential steel exports as envisaged under the National Steel Policy Some of the measures that the industry has to take in the long term at macro level are:

High freight rates are the major reason for drastic fall in iron ore loading by railways in recent months. Plans must be made to reduce the freight rates to improve the growth rate of the industry.
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 Rail transportation can become competitive by increasing line capacity, carrying capacity of trains, port connectivity etc. Road transportation is the most common mode for transport of all goods accounting for 65% of all commodities carried. Measures must be taken so as to improve the infrastructure of the high ways and fund for the maintenance of the highways.

Port infrastructure in India is outdated and inadequate resulting in bottlenecks and high costs. Investments must be invited from domestic and foreign sources to upgrade the infrastructure at ports, also latest technologies must be implemented to reduce costs and loading and unloading times.

Attract FDIs for investing in coastal transportation and pipeline which are the cheapest and most reliable modes of transporting iron ore. This will make steel manufacturers competent enough in the global steel trade.

1. INTRODUCION

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An HVD (holographic Versatile Disc), a holographic storage media, is an advanced optical disc thats presently in the development stage. Polaroid scientist J. van Heerden was the first to come up with the idea for holographic threedimensional storage media in 1960. An HVD would be a successor to todays Bluray and HD-DVD technologies. It can transfer data at the rate of 1 Gigabit per second. The technology permits over 10 kilobits of data to be written and read in parallel with a single flash. The disc will store upto 3.9 terabyte (TB) of data on a single optical disk.

Holographic data storage, a potential next generation storage technology, offers both high storage density and fast readout rate. In this article, I discuss the physical origin of these attractive technology features and the components and engineering required to realize them. I conclude by describing the current state of holographic storage research and development efforts in the context of ongoing improvement to established storage technologies.

1.1 BRIEF HISTORY

Although holography was conceived in the late 1940s, it was not considered a potential storage technology until the development of the laser in the 1960s. The resulting rapid development of holography for displaying 3-D images led researchers to realize that holograms could also store data at a volumetric density of as much as 1/ where is the wave-length of the light beam used.
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Since each data page is retrieved by an array of photo detectors, rather than bi-bybit, the holographic scheme promises fast readout rates as well as high density. If a thousand holograms, each containing a million pixels, could be retrieved every second, for instance, then the output data rate would reach 1 Gigabit per second.

4.

In the early 1990s, interest in volume-holographic data storage was rekindled by the availability of devices that could display and detect 2-D pages, including charge coupled devices (CCD), complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) detector chips and small liquid-crystal panels. The wide availability of these devices was made possible by the commercial success of digital camera and video projectors. With these components in hand, holographic-storages researchers have begun to demonstrate the potential of their technology in the laboratory. By using the volume of the media, researchers have experimentally demonstrated that data can be stored at equivalent area densities of nearly 400 bits/sq. micron. (For comparison, a single layer of a DVD disk stores data at ~ 4.7 bits/sq. micron) A readout rate of 10 gigabit per second has also been achieved in the laboratory.

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1.2 FEATURES

Data transfer rate: 1 gbps.

The technology permits over 10 kilobits of data to be written and read in parallel with a single flash.

Most optical storage devices, such as a standard CD saves one bit per pulse. HVDs manage to store 60,000 bits per pulse in the same place.

1 HVD 5800 CDs 830 DVD 160 BLU-RAY Discs.

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5.

2. UNDERLYING ECHNOLOGY

2.1 HOLOGRAPHY

Holographic data storage refers specifically to the use of holography to store and retrieve digital data. To do this, digital data must be imposed onto an optical wave front, stored holographically with high volumetric density, and then extracted from the retrieved optical wav front with excellent data fidelity.

A hologram preserves both the phase and amplitude of an optical wave front of interest called the object beam by recording the optical interference pattern between it and a second coherent optical beam the reference beam. Fig 2.1 shows this process.

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FIG 2.1 INERFERENCE

6.

The reference beam is designed to be simple to reproduce at a later stage (A common reference beam is a plane wave a light beam that propagates without converging or diverging). These interference fringes are recorded if the two beams
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have been overlapped within a suitable photosensitive media, such as a photopolymer or inorganic crystal or photographic film. The bright and dark variations of the interference pattern create chemical and/or physical changes in the media, preserving a replica of the interference pattern as a change in absorption, refractive index or thickness.

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FIG 2.2 HOLOGRAM

7. When the recording is illuminated by a readout beam similar to the original reference beam, some of the light is diffracted to reconstruct a copy of the object beam as shown in Fig\2.2 if the object beam originally came from a 3-D object, then the reconstructed hologram makes the 3-D object reappear.

2.2 COLLINEAR HOLOGRAPHY

HVD uses a technology called collinear holography, in which two laser rays, one blue-green and one red, are collimated into a single beam. The role of the bluegreen laser is to read the data encoded in the form of laser interference fringes from the holographic layer on the top, while the red laser serves the purpose of a reference beam and also to read the servo info from the aluminum layer like in normal CDs near the bottom of the disk. The servo info is meant to monitor the coordinates of the read head above the disk (this is similar to the track, head and sector information on a normal hard disk drive).

Fig 2.3 shows the two laser collinear holography technique and fig 2.4 the interference fringes pattern stored on the disc.

shows

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FIG 2.3 COLLINEAR HOLOGRAPHY

FIG 2.4 FRINGES PATTERN

8.

3. STRUCTURE

3.1 HVD STRUCTURE

HVD structure is shown in fig 3.1 the following components are used in HVD.
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1. Green writing/reading laser (650 nm).

2. Red positioning/addressing laser (650 nm).

3. Hologram (data).

4. Polycarbon layer.

5. Photopolymeric layer (data-containing layer).

6. Distance layers.

7. Dichroic layer (reflecting green light).

8. Aluminum reflective layer (reflecting red light).

9. Transparent base.

10.PIT.

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9.

46

FIG 3.1 HVD STRUCTURE

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10.

3.2 HVD READER PROTOTYPE

To read data from an HVD reader. The following components are used to make a reader.

A blue-green laser, beam splitters to split the laser beams, mirrors to direct the laser beams, LCD panels (spatial light modulator), lenses to focus the beams, lithium-niobate crystals or photopoymers, and charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras.

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FIG 3.2 HVD READER PROTOTYPE

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11.

4. STORAGE DATA

4.1 RECORDING DATA

A simplified HVD system consists of the following main components: Blue or green laser (532-nm wavelength in the test system) Beam splitter/merger Mirrors Spatial light modulator (SLM) CMOS sensor Polymer recording medium The process of writing information onto an HVD begins with encoding the information into binary data to be stored in the SLM. These data are turned into ones and zeroes represented as opaque or translucent areas on a "page" -- this page is the image that the information beam is going to pass through.

When the blue-green argon laser is fired, a beam splitter creates two beams. One beam, called the object or signal beam, will go straight, bounce off one mirror and

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travel through a spatial-light modulator (SLM). An SLM is a liquid crystal display (LCD) that shows pages of raw binary data as clear and dark boxes.

The information from the page of binary code is carried by the signal beam around to the light-sensitive lithium-niobate crystal. Some systems use a photopolymer in place of the crystal.

A second beam, called the reference beam, shoots out the side of the beam splitter and takes a separate path to the crystal.

When the two beams meet, the interference pattern that is created stores the data carried by the signal beam in a specific area in the crystal -- the data is stored as a hologram. 1 2.

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FIG 4.1 RECORDING DATA

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13.

FIG 4.2 DATA IMAGE

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FIG 4.3 PAGE DATA (LEFT) STORED AS HOLOGRAM (RIGHT)

14.

4.2 READING DATA

To read the data from an HVD, you need to retrieve the light pattern stored in the hologram.

In the HVD read system, the laser projects a light beam onto the hologram -- a light beam -- a light beam that is identical to the reference beam.
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An advantage of a holographic memory system is that an entire page of data can be retrieved quickly and at one time. In order to retrieve and reconstruct the holographic page of data stored in the crystal, the reference beam is shined into the crystal at exactly the same angle at which it entered to store that page of data. Each page of data is stored in a different area of the crystal, based on the angle at which the reference beam strikes it.

