Yelena Remizova

    Ob’edinennaya Metallurgicheskaya Kompaniya (United Metallurgical Company – OMK) has made a decision unexpected for many observers – to set up a new steelmaking complex. The project entitled «OMK Steel» is designed to be implemented for three years. In the situation when steel is overproduced and access to market is limited, on the background of ongoing debate on the cut of redundant capacity, such plans may seem to be hazardous.
None the less, OMK is convinced that the decision was correct. Its expediency was explained to the correspondent of Eurasian Metals as follows. The steelmaking complex will permit an elimination of open-hearth operations, obsolescent and outdated, at three corporate plants at once. Ii will offer an opportunity to improve the quality of railway wheels and seamless tubes/pipes, whose main supplier in Russia is OMK.
The steelmaking complex will be built based on the Chusovskoy Iron & Steel Works incorporated in the corporate structure. At present the works produces vanadium, pig iron, steel according to the out-of-date open-hearth furnace process as well as bars and sections. It is reliably provided with resources – coke, scrap, virgin charge. Thus, there is everything necessary for the set-up of state-of-the-art steelmaking operations comprising an arc furnace, a vacuum treatment plant and a billet continuous casting machine.
The Chusovskoy Iron & Steel Works built as early as in the 19th century experiences serious difficulties. Although its products are in stable market demand, high production costs owing to extra high wear rate of main facilities (60–80 % in steelmaking and rolling) prevent the works’ financial and economic position from being stabilized.
When commenting on the corporate plans, General Director Anatoly Sedykh stated that the putting-into practice of new technologies will have a positive effect on the operation of not only the Chusovskoy Works but other plants as well. The profitability of bar & section rolling will rise by 30–37 %, with that of commercial billet amounting to 23 % on the average. The integrated net profit will reach $30.7 million per year at the Chelyabinsk Tube-Rolling Plant, the Chusovskoy Iron & Steel Works and the Vyksa Steel Works. The ecological situation of the production operations will correspond to international standards.
«The set-up of the complex will intensify the corporate integration, offer OMK an opportunity to preserve independence in the market and an additional insurance of its business in front of dramatic fluctuations of economic and political situation», was said by Anatoly Sedykh at the presentation. «The products of the new complex will be distributed among three corporate enterprises. Out of an annual output of 800,000 tons of steel, 320,000 tons will be delivered to Vyksa for wheel production, 240,000 tons to Chelyabinsk for seamless tube making, and the remaining 24 0,000 tons will go to the rolling of bars & sections at the Chusovskoy Works».
The new steelmaking complex is estimated by specialists as one of state-of-the-art enterprises in the world. Its set-up will confirm the standing of OMK as a dynamically developing formation pursuing ambitious aims in the markets. The corporate products are oriented to the most stable sectors connected with transport and power industry. OMK supplies various types of tubes/pipes to the domestic and foreign markets, among them, for oil & gas transportation, as well as railway wheels, high-quