Deputy General Manager

Job Title: Deputy General Manager (Dpty. GM)

Company: Ferrum Tubes Ltd.
Location: Tilda, Raipur, Chattisgarh, India
Industry: Seamless Steel Tube Manufacturing
Reports To: CEO / Promoters

To apply: Please send your application with a resume to hr@ferrumtubes.in

Position Overview

Ferrum Tubes Ltd. is a dynamic and entrepreneurial company on a strong growth trajectory, driven by its market focus, location, and the drive of its people to add value to its customers and their own lives!

The Dpty. GM will lead the overall operations of Ferrum Tubes Ltd.’s seamless steel pipe manufacturing, with the main facility located in Raipur. This role is responsible for delivering industry-leading manufacturing performance across cost, quality, safety, and on-time delivery. The Dpty. GM will drive operational excellence, lead plant turnaround initiatives where necessary, and ensure the facility operates to global standards in seamless tube manufacturing, including piercing, rolling, heat treatment, finishing, and inspection, meeting customer requirements.

The role requires a strong leader with deep experience in the manufacturing of seamless steel pipes and tubes in India and the ability to work in a dynamic, entrepreneurial, and growth-oriented environment.

It’s a senior management role with significant responsibility for the company operations and thus requires a candidate who can build and maintain trust with the executive management and align with the overall goals of the company, while at the same time challenging the executive management for improving the overall company performance.

Key Responsibilities

1. Plant Operations Leadership

• Provide overall leadership and accountability for plant performance, including production, maintenance, quality, supply chain and safety
• Manage end-to-end seamless pipe manufacturing operations, including input material inspection, billet preparation, piercing, rolling, pilgering/sizing, heat treatment, finishing, testing, and dispatch.
• Ensure production targets, yield, and operational KPIs are consistently achieved.
• Advise executive management on optimal plant layout and future expansion
• Partner with the CEO and executive management for the company’s strategic initiatives

2. People Leadership

Organization Design

• Create an optimal organizational chart for processes to implement with skilled manpower and identify gaps to be filled

• Hire to fill those gaps and create a talent pipeline strategy (along with executive management)

• Skilled manpower deputation at the hot rolling & cold rolling mill.

Teamwork and Coordination

• Ensure teamwork and coordination among workers (both in-house employees and contractors) for smooth production.

Culture & Training

• Build strong shop-floor culture emphasizing accountability, safety, and performance.
• Develop future operator talent for continued operations

Conflict Resolution

• Provide leadership for resolving personnel conflicts

 Operational Excellence

• Drive continuous improvement initiatives across productivity, yield, downtime reduction, and cost optimization.
  • Prioritize initiatives based on financial results and/or risk mitigation to production and dispatch capabilities
• Lead plant turnaround and transformation initiatives like:

• Additional industrial seamless tube machineries to implement for ss & carbon steel to improve process/plant productivity or throughput at optimum cost
• Implement processes for tracking work-in-progress inventory from start to finish
• Optimize furnace operations:
  • Regularize furnace monitoring and control procedures to avoid manual errors in operations – including data acquisition and monitoring
  • Systematically look for and implement projects to improve furnace throughput and quality of heat treatment processes for the downstream processing of materials
  • Coordinate with furnace manufacturers to ensure furnace optimization ideas are feasible and viable
• Optimize piercing mill operations:
  • Lower mill downtime by systematically looking for and implementing the highest benefit and lowest cost ideas – e.g. improving alignment
• Optimize Pilgering Operations
• Optimize ancillary processes like end cutting, degreasing, VID, pickling and STP
  • Prioritize immediately required vs. aspirational ideas
• Documentation focus: Direct staff for the creation and maintenance of SOPs and adhering to the same

4. Maintenance & Asset Reliability

• Oversee plant maintenance strategy, including preventive, predictive, and reliability-centred maintenance.
• Ensure optimal uptime of critical equipment such as piercing mills, pilgering machines, heat treatment furnaces, straightening machines, and finishing lines – track and improve upon KPIs like MTTR, MTBF, Yield etc.

• Plan and create a specific mechanical maintenance area to make with hydraulic jacks and spare parts racks.
• Documentation: Institute processes for documenting all small and big breakdowns and resolutions for training and reference so as to avoid repeating same mistakes
• Move the company towards using 5S principles

 Safety & Compliance

• Establish and maintain a strong safety culture across the plant – especially with furnaces and heavy machinery
• Ensure compliance with all statutory, environmental, and regulatory requirements.
  • Represent the company, as the operations leader, for regulatory reviews and compliance requirements
• Implement best-in-class Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) practices aligned with global seamless tubes and pipe manufacturing standards.

 Quality & Customer Delivery

• Direct creation of standard operating procedures for all major processes for not just meeting quality standards, but also derisking critical processes from single point of failures
• Assist the management in creating a program for the plant to achieve quality certifications and customer pre-qualification as required by the industry and major customers

• Establish quality control lab with relevant machines and people

• Ensure products meet applicable international standards (API, ASTM, EN, etc.).
• Maintain strong quality systems across NDT inspection, dimensional control, and metallurgical performance.
• Work closely with commercial teams to ensure on-time delivery and customer satisfaction.

7. Financial Performance

• Work with executive management to understand the financial strategy of the company and manage plant costs including operating and capital costs accordingly
• Prepare and manage annual plant budgets and capital expenditure plans.

8. Stakeholder Management

• Establish excellent working relations with executive leadership
  • Maintain regular and structured communication with executive management
• Manage relationships with vendors, contractors, and local regulatory authorities
• Represent the plant in strategic discussions and operational reviews.

 9.Others

• As needed by the role and/or based on discussions with executive management

Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Metallurgical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or Materials Engineering.

Experience

• 15–25 years of experience in steel manufacturing or heavy industrial operations in India.
• At least 8–10 years in senior leadership roles managing seamless tube manufacturing plants.
• Strong experience in seamless pipes, rolling mills, metal forming, or heat treatment operations is highly preferred.

Key Competencies

• Plant leadership in an entrepreneurial environment
• Project Management expertise in installation and commissioning of industrial equipment and processes
• Seamless steel pipe manufacturing expertise
• Plant maintenance, turnaround and transformation
• Workforce leadership and culture building
• Metallurgy and heat treatment knowledge
• Financial and operational management
• Strategic thinking and execution
• Ability to read, write and communicate in Hindi and English

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – Seamless Pipe Manufacturing

1. Production & Throughput

• Total Production (TPM / Tons per Month)
  Achievement vs. planned production capacity.
• Mill Utilization Rate (%)
  Actual operating hours vs. available hours for the piercing and rolling mills.
• Piercing Mill Productivity
  Tons/hour or billets/hour processed through the piercing mill.
• Rolling Mill Throughput
  Tons/hour output from elongator/mandrel mill/sizing mill.
• Heat Treatment Furnace Throughput
  Tons/hour processed through annealing, normalizing, or quenching furnaces.

2. Yield & Material Efficiency

• Overall Conversion Yield (%)
  Finished pipe tonnage vs billet input tonnage.
• Piercing Yield (%)
  Hollow shell output vs billet input.
• Cutting Loss (%)
  Losses from end cutting
• Scale Loss (%)
  Loss during reheating and heat treatment.
• Scrap Rate (%)
  Scrap generated at each step of the processing – including peeling, centering etc.

3. Quality Performance

• First Pass Yield (%)
  Pipes accepted without rework after inspection.
• Rejection Rate (%)
  Rejected pipes due to dimensional, surface, or metallurgical defects.
• NDT Failure Rate (%)
  Failures in VDI rate
• Reworking rate by cause and activity
• Customer Claim Rate (ppm or %)
  Claims per ton delivered.
• Dimensional Accuracy (%)
  Compliance with OD, wall thickness, and ovality tolerances.

4. Equipment Reliability

• Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
  For critical assets such as:
  • Piercing mill
  • Mandrel/plug mill
  • Sizing mill
  • Heat treatment furnace
• Equipment Availability (%)
• Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)
• Mean Time to Repair (MTTR)
• Unplanned Downtime (%)

 5. Energy & Cost Efficiency

• Energy Consumption per Ton (kgs of gas/Ton or kWh/Ton)
• Fuel Consumption in Reheat Furnace (Nm³ gas per ton)
• Heat Treatment Energy per Ton
• Manufacturing Cost per Ton
• Maintenance Cost per Ton

6. Delivery & Supply Chain

• On-Time Delivery (%)
• Finished Goods Inventory Days
• Production Plan Adherence (%)
• Order Lead Time

7. Safety & Compliance

• Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR)
• Total Recordable Injury Rate (TRIR)
• Near Miss Reporting Rate
• Environmental Compliance (emissions, waste disposal)

8. Continuous Improvement & Turnaround Metrics

• Annual Productivity Improvement (%)
• Yield Improvement vs Baseline
• Downtime Reduction (%)
• Working Capital Reduction
• Capex Project Delivery (time and budget adherence)