Mr. RR Girish Kumar, Ex-DGP of Andhra Pradesh complimented PK Bishnoi, CMD and employees of VSP for their productive work culture, maintenance of green environment and for being a transparent organization. Speaking at a guest lecture on ‘Corruption in Public Service’ organized in connection with ‘Vigilance Awareness Period’ programmes, Girish Kumar also complimented the Vigilance Department for having good systems and procedures in place for preventing Vigillance.Mr. Girish Kumar shared his vast experience on ‘corruption’, ‘anti-corruption mechanisms’ advised vigilance officials to pinpoint the corrupt official and not blame all the officials who have signed the deal which turns out to be corruption case.He asserted that ‘Vigilance Department should be effective wing for the top management and allout efforts should be made to ‘smell the rat’ before it turns out to be a major problem. He emphasized that ‘ethical values’ must be inculcated in children and ‘ethics and integrity’ should form curriculum at various levels of education.Mr. PK Bishnoi thanked Mr. Girish Kumar for sparing his valuable time and sharing his experiences and presented him a memento.Mr. AP Coudhary, Director (Projects), K Vidyasagar,CVO, Senior officials and Representatives from Trade Unions were present.

NAVY FOUNDATION AGM AND GOVERNING COUNCIL MEETING HELD AT ENC

Admiral Nirmal Verma, PVSM AVSM ADC, Chief of the Naval Staff will arrive Visakhapatnam on a two day visit to the Eastern Naval Command on 23 Oct 10. He would be received on arrival at the Indian Naval Air Station Dega by Vice Admiral Anup Singh, AVSM NM, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command. Admiral Verma is in the city for presiding over the Annual General Meeting and Governing Council Meeting 2010, of the Navy Foundation.

Admiral Nirmal Verma is scheduled to depart Visakhapatnam on Sunday, 24 Oct 10.

5S, an integrated Japanese concept for Work Place Management, is a scientific approach for effective organization of work place through the participation of the employees. 5 S has become a management philosophy, as orderliness has become an important requirement. Modern developments call for high level of process accuracy, clean atmosphere, proper maintenance, understanding and proper training. Hence 5S has gained paramount importance.

In line with the objectives of the company, 5S had been introduced in VSP in Jan’ 2004. Initially the concept was implemented in two departments like Steel Melt Shop and Central Stores as pilot departments under the guidance of Quality Circle Forum of India (QCFI). After the fruitful implementation in these two departments, the philosophy has been extended to other departments in a phased manner.

5S Concept

Five Steps i.e., ‘Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu and Shitsuke’, each starting with S, are to be taken for ensuring proper organization, neatness, cleanliness, standardization and discipline in work place for sustained house keeping and management practices.

The meaning of ‘Seiri’ is distinguishing, organizing, sorting, segregation between wanted and unwanted items in a work place and removal of the unwanted items. The meaning of ‘Seiton’ is systematic arrangement of all the required items. The main concept is every thing should have a place and they should be kept in that place first time and all the time. The meaning of ‘Seiso’ is cleaning. The essence of cleaning is not just making things or place clean. Cleaning will also help us to check or see defects with our eyes or inspection. The meaning of ‘Seiketsu’ is standardization which emphasizes on studying the system of carrying out 1S, 2S and 3S activities. The meaning of ‘Shitsuke’ is discipline which calls for changing from our present way and adhering to set procedures.

Implementation & Certification

· 5S Certification was awarded for the first time in public sector steel industry for four departments viz; Wire Rod Mill, Utilities, Central Maintenance (Mechanical) & Central Stores departments, in 1st phase during Feb’07 and as on date almost all major departments are covered.

· Many officers & non-executives from organizations like BHEL, Bhilai, Bokaro, Durgapur Steel Plants, SAIL Head Office, TISCO, L&T etc. had visited our organization to witness the improvements under 5S.

