By Aurobinda Das: In the of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), Lance Carriage Assembly is an equipment used in Basic Oxygen Furnace converters for holding and managing the lance movement safely during blowing operation, which is highly critical in nature. Each convertor is equipped with two lance carriages – one having LH design and the other ORH design.

In order to have lance carriage assembly ready always, it was decided to develop in-house manufacturing of carriage assembly the procurement cost of which was about Rs. 1 crore. Keeping this in view, the Engineering Shops collective took up the challenging task of developing a lance carriage assembly at Engineering Shops. The project was undertaken after preparation of drawing for all the spare parts by Design department. To facilitate the preparation of spare part drawings the running assembles had to be dismantled fully during the two shut-downs taken for the convertors.

The fabrication of the body was done at Structural and Fabrication Shop. The Repair Shop Mechanical (RSM) collective ascertained the rectifications required for ensuring correct fitment of various brought out items, in the absence of assembly drawing. Thereafter the necessary machining was carried out and complete assembly of all the spares with the main body was executed.

The initiative saved the company a cash outflow of nearly Rs. 85 lakhs taking into account the in-house expenditure of Rs 15 lakhs, which is a commendable achievement.

The entire job was coordinated by Planning and Coordination Services (PCS). SMS-II (Mechanical) and Design Department were the other agencies closely associated with the project.