H&K India which has made a stellar contribution towards the upliftment of India’s steel industry, lead the way at the recently concluded 2018 MSME Steel Conclave.

The one-day event was organised in Mumbai, jointly by the Government of India – Ministry of Steel and Steel Re-rollers Association of Maharashtra.

As representatives from Micro, Small and Medium sized Enterprises (MSME) from all over the country converged into the island city to showcase their strengths, achievements, and contribution to the Indian economy, the German proprietary THERMEX QST technology which, for the past 27 years, has been indigenised, marketed, manufactured and installed by H&K India in the country, found special mention at the conclave.

Primarily, the event brought to the forefront some of the many robust initiatives taken by the Ministry of Steel to encourage participation of ‘Made in India’, technology-advanced and environment-friendly MSME steel in various government projects.

H&K India which is credited for transforming India’s MSME steel sector with its modern and relevant technologies, imported into India through the technology-transfer route, was among the key industry participants.

Given the Government’s objective to encourage the use of MSME steel, a large delegation flew from Delhi to Mumbai for the conference. It included Minister of Steel Chaudhary Birender Singh, Principal Secretary Ministry of Steel Dr. Aruna Sharma, Joint Secretary Ministry of Steel Ruchika Govil, Technical advisors from the steel ministry, Government agencies like NHAI, Railways, municipal corporations and road development corporations that consume steel, Members of the Banking community that extend finance to MSME sector, Premier R&D institutes, and representatives of the Bureau of Indian Standard.

The VIP delegation visited and spent about 10 minutes at the H&K India’s special informative stall and learnt about high-strength, high-ductility THERMEX rebars – ideal for India’s seismic zones. During this interactive visit, H&K India’s MD Radhika Markan, Deputy MD Satguru Saran Markan, and the entire H&K India team showcased the latest innovations in THERMEX QST technology to members of the delegation.

Installed as Version 1 at Steel Authority of India’s Durgapur and Bhilai Steel plants, THERMEX has been subsequently upgraded to Version 2 and Version 3 and installed in over 260 MSME projects in the Indian sub-continent, Africa and Middle East. Among the many advancements showcased was the special ‘Made in India’ quadruple, triple and twin THERMEX slit quenching equipment where a single rebar that has been slit into 4, 3, or 2 strands gets effectively quenched.

H&K India upliftment of main and MSME steel sector
1991: FIRST ‘Stop-Start’ Rotary Shear in India at DSP, SAIL
1991: FIRST ‘Stop-Start’ Crop-cum-cobble Shear in India at DSP, SAIL
1991: FIRST Thermex System at DSP, SAIL
1992: FIRST Bundling-Binding Systems (2 nos.) at DSP, SAIL
1992: FIRST Grip Tilters in India at Kalyani Steels, Pune
1993: FIRST Trough Tilter at Kalyani Steels
1994: FIRST Thermex System for 25-40 mm at Bhilai Steel Plant, SAIL
2000: 100 Thermex Systems milestone reached
2012: 200 Thermex Systems milestone reached
2014: FIRST 4-Strand Slit Thermex Pipe commissioned
2017: FIRST to achieve TS/YS ratio >1.25 in rebars from plain carbon steel