Measures for Sustenance of 5S

· Evolving 5S policy and internal auditing system to ensure structured approach and uniform implementation of 5S organization-wide

· Self audits are being conducted by the individual 5S teams in the zones who have achieved 3S level. The status and action to be taken are recorded in the 5S register for implementing 1S, 2S and 3S activities continuously.

· Regular internal audits are conducted by 5S internal auditors along with departmental coordinator and the feed back is given to respective zones for further improvements.

· External audits are conducted with the help of Consultant from QCFI, Hyderabad in the form of certification and surveillance audits.

Achievements

VSP is the first public sector steel plant to have been awarded 5S certification setting a new trend in steel industry in the area of Work Place Management. 5S implementation had promoted a sense of pride and ownership of responsibility among employees. Visible transformation in the outlook of employees is visible after 5S implementation in the form of inbuilt good production and maintenance practices in their work culture. 5S Certification was awarded to 52 departments so far by QCFI, Hyderabad. It is also planned to cover entire organization under 5S by 2011-12. VSP had bagged Merit Certificate in 5S Excellence Award –2008 organized by CII-Southern region for Rolling Mills Division. VSP received four Gold Medals last week at the ICQCC-2010 at Hyderabad recently.

In Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, Quality Circles (QC) and Suggestion Schemes not only contributed for substantial savings but also brought laurels to its employees who won awards at both national levels and international levels. In VSP QC’s initiative was launched in April 1990 along with commissioning of the first Unit i.e. coke oven battery and VSP is the first organization in Visakhapatnam to start the QC movement. VSP’s employees are motivated to participate in a big way in the small group activity by Cash rewards, QC talent shows , Participation at National Conventions, Participation in International Events and Awards to best teams and facilitators. In order to select the best projects, evaluation is carried out at two stages. One is at department level and other at plant level. Every year VSP conducts QC annual recognition function wherein 25 best QC teams are recognized with Cash rewards, release QC compendium consisting best QC projects, arrange QC model exhibition, recognize best facilitators and best QC performing departments and arrange best QC oral presentations before top management to encourage the employees. The selected QC projects at plant level are nominated to participate at different conventions. In order to encourage the best QCs at national level, VSP nominates them to participate at International conventions. So far we participated at International QC conventions held at Colombo, Singapore, South Korea, Bali, Indonesia, Beijing, China, Dhaka, Bangladesh and Cebu, Philippines. And this year VSP"s teams are participating in Hyderabad at International Convention on Quality Concept Circles (ICQCC).The number of QC projects has increased tremendously from a mere 51 in 1990-91 to a staggering 4277 in 2009-10 with an employee involvement of 75.2% and the financial savings are substantial.Srujan Vikas – The Suggestion Reward Scheme was initially launched in Visakhapatnam Steel Plant in 1993 and it was revised in 1996 with additional features to further motivate employees. The objectives of this scheme are:

· To provide an opportunity for creative thinking among employees and their family members so as to utilize their full potential for advancement and to bring about improvement in their day to day working through the application of their experience and knowledge

· To recognize the positive contribution made by employees in bringing about such improvements

· To provide an additional forum for mutual co-operation and collective initiatives in fostering production / productivity, reducing cost and improving quality.

Keeping in view the number of rewarded suggestions given by the ‘suggestor’ and the quality and value of such suggestions, one gold medal to the best suggestor and one silver medal to the next best suggestor are presented during RINL formation day celebrations every year. Three trophies are awarded, based on highest number of rewarded suggestions/ employee/year to best performing departments.

