Refractory...the Atlas of Steel World !

Steel the backbone of the Infrastructure & an important essential commodity for the world economy & it's development, a wonder alloy that had contributed heavily to the global growth by it's high production, high consumption & high protections..it's a proven fact that all the developed economies have higher per capita steel consumption through various applications of steel in infrastructure & other applications like mobility, defence & also as many household utilities etc. hence the high importance of steel is indubitable & Steels would continue to be a growth driver till we find a better alternative material. So Steel is a real important & savior Hero product for the society...hence Steel has always been nourished to flourished & why not ?.. it should be ...but I would like to share the contribution of an unsung hero product that helps the world to get better & cleaner Steel ....No it's not the raw materials (Iron Ore, Limestone, Coal etc) which form the integral part of steel whereas  this product helps in production of steel but always remain behind the curtain like a surrogate mother whose contribution is enormous but mostly remain anonymous ! Though Steel making is an age old technology but it's not so easy to produce steel with such heavy heat of 1500-1600 deg C or even more when it flows like water but very corrosive along with impurity slags & mechanical load due to heavy ferrostatic pressure (approx 6.7 times more than the hydrostatic pressure) hence such Thermo-Chemico -Mechanical load can only be handled by the great 'Atlas of the steel world' which are Refractories (derived from various minerals ,Ceramic Materials)...that is also survived by the Steel Industry as almost 75% of Refractories are being consumed by Steel Industries & is also continuously supporting & evolving with the growth of advanced steel production and plays a very crucial role in the value chain for being an awesome 'Value Engineered Products' having series of value propositions like

Continually raising the bar(higher performances) to support in increased vessel life & throughput of steel production with greater safety.

Consistent performance despite all heterogeneous input materials that need a high state of the art manufacturing process to offer such homogenous & consistent products.  

Refractories can be customized & value engineered based on the steel making applications.

Continuously offering innovative solution despite the diminishing return -reduced specific consumption (Ref consumption/Ton of Steel) & Specific Cost (Ref Cost/Ton of Steel) which have reached to such a rock bottom level where developed countries like Japan & Korea use approx. 5-6 kg/ton of Steel whereas for India it is approx. 13-15kg/ton (except the advanced integrated steel plants) & specific cost as low as $5-6/Ton of Steel.

Offering innovative servicization in offering with matching customization of the steel makers...like application based management contracts -Trough Management ,TRM(Total Refractories Management), Ladle Management , Purging Management , Tundish Management , 'Supply & Apply contract', VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory) with JIT & Lean way, capital intensive BOO (Build ,Own ,Operate) Model & Turnkey Projects ,Performance Guarantee, Third Party inspection, OEM approval, Free of Charge trials, Buy back, Reverse Auction & even 'payable when able....recently witnessed by many MSMEs, Mini Steels & even debt laden Integrated Steel Plants before insolvency' etc in all possible ways to adjust into the passions, prides & prejudices of the steel makers..."we make ourselves affordable & our customers comfortable ".

use of advance design engineering is the application like Water Modelling, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) , Finite Element Method (FEM), 3D printing etc.

Use of advanced application engineering support systems/mechanisms in Refractories like machines having robust & robotic engineering for faster & accurate installations of refractories with greater safety and less manpower.

24x7 services are being rendered for various applications through competent & sufficient manpower with thorough analysis & compliances to the Safety standards & practices.

Efficient use of refractory waste /used refractories as grog & reduce the waste & reuse at it's best for better sustainability.

so definitely it's not just an ordinary product to be considered as mere commodity ...if you value steel as essential engineered products then refractories are also same which are also derived from scarce mineral resources and the KPI of the techno-commercial significance is the ever reducing specific consumption & specific cost that insanely succumb to the bargaining power of Steel buyers asking to follow a price trend like Moore's law in computer microchip industry ....just think & pat your back Refractory makers :) !

Price/Performance involvement & assessment is very poor from the buyer's perspective & not win-win negotiation for both the buyers & Sellers due to lack of interest in understanding the product.Weak Knowledge decides on perception whereas strong knowledge decides on performance. 

Even in many factories users are either not competent or not interested to know & understand refractories after they placed order to suppliers & any sort of refractory failures are mostly penalized  before it is analysed as selection of refractories are very crucial based on the application than just the specifications & the performance is susceptible to SOP in the plants. (just can't misuse & abuse !)  

Market is mostly buyer's market whereas the total size of the market is not growing in line with the steel growth where the CAGR of Steel in last 5 years was approx 9% whereas CAGR for Refractories in last 5 years is approx 5% in India & the trend is even worse for the developed nations,thanks to the series of merger & acquisitions in the Refractories & Mineral industry to create a significance in the business to improve the economies of scales ,scopes & hopes to perform with better synergies but such consolidation are also being observed in Steel sector too (now only 4 to 5 big players in the organized sector having 50-55% steel production) this gives rise to increasing bargaining power for both the buyers & suppliers where a win-win solution is most desirable to enable this small industries (India Total Steel Plant Refractories Market Size approx 0.65 bn $ ) compared to mammoth Steel but very strategic supplies from 6-7 large players that exist in the 85% to 90% market concentration but still struggling for the profitability & growth in this buyer's market as price taker whereas the rest approx 20 small manufactures are in the bloody fight (Red Ocean) for existence with 'We too' products & identities, run by 2G/ 3G generation family based entrepreneurs & employees at this competitive 4G market.

So in order to survive, revive & thrive in the COVID-19 affected Industry, Steel has a  great role to play in the economy while scale, scope & quality will be very important to match the changing & challenging specifications of materials and the same is expected from Gen next Refractories that ought to be - 'Lighter- Stronger- Faster -Safer -Better & Smarter' and in order to achieve these value propositions, win-win collaborations between Steel & Refractories Makers & Raw Materials suppliers with due recognition are must...this demands a paradigm shift in Leadership for both the business who values equitable win-win partnership ,mutual accountability & respect despite the size of Industry,Value creation through innovative modern technology & talents in the industry 4.0 instead of just working on cost leadership(which is must but not sufficient as Low price survival a big frustration & failure to create 'value for money' amidst the target customers) & losing values over volumes for decades & similarly for the Steel makers to engage technical experts in the buying centers & in procurement who would better understand the techno-commercial propositions and value Refractories as Engineered Products in their Procurement for protection & performance as heat shield & steel containing vessels in their Steel Plants.

Refractory Industry also deserves to be nourished to flourish in order to ensure that the Atlas of the Steel World get some recognition and doesn't remain as an unsung Hero at last!

sharing my personal experience & observations as Refractory Sales & Application Engineer to various Integrated & Mini Steel Plants across India for more than a decade.

Jaydeep Bagchi ( Ceramic Engineer & B2B Marketer obtained my B.Tech in Ceramic Technology from Govt.College of Engineering & Ceramic Technology, Kolkata & Post graduation Executive PGDM-Marketing from XLRI-Jamshdepur)