Ahead of commissioning of the new wire rod and bar mill of SAIL’s ISP unit at Burnpur in West Bengal, the unit has planned to send 48 of its engineers for training.

ISP said it would send engineers in three batches of 16 each to Italy for hands on 3-week training.

A cross section of engineers from operations, maintenance and automation wings of the plant will be trained by Danieli of Italy, the project equipment supplier and supervisor.

The mill is equipped with ‘level 2’ automation but has provision for one notch up-gradation. “One of the prime tasks of the team of engineers is also to study the future possibilities of implementing the plant’s ‘level 3’ automation”, ISP said in a statement. The mill, at its peak speed, can produce 115 metres of rod or bar per second, arguably the ‘most efficient’ of the genre.

According to ISP’s CEO N. Kothari, this is part of SAIL’s plan to place emphasis on investment in people and technologies.

jayanta.mallick@thehindu.co.in