Shri Y. Manohar, Former Director(Personnel), RASHTRIYA ISPAT NIGAM LIMITED, VISAKHAPATNAM STEEL PLANT has been awarded DOCTORATE from Andhra University.  The award was presented by Vice Chancellor, Andhra University on 12th October 2010 for the Thesis on “IMPACT OF HRD PRACTICES FOR ORGANIZATIONAL EXCELLENCE – A CASE STUDY OF RINL, VISAKHAPATNAM STEEL PLANT”.By his involvement in enriching and intertwining with the lives of VSP Employees in general and Training & HRD Collective in particular, VSP Collective is extremely fortunate in receiving the services of such an elite individual of the stature of Shri Manohar. RINL has been the pioneer for Implementing HRD Practices of ISO-9000, TQM & TPM Concepts, Benchmarking, Six-Sigma, Integration of HRIS, Performance Assessment Centres, Competency Mapping which instilled a sense of confidence at various levels in VSP, for which Shri Manohar was very instrumental. 

Under the stewardship of Shri Manohar, RINL/VSP bagged various national and international HR Awards like:-

CII HR EXCELLENCE AWARD (SOUTHERN REGION)

Shri Manohar served the Indian Society for Training & Development (ISTD) in the capacity of National President for the year : 2009-10 and also the Board Member of IFTDO (U.K).Dr. Manohar Yelisetti was retired from the services of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant on 30th September, 2010.

Mr. PK Bishnoi, CMD of RINL-VSP stated that "In today’s Knowledge economy employee involvement and empowerment has become the ‘mantra’ for success". Mr. Bishnoi was Chief Guest at the Inaugural Function of an international Convention on Quality Concepts Circle in India (ICQCC-2010) being held in Hyderabad from 13th to 15th October under the aegis of ‘Quality Circle Forum of India’ and for the first time in the Southern region .Speaking on the Occasion, Mr. Bishnoi asserted that "the modern corporate business calls for ‘employee empowerment and participative management’ which leads to ‘better employee involvement, increased responsibility, belongingness and effectiveness’, that form the ‘key factors required’ for any organization to grow and excel".Mr. Bishnoi emphasized that ‘Quality Circles and Suggestion Schemes provide a wonderful opportunity to promote these aspects’ and to hone the skills of the individuals and added that ‘employees on their part with the conviction for continuous improvement have put forth their innovative skills for optimum utilization of resources through QCs and Suggestion Schemes that has helped many organizations to reap rich dividends both financially as well as intangibly. Mr. Bishnoi called for transforming organizations towards people orientation and to evolve systems that are proactive and progressive in achieving the organization’s goals and objectives and to switch focus from ‘value apportion’ to ‘value creation’.A large number of ‘Delegates from the twelve countries of Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore and Sri Lanka participated

The nine day festival of ‘Devi Navaratri’ began at the Tri-Shakthi temple in Ukkunagaram, the residential township of Visakhaptanam amidst vedic chants and traditional rituals under the aegis of trishakthi devalayam organizing committee.Umesh Chandra, Director (Operations), AP Choudhary, Director (Projects), P Madhusudhan, Director (Finance), TK Chand, Director (Commercial) of RINL- VSP collectively offered prayers to the deities of Maha Lakshmi, Maha Durga and Maha Saraswathi. A slight drizzle of rain in and around the temple complex signified divine blessings.Organizing committee members of Tri-Sakthi Devalayam and large number of devotees in and around the township of Ukkunagaram participated and offered prayers with devotion and discipline.

Rich Floral tributes were paid to ‘Father of the Nation’ by Visakhapatnam Steel Plant on his Birth Day at Mahatma Gandhi Park in Ukkunagaram on Saturday. Mr. Umesh Chandra, Director (Operations) who was chief guest garlanded the statue of ‘father of the nation’ and appealed to follow Gandhiji’s ideals of ‘Simplicity, Peaceful Co-existence and Non-violence’ and be’ truthful in duty and responsibility’.On this Occasion prayers from Bhagawadgita, Quoran and Bible were also rendered. Ladies from Visteel Mahila Samithi rendered Bhajans of ‘vaishnava janatho’ and ‘raghupathiraghava rajaram’.Mr. K Vidyasagar, IAS, CVO Senior Officials, Members of Steel Executive Association, Union Leaders, Members of SC/ST Association, Large number of Ladies and Children of Ukkunagaram participated.