Tata brings in Jha as hub director of UK strip products

International steel manufacturer Tata Steel has appointed Hridayeshwar Jha hub director of its UK strip products division.

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The role entails overseeing Tata’s Port Talbot and Llanwern steelworks in South Wales.

Jha has been employed with Tata Steel since 1979 and was most recently md of Tayo Rolls, an engineering business in Jamshedpur in India that specialises in components for strip steelmaking.

Jha assumed his new post on Monday August 19, replacing Jon Ferriman, who will become Tata Steel’s technical officer for Europe.

In this role, Ferriman will be responsible for the technical strategy supporting the company’s products and processes throughout its European operations.

One of Ferriman’s most significant achievements as hub director was the relighting, on February 12 this year, of Tata Steel’s No4 blast furnace at the Port Talbot steelworks.

The relighting signalled the completion of a £185 million ($289 million) rebuilding project at the Welsh steelworks as a means of improving “Tata’s operational flexibility [to] enable it to better serve customers in the UK and the rest of Europe”, the company said at the time.

“We are delighted to appoint someone of Jha’s experience to realise the benefits of the capital investments made in South Wales, and to continue to improve the products and services we provide,” Tata Steel Europe chief technical officer Hans Fischer said this week.