The key component of any holographic data storage system is the angle at which the reference beam is fired at the crystal to retrieve a page of data. It must match the original reference beam angle exactly. A difference of just a thousandth of a millimeter will result in failure to retrieve that page of data.

During reconstruction, the beam will be diffracted by the crystal to allow the recreation of the original page that was stored. This reconstructed page is then projected onto the CMOS, which interprets and forwards the digital information to a computer.

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15.

56

FIG 4.4 REDING DATA

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16.

FIG 4.4 PAGE DATA STORED IN AN HVD (LEFT) AND

FIG 4.5 RECREATED BY CMOS SENSOR (RIGHT)

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17.

5. HARDWARE

5.1 SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATOR

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To use volume holography as a storage technology, digital data must be imprinted onto the object beam for recording and then retrieved from the reconstructed object beam during readout. The device for putting data into the system is called a spatial light modulator (SLM) a planner array consisting of thousand of pixels. Each pixel is independent microscopic shutters that can either block or pass light using liquid-crystal or micro-mirror technology. Liquid crystal panels and micro-mirror arrays with 1280 X 1024 pixels are commercially available due to the success of computer-driven projection displays. The pixels in both types of devices can be refreshed over 1000 times per second, allowing the holographic storage system to reach an input data rate of 1 gigabit per second assuming that laser power and material sensitivities would permit. The data are read using an array of detector pixels, such as a CCD camera or CMOS sensor array.

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FIG 5.1 SLM

18. To access holographically-stored data, the correct reference beam must first be directed to the appropriate spot within the storage media. With mechanical access (i.e., a spinning disk), getting to the right spot is slow (long latency), but reading data out can be quick. Non mechanical access leads to possibility for lower latency. A frequently mentioned goal is an integration time of about 1 millisecond, which imphes that 1000 pages of data can be retrieved per second. If there are 1 Gigabit per second. This goal requires high laser power (at least 1 W), a storage material capable of high diffraction efficiencies, and a detector with a million pixels that can be read out at high frame rates. Frame rates of 1 kHz have been demonstrated in such mega pixel CCDs, but these are not yet commercially available. Low-noise mega pixel CMOS detector arrays that can support 500 frames per second have also been demonstrated. Even with these requirements faster readout and lower latency could be reached by steering the reference beam angle non-mechanically, by using a pulsed laser, and by electronically reading only the desired portion of the detector array. Both the capacity and the readout rate are maximized when each detector pixel is matched to a single pixel on the SLM, but for large pixel arrays this requires careful option design and alignment.

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FIG 5.2 DATA STORAGE

19.

6. MORA ON HVD

6.1 ADVANTAGE

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 High Storage capacity of 3.9 terabyte (TB) enables user to store large amount of data.

Records one program while watching another on the disc.

Edit or reorder programs recorded on the disc.

Automatically search for an empty space on the disc to avoid recording over a program.

Users will be able to connect to the Internet and instantly download subtitles and other interactive movie features

Backward compatible: Supports CDs and DVDs also.

The transfer rate of HVD is up to 1 gigabyte (GB) per second which is 40 times faster than DVD.

An HVD stores and retrieves an entire page of data, approximately 60,000 bits of information, in one pulse of light, while a DVD stores and retrieves one bit of data in one pulse of light.

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20.

6.2 COMPARISON

Parameters Capacity

DVD 4.7 GB 650 nm

BLU-RAY 25 GB 405 nm (blue) 120 mm yes 36 mbps

HVD 3.9 TB 532 nm (green)

Laser wave length Disc diameter Hard coating

(red) 120 mm No

120 mm Yes 1 gbps

Data transfer rate (raw 11.08 mbps data)

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6.3 INTERESTING FACTS

It has been estimated that the books in the U.S. Library of Congress, the largest library in the world, could be stored on Six HVDs. The pictures of every landmass on Earth - like the ones shown in Google Earth - can be stored on two HVDs.

