VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
The Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant is Russia's largest full-cycle plant for the production of high-quality and premium-quality steels. The plant is the biggest Russian producer of special steels and alloys and the second biggest producer of high-grade rolled stock.
The construction of the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant (CMP) was completed in April 1943, during the Second World War. The plant was built to meet the country's defence needs and was part of the creation of the military-industrial complex of the USSR and Russia. It also took part in space programmes and has been the main supplier of metal for the science-intensive sector in the economy.
In the 1990s, the plant survived the turmoil of economic reform, preserved its production potential and was able to quickly build up output. Since 2001, CMP has been part of Mechel. The plant is deeply integrated into the work of many of the Group's enterprises and is the company's flagship metallurgical producer.
CMP puts out a wide range of products: cast iron, rolled steel, semi-processed goods from high-carbon and special steels as well as forged blanks. The plant's products are used in the following sectors: space and aviation, nuclear energy, chemical, energy, automobile and agricultural equipment production, roller bearing and pipe-rolling plants, construction, production of medical equipment, tools and other sectors. The major consumers of CMP products are: metal-trading plants, pipe-rolling plants, auto assembly plants, hardware plants and other engineering facilities. Proof of the plant's competitiveness abroad is that it holds an international management quality certificate (TUV) in accordance with ISO 9001-2000 standards.
The plant's experts, jointly with leading metallurgical scientific research institutes, have developed and introduced more than 1700 grades of steel and alloys and about 4100 different shapes of rolled parts.
CMP is an active investor among ferrous metallurgy enterprises.
The policy of modernisation to which CMP is committed is in line with the general trend in the development of world metallurgy, the transition from high-cost rolled stock production technology involving the pouring of steel into a slab and blooming treatment to a modern continuous pouring technology as well as improvement of technological indicators, cutting of production costs and launching new types of products.
Recent major projects include: the overhaul and launching of Blast Furnace No.1, the launching of two continuous-pouring machines in the oxygen converter unit, of new turbo-generator 9 at the thermal power plant, reconstruction of Rolling Mill 300-2, completing the construction of Coking Battery 7 and the new Sinter Plant 2.
The second stage in the long-term CMP development programme until 2012 would cost over 30 billion roubles. Practically all the operations at the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant will be modernised. As a result, 30% of the enterprise's basic production assets, primarily steel smelting and rolling operations, will be updated.
One of the key projects of the CMP investment programme is the building of a multipurpose rolling mill for the production of rails and girders. The project would involve the installation of a range of new units and elements of industrial infrastructure. It will see the construction of a new continuous pouring blooming machine No.5, reconstruction of rolling mill No.3 and the installation of new equipment there - a rolling mill for the production of rails and girders with a capacity of 1.1 million tonnes of finished rolled stock a year.
The building of the rolling mill has major economic and social implications not only for the Chelyabinsk plant, but also for the nation. The strategy for the development of railway transport in Russia until 2030, aimed at modernising existing and building new roads all over the country will, among other things, use the rails produced by CMP.
Overhaul of Electrical Steel-Smelting Facility No.6
Another CMP investment project that has entered the finishing stage is reconstruction of Electrical Steel Smelter No.6 (ESS-6) accompanied by the introduction of a new complex for the production of quality and stainless steel. The complex includes out-of-furnace steel processing units: a "bucket-furnace" unit and a vacuumer, as well as machine for continuous casting of slabs No.2. The overhaul will improve the technical and economic parameters of the facility, improve the quality of steel, increase the number of slabs from 800,000 to 1.2 million tonnes a year and substantially increase the range of grades. A major environmental protection programme is included.
The project has been developed pursuant to the Russian government's Strategy of the Development of Metallurgical Industry of the Russian Federation until 2015 and is crucial for the Russian economy and for the Chelyabinsk Region. The programme will enable CMP to launch the production of new types of corrosion-proof flat ferrite and austenite-class rolled articles, some of which have never been produced by Russian metallurgical enterprises before.
In terms of the number and characteristics of the units the ESS-6 complex for the production of quality and stainless steels will match the highest world standards.
