The metal man strikes on: How JJ Irani helped Tata Metal remodel right into a powerhouse

When the crew spoke about Dr J J Irani in non-public, they all the time referred to him as ‘Doc’. A whole Jamshedpur man, he delivered to Tata Metal a refreshingly new method of going about its enterprise. Irani joined the corporate, when it was nonetheless often called Tisco, in 1968. Handpicked by Russi Mody, the then firm boss and a bigger than life character, Irani was then with the British Iron and Metal Analysis Affiliation.  

The deep understanding of R&D that Irani possessed was what got here in helpful at Tata Metal, then confronted with monumental challenges of excessive value of manufacturing and value construction that wanted a makeover. His tutorial credentials had been impeccable and included a masters and a doctorate in metallurgy from the College of Sheffield.

If Mody was the person who travelled typically to Mumbai and different elements of the world regularly because the face of the organisation, Irani was a whole Jamshedpur man.  

He was solely 32 when he joined Tata Metal and shortly earned the popularity of a tough taskmaster and by no means took no for a solution. Colleagues keep in mind him as somebody who knew the “nitty-gritty of steelmaking.” A giant feather in his cap was unfurling the modernisation on the Jamshedpur plant, which included automation within the mid-Nineteen Eighties.

“His want was to take Tata Metal to the twenty first century and in each sense, he was the architect and the person who took full cost of implementation of each venture,” says one former colleague, who recollects Irani turning up on the manufacturing unit on an occasional Sunday to test if all the pieces was on observe. 

TQM (Whole High quality Administration) as an idea was nonetheless not very well-established in India and Irani introduced that to Tata Metal. In an business that was not closely depending on a big workforce, there was not one strike that came about from the time he took cost to when he referred to as it a day in 2001, thirty three years after becoming a member of the corporate.

Over this lengthy stint, Irani honed his individuals expertise to handle delicate points. He grew to become so good at it that tough selections similar to downsizing the workforce or highlighting the significance of efficiency went via with none vital hurdles. To the workers, he all the time emphasised the necessity for Tata Metal to measure itself towards worldwide friends, most notably Japan for its excessive per capita productiveness. In some ways, the journey the corporate has right this moment traversed is a results of that obsession of Irani for it to go world.

Additionally learn: Who’s Jamshed J Irani, the veteran who steered Tata Metal via financial liberalisation within the 90s

Additionally learn: Jamshed J Irani, the Metal Man of India, passes away at 85