IPSS Secretariat was created in 1975 to carry out the standardization work with a view to overcoming the difficulties arising from different set of standards used in different units of Steel Authority of India limited (SAIL), IISCO, TISCO, MECON, HEC, BHEL, MECON and DASTURCO for the same equipment & hardware installed in these plants during that time. Initially IPSS started functioning under the then Indian Standards Institution (now Bureau of Indian Standards) premises. In 1990, the entire activity of IPSS was taken over by SAIL and placed under its Centre for Engineering & Technology (CET).
Standard development activity:
IPSS followed the committee method on the same line as that followed by BIS in developing the inter plant standards. Guiding Committee (GC) on IPSS is the apex body that provides the broad guidelines to IPSS Secretariat. The Committee is chaired by Director (Technical) and is represented by senior management functionaries of SAIL and some senior representatives from plants. The Guiding Principles on Inter plant standardization are:
- Need orientation, cost reduction and indigenization.
- Finding optimum solution to repetitive problems by discussions.
- Harmony with standards formulated by BIS, ISO & IEC.
- Facilitating implementation of IPSS standards by plants/units.
- Revision of standards with time.
- Horizontal transfer of good practices amongst plant/units
- Promoting quality, interchangeability and reliability.
- Accident and loss prevention.
Standards are developed in IPSS through a number of Standards Committees which have been created based on specializations. Apart from consultants with vast experience in the respective area every member organization is represented on all the Committees. Representatives of the respective manufacturers are invited to interact with the Committee to ensure that the views of the suppliers could also be taken care of while developing the standards. In general three broad categories of standards are developed by IPSS
- Consumable Stores & Equipment,
- Design Parameters, and
- Management
The following types of standards are formulated by IPSS to cater to the needs of the steel industry:
i) Subjects on which the national and international standards are not available
Standards on Steel Plants specific equipment. A number of switches, gauges, sensors, etc which are used in automation of rolling mills etc, have also been standardized.
ii) Subjects on which Indian Standards are available but found inadequate
IPSS utilize the technical contents of the corresponding Indian Standards while developing its standard with a view to overcome certain inadequacies in the Indian Standards (IS) from the view point of the steel plants and intimated BIS accordingly.
iii) Subject where few selected varieties of relevant IS are needed by Steel Industries
Technical contents of the Indian Standards (IS) have been selectively incorporated in the IPSS standards with a view to controlling proliferation of variety.
iv) Internal Procedures/Guidelines of SAIL
Such standardization is mostly in the areas of Materials Management, Projects Management and Safety Procedures to bring uniformity and transparency in the process. e.g. “Purchase & Contract Procedure”.
v) Standards on Procedures effecting cost reduction
Procedures for repairs/reclamation of spares/consumables like Reclamation of Lubricants, Reconditioning of Rolls, Sinter Plant Pallets, Blast Furnace Bells, Hot Blast Valve of Blast Furnace, etc. have been standardized.
So far, IPSS formulated 327 Standards details of which are given below.
- Specification (for selection an procurement) = 210 standards
- Guidance in design = 48 standards
- Guidance in operation = 08 standards
- Materials/Projects Procedures = 05 standards
- Guidance in maintenance = 27 standards
- Guidance in safety = 11 standards
- Selection Guidelines = 10 standards
- Miscellaneous (Repair, Inspection, Formats, Glossary, etc) = 08 standards
IPSS handbook have been published by the secretariat for the benefit of the users to get the complete list of standards.
User may Click here to see the committee wise standards developed by IPSS.
These standards are available in SAIL’s intranet web link i.e
http://10.135.0.7/myweb/ipss/ipss_home.asp and on internet at http://sail.co.in/ipss-standards
Key Contact person: Click here to see the details of the contact person
Website: https://www.sail.co.in/ipss