With MPEG4 ASP encoding, a HVD can hold anywhere between 4,600-11,900 hours of video, which is enough for non-stop playing for a year.

21.
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6.4 HVD AT A GLANCE

Media type: Ultra-high density optical disc.

Encoding: MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC (H.264), and VC-1.

Capacity: Theoretically up to 3.9 TB.

Usage: Data storage, High-definition video, & he possibility of ultra

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High-definition video.

6.5 STANDARDS

On December 9, 2004 at its 88th General Assembly the standards body Ecma International created Technical committee 44, dedicated to standardizing HVD formats based on Optwares technology. On June 11, 2007, TC44 published the first two HVD standards ECMA-377, defining a 200 GB HVD recordable cartridge and ECMA-378,defining a 100 GB HVD-ROM disc. Its next stated goals are 30 GB HVD cards and submission of these standards to the International Organization for Standardization for ISO approval.

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CONCLUSION

A multimodal system, which uses the most efficient modes of transport from origin to destination, is a prerequisite for the smooth functioning of any port. With the growth of cargo in the ports by over seven per cent and increase in container traffic by 17 per cent, the Government had laid emphasis on capacity expansion and improvement in infrastructure of the ports for handling these growing volumes of cargo. Unless matched with connectivity infrastructure, the increased cargo would result in congestion and undermine the competitiveness of Indian industry and also affect the economy at large. Though India is technologically forward and advanced in the production of steel and exporting iron ore, problems with infrastructure and logistics are making it to lag behind in the international trade of steel and iron ore. Also India should concentrate on increasing the consumption of steel at the domestic level. The per capita consumption of steel is the indicator of growth for the developing countries. The Information Age has led to an explosion of information available to users. While current storage needs are being me, storage technology must continue to improve in order to keep pace with the rapidly increasing demand. However, conventional data storage technologies, where individual bits are stored as distinct magnetic or optical changes on the surface of a recording medium are approaching physical limits. Storing information throughout the volume of a mediumnot just
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on its surfaceoffers an intriguing high-capacity alternative. Holographic data storage is a volumetric approach which, although conserved decades ago, has made recent progress towards practicality with the appearance of lower-cost enabling technologies, significant results from longstanding research efforts and progress in holographic recording material.

HVD gives a practical way to exploit he holography technologies to store data up to 3.9 terabytes on a single disc. It can transfer data at the rate of 1 Gigabit per second. The technology permits over 10 kilobits of data to be written and read in parallel with a single flash. So an HVD would be a successor to todays Blu-ray and HD-HVD technologies.

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REFERENCES

http://ies.lbl.gov/iespubs/41844.pdf http://www.forging-industry.com/bearing_manufacturer.asp?aid=77 http://www.dbresearch.com/PROD/DBR_INTERNET_ENPROD/PROD0000000000202605.pdf

http://www.careratings.com/archive/3/1991.pdf http://www.icra.in/Files/PDF/SpecialComments/2010-February-Steel.pdf http://newsletters.cii.in/newsletters/steelsummit2009/pdf/SESSION_1/RVS_ Ramakrishna.pdf

http://www.openpr.com/pdf/68829/Indian-steel-s-long-term-fundamentalsare-intact-Ernst-Young.pdf

http://www.ieindia.org/publish/mm/1003/oct03mm2.pdf http://ppac.org.in/ppac_0809/PIPELINES%20IN%20INDIA.pdf http://www.steelworld.com/proessar.pdf http://121.241.184.234:8000/pdf/PE/pradip_poa_2006.pdf http://www.me.iitb.ac.in/~narayan/transport/multi-modal-supply-chain.pdf

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 Psaltis, D. Mok, F. Holographic memories. Scientific American.

Encyclopedia of Optical Engineering.

www.ibm.com - IBM Research Press Resources Holographic Storage

www.howstuffworks.com

www.hvd-forum.org

http://www.tech-faq.com/hvd.shtml.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1759907,00.asp

http://www.news.com/Group-aims-to-drastically-up-disc-storage/21001041_3-5562599.html

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