Interview of Mr Pranay Kumar Yadav

September 30, 2026

For Mr Pranay Kumar Yadav, engineering has never been about simply keeping a process running, but more about understanding why it works the way it does, finding what can be improved, and then testing whether a better way is possible.

His association with Jindal Stainless began even before he graduated, when he joined the company as an intern in 2016. After completing his engineering degree in 2017, he returned to the organisation and has since worked across several areas of the stainless steelmaking process. Today, he leads the Electrical Arc Furnace (EAF) section.

What has remained constant through these years is his approach: learn from the shop floor, ask questions, test ideas and use data to make processes better.

In this edition of Our Partner, Our Pride, we speak to Senior Manager, Electrical Arc Furnace – Jajpur, Jindal Stainless, Mr Pranay Kumar Yadav, to understand his nine-year journey with the company, the problems that have shaped his approach to process engineering, and how he brings together shop-floor experience, data, collaboration and digital technology to find better ways of making stainless steel.

1. You started your association with Jindal Stainless as an intern and have now spent nearly nine years with the company. Looking back, what has that journey been like?

The biggest part of my journey has been learning. I have had the opportunity to work across different sections, which helped me understand how different parts of the stainless steelmaking process connect with each other. What I have particularly valued is the opportunity to experiment. If you have a problem, study it, support your thinking with data and come up with a sound approach. There is openness within the senior leadership to trying something new.

That has shaped the way I look at engineering today. It is not just about operating a process; it is about constantly asking what can be done better?

2. You work in SMS and process engineering. For someone who isn’t familiar with steelmaking, what does a process engineer actually do?

At its simplest, process engineering is about making a process work better.

That could mean improving productivity, removing a bottleneck, making a process more consistent, finding a way to reduce waste or evaluating whether an existing process can support a new product. A process engineer also needs to understand how changes in one part of the process can affect everything that follows.

So, a large part of the job is understanding the process deeply, identifying where the problem lies, and then using data, engineering knowledge and experimentation to find a better solution.

3. Can you take us through one problem that particularly challenged you early in your career? What was happening, and how did you approach it?

One of the most challenging problems I worked on was the AOD (Argon-Oxygen Decarburization) process that had become a bottleneck for productivity.

The challenge was straightforward to define but not easy to solve: if one important stage takes too long, it can hold up everything that comes after it. We needed to understand what was driving up the process time and where improvements were possible without compromising the quality of the stainless steel.

I worked on the project in collaboration with IIT Bhubaneswar. We studied the process, analysed the factors affecting the cycle time and worked on optimising the existing process rather than looking for an entirely new route.

The project resulted in a meaningful improvement in productivity – a 3-5% overall improvement and consequently, we achieved our highest production rate at the time from the existing shop in 2019. More importantly for me, it was one of the first experiences that showed me how a shop-floor problem can be approached through a combination of data, experimentation and academic knowledge.

4. Did that experience change the way you approached problems later in your career?

Definitely. It taught me that sometimes the answer simply lies in understanding a process better. As I gained more experience, I started looking at problems from different angles – productivity, quality, material efficiency and cost. You also begin to understand that a solution has to work not only technically but also make sense for the larger operation.

One example was a project, where both the Jajpur and Hisar plants, and the procurement teams had to collaborate to develop a tool for global raw material cost optimisation. Previously, raw material purchasing occurred on an individual plant-location basis. We worked with a third-party vendor to build a mathematical modelling tool incorporating our technical know-how and plant conditions to unify procurement strategy.

5. Have you explored any low-cost alternative materials for the steel melt shop?

Yes. Raw materials such as nickel and molybdenum are significant cost considerations in stainless steelmaking, so we looked at whether alternative materials could be used without compromising the quality of the final product. One such opportunity involved an alternative nickel-bearing raw material that had cost advantages but also presented a technical challenge because of its impurity profile.

My team and I worked on developing a treatment process to address that challenge and make the material suitable for use in our main stainless steelmaking process. The initiative allowed us to introduce a more cost-efficient raw-material option while maintaining the required process and product parameters.

What made the project particularly rewarding was that it combined technical problem-solving with a clear business impact, delivering significant recurring cost savings for the organisation.

6. Your work has also taken you into automation and digitalisation. You were involved in automation and setting up of digital twins with an OEM. What did that involve?

Digital twins essentially use mathematical models to represent and predict what is happening during the stainless steelmaking process. It brings process knowledge and data together to support more consistent decision-making. My role involved working on the model and tuning it to our actual plant conditions. A model may work theoretically, but every plant has its own operating conditions. Making it reflect what is actually happening on the shop floor requires a deep understanding of the process.

It was a significant learning experience because it brought together process engineering and digital technology. We were able to improve process accuracy and consistency to elevate overall quality and achieved a considerable productivity gain.

Additionally, during my Graduate Engineer Trainee (GET) days, I led an elemental yield improvement project focused on chromium recovery. With adjustments in the process related to slag, reduction material mix, and utilising nitrogen stirring for kinetic energy, we improved chromium yield. This project earned the O P Jindal Quality Award at the company-wide JCQC (Jindal Convention on Quality Concepts) level.

7. What was the biggest learning from working on a project that combined process engineering with digital technology?

It reinforced for me that technology is only as useful as the understanding behind it. If you know the process well, you can ask the right questions of the data and understand whether the output of a model makes sense. At the same time, digital tools can help you see patterns and relationships that may not be obvious through conventional analysis. I think that combination of process knowledge and digital capability will become increasingly important in manufacturing.

8. You have also worked on academic research and co-authored papers with IIT Bhubaneswar and IIT Kharagpur. How has that experience influenced your approach to engineering?

It has taught me to look at manufacturing problems with greater depth. I have co-authored research papers with IIT Bhubaneswar and IIT Kharagpur on areas including process optimisation, digital twins and process prediction. Working with academic institutions gives you an opportunity to question established processes, look at the science behind what is happening and test your assumptions.

At the same time, working on the plant floor teaches you that a solution has to work in real operating conditions. I think the combination of the two is very valuable because theory gives you another way of looking at a problem, while the shop floor tells you whether the solution actually works.

9. What advice would you give to a young engineer just starting out in manufacturing today?

Get as much exposure to the shop floor as possible. In the early years, focus on learning rather than trying to specialise too quickly. Work across different areas, understand how processes connect and take up projects that address real organisational challenges. The broader your understanding becomes, the easier it is later to connect your day-to-day work with larger business objectives. And don’t be afraid to ask questions. Some of the best learning comes from simply trying to understand why something is done the way it is.

10. Looking ahead, what kind of engineering challenges would you like to take on?

In manufacturing, reliability and consistency of the stainless steelmaking process is extremely important to the business and the quality we are able to deliver. Currently, my focus lies there as we continue to optimise our operations. This includes working on process improvements as well as exploring how digital tools can support better decision-making on the shop floor. We are increasingly using data analytics and machine learning to make processes more predictable, whether that is anticipating potential process issues, improving equipment and process dependability, or optimising energy use. The idea is to anticipate issues and make more informed decisions. For me, that is an exciting direction for manufacturing, bringing together deep process knowledge with digital tools to solve problems that were previously difficult to predict or manage.