We are totally geared up for the growth of the construction industry

- Niladri Sarkar, CEO, Construction Solutions SBU, JSPL With India on a trajectory of growth for the past few years, there is an urgent need to adapt stronger, durable, environment-friendly, ecologically appropriate, energy-efficient yet cost-effective materials and technologies in construction. 'The growing success of 'lighter, quicker, cheaper' (LQC) projects all over the world is proof that expensive and labour-intensive initiatives are not the only, or even the most effective, ways to bring energy and life into a community's public space,' says Niladri Sarkar, CEO, Construction Solutions SBU, JSPL. He adds that this has proven true for various projects in India as well, and shares more on JSPL's new age construction solutions with CW. Tell us about the success of JSPL's solutions to ensure cost-effective and efficient construction. In its endeavour to provide cost-effective solutions to stakeholders, JSPL offers unique solutions of various steel products. It is one of the few companies in India that manufactures high-grade steel flat products up to E550 grade. The company has the capability to produce TMT rebars of up to 600 grade. In addition, to ensure zero wastage at site, JSPL provides just-in-time delivery of cut and bend rebars and steel-fabricated structures for clients. Our recent foray into steel building is based on high-grade steel of E 450, which has been detailed in-house, manufactured, fabricated and supplied to the client in a record time while optimising storage space requirements on site for raw material. With Speedfloor, which is a unique concept of prop-less slab casting, the steel building industry in the country has a one-stop solution for easy and fast construction of buildings. JSPL has had the privilege of providing high-performance, weather-resistant steel for various bridges erected by EPC contractors across the country. In terms of cost-efficiency, how can companies benefit from your offerings? In the steel business, the concept of cost-efficiency depends on the lifetime cost of the project or structure. The cost-benefit analysis needs to be calculated on the cost of the total project or cash outflow of the client. Although the cost of high-grade steel is higher than that of normal-grade steel, in steel buildings, particularly, the total steel requirement reduces substantially and there can be a downward difference of up to 20 per cent of total project cost by using a method of composite structures. The same holds true for various other structures. How do you ensure adherence to safety and quality? Our quality control (QC) team, placed at each of our production premises, ensures a two-fold approach to QC. First, online QC checks ensure that products are manufactured correctly to the given specification. The second QC takes place after manufacturing and prior to dispatch, where all inspection protocols are checked and marked safe. After the two stages of QC, our team issues a quality assurance document to the client. Tell us more about the flooring system, Speedfloor. Speedfloor is a unique system developed in New Zealand and brought to India by JSPL. It eliminates the use of props during casting of slabs in any building construction. The Speedfloor joists are further designed to be used as supports to carry utilities such as fire-fighting lines, cables, etc, after the slab's construction. The joists are prepared from galvanised cold-form steel, which prevents them from rusting. Please introduce us to your management services to ensure just-in-time-delivery and erection supervision at site. During order finalisation with the client, our team agrees on a part mark-wise despatch schedule for just-in-time delivery to the site. The information is percolated to the production shop wherein the production planning team takes care of the client's requirement and the materials are sent to the site as per this requirement. Our erection team at site further verifies the received material and hands it over to the client's engineer for erection activities. Once erected, our engineers, along with the client's engineer, review the erected structure and advise the client on any aspect, if required. Of the construction materials offered by the company, which one would you call the most innovative? Our capability to manufacture high-grade steel products and fabricate the same optimally to a client's requirement is an innovative solution in itself. Products like Speedfloor and hot-rolled parallel flange sections of up to 450 mpa grade are equally innovative. So is the capability to produce and supply TMT rebars as per a client's bar bending schedule of up to 600 S. Hence, most products in our portfolio are innovative and designed to economise a project and make it cost-effective for the client. What are your expectations in terms of business growth for the company? JSPL has always believed in offering the best solutions to the client. Our plants have adequate technical capability and our total fabricated steel production capacity is one of the highest in the country. Our portfolio of products caters completely to the construction industry and our production plants are at strategic locations to cater to a wider audience. The thrust in infrastructure development in the country in the past few years has increased dependency on heavy structural steel. There is a potential for structural steel demand in India to touch between 17 kg and 22 kg per capita in the next five years depending on the economic climate prevalent in the country - and we are totally geared up for the growth of the construction industry. 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