The Business Bytes
TBB BUREAU
LANJIGARH, FEBRUARY 20, 2023
The Lanjigarh Unit of Vedanta Limited achieved a new milestone in its relentless pursuit of operational excellence as its in-house laboratory emerged as the first in India to be officially certified as capable of testing calcined alumina on all relevant physical and chemical parameters.
The National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) has awarded the ISO 17025:2017 certification to Vedanta Lanjigarh’s Quality Control and Laboratory, indicating that it meets the specialized requirements vital for competent testing.
What makes this certification especially noteworthy is that the Vedanta Lanjigarh team independently completed the NABL accreditation process on their very first effort; and within a shorter timeframe, a testament to the extensive skills and expertise of the company’s technical personnel. The laboratory is now officially certified on its ability to test calcined alumina upon several parameters such as Bulk Density, BET Surface Area, Iron, Silicon and Sodium.
Sharing his views on the certification, Vedanta Limited Deputy CEO (Alumina Business) GG Pal said, “Vedanta Lanjigarh’s efforts are geared towards achieving operational and quality excellence in every aspect of the business, with a vision to establishing ourselves as one of the best alumina refineries in the world. We are achieving this through a comprehensive mix of deep technical expertise, digital innovations and augmented technologies. The ISO certification comes as an added fillip towards ensuring that our product is associated with the best available standards and industry benchmarks prevalent today.”
The Vedanta Lanjigarh Quality Control Function and Laboratory have implemented a comprehensive approach to quality control with extensive checks across the three stages of production, from raw material testing to in-process testing and finally finished goods testing. The major raw materials consumed in the alumina production process, such as bauxite, lime, caustic and coal, go through rigorous quality tests before utilisation. The laboratory also ensures that every batch of alumina produced conforms to high quality and technical standards before being dispatched to the Company’s smelters at Jharsuguda in Odisha and Korba in Chhattisgarh.
This quality-first approach has helped the company’s employees win plaudits in several quality circle competitions such as Chapter Convention on Quality Concepts at Rourkela, National Convention on Quality Concepts at Aurangabad, Champion of Quality and others held across the country. The organisation has also focused on developing capable quality circles with ‘Abhyuday’, a 3-day quality circle fest held internally at its operations.
Vedanta Aluminium, a business of Vedanta Limited, is India’s largest producer of aluminium, manufacturing half of India’s aluminium i.e., 2.27 million tonnes in FY22. It is a leader in value-added aluminium products that find critical applications in core industries. Vedanta Aluminium ranks 2nd in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) 2022 world rankings for aluminium industry, a reflection of its sustainable development practices. The company operates a 2 MTPA (million tonnes per annum) capacity alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district of Odisha since 2007 and an associated 75 MW captive power plant. With its world-class aluminium smelters, alumina refinery and power plants in India, the company fulfils its mission of spurring emerging applications of aluminium as the ‘Metal of the Future’ for a greener tomorrow.
