“Offers unique insights for fostering safe, efficient and eco-friendly alleviating practices to enhance profits”
Speaking at the release function of the book ‘Earn or Burn Your Profits’ at the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), auditorium, Guest of Honour, Prof A B PANDIT, Vice Chancellor of ICT introduced the concept of Safe and Efficient Plant Operation (SEPLO), elaborated in the book. Prof Pandit expressed the hope that SEPLO would become as popular and accepted as other industry concepts like Total Plant Management and Total Quality Management, all of which, when applied, enhance safety standards and profitability in the chemical industry.
The Chief Guest, Padma Shri Prof GD Yadav and former Vice Chancellor of ICT in his keynote address praised the efforts of Rajendra Utturkar in writing this book and spoke on the broader applications in industry and the significant impact of the book. He said that the book has the potential to drive positive change in the industry. Prof Yadav shared his profound journey on process safety, influenced by the legendary works of Trevor Kletz and Frank Lees.
Earlier, Rajendra Utturkar author of the book, in his opening address emphasised on the four foundational aspects of a chemical manufacturing company: basic technology, plant facilities, human capital and organisation, which cumulatively should synchronize for safety. He said that safety extends beyond technical issues and should be viewed holistically.
Rajendra Gogri, Chairman and Managing Director, Aarti Industries Ltd in his address emphasized that safety is the cornerstone of long-term success for any chemical company. Drawing from his experience at Aarti Industries, he remarked, “We are in the business of safety; we also manufacture chemicals.” He highlighted the book’s role in providing a systematic approach to implementing safety, making the complex subject accessible to top management and operational teams.
Deepak Mehta, Guest of Honour offered a unique perspective given in the book of comparing the chemical industry to a coin with two sides: opportunity and safety. He stressed the importance of recognizing both aspects, as highlighted in the book, to ensure a balanced approach to industry growth.
Dr. Mohan Ravi, Director Technical, Chemische Global Colour Private Ltd and Dr. B Sahu, former Managing Dirctor of Innovassynth Technologies (India) Ltd also shared their views.
Dr. Parag Gogte compered the event with his introduction and later thanked all who attended.
Highlights of the book:
Book Title: Earn or Burn Your Profits
Publisher: Penman Books; Author: Rajendra Utturkar
Number of pages: 266, 12 chapters, Price: Rs. 2,500/-
This book is targeted to process industries, which include chemicals, agrochemicals, fine chemicals, petroleum refineries, oil & gas and other process plants. It is unique in the sense it opens up a new dimension and vision – a complete paradigm shift to new safety over traditional knowledge. The author has introduced a new theory based on ‘Safe and Efficient Plant Operations (SEPLO) integrating it with plant efficiency and environmental management. This concept when implemented can enhance profitability and sustainability at the same time.
Accidents and inefficiencies in a chemical plant can not only land the company in losses and retard business growth, but could even impact the very survival of the company.
But employing the SEPLO Process, 24/7, 365 days a year, which the author emphasises is 100 percent implementable, but which has to be customized to individual business organisations, the plant can avoid unsafe situations, make the plant more efficient and reap higher profits. The book describes all technical factors that could lead to unsafe situations.
The book also creates awareness on non-technical factors that influence plant operations and safety, which factors, the author says, are not even aware to plant owners and operations people.
The author has identified and modeled specific business characteristics that hamper business growth – termed by the author as “Business Hazard Characteristics” (BHC). The BHC pinpoints the weakest link in business assets responsible for future accidents, how a business can lose money, and how business growth can turn negative.
If a plant is not designed and built for Safe & Efficient Plant Operation, unsafe situations and inefficiency in business operation are but natural. The author has developed a new T-PIE system to fulfill this design need throughout the project life cycle stages: conceptualization, proposal and feasibility, and project implementation.
The author has simplified the complex subject by choosing a non-conventional approach to communicate with readers, usually not adopted to write a book on a technical subject like safety. The author has used several anecdotes – simple published stories and stories based on his industrial experience. Also, the language used is mostly in first person, where the author prefers to talk directly to readers.
The book has a dedicated chapter on understanding the environment and how aligning business activities with the environment will enhance profits.
The book offers the ultimate step-by-step tool for achieving safe and efficient plant operations that act as growth accelerators by overcoming existing problems.
The book promises to be a valuable resource for the chemical industry, guiding companies toward safer and more profitable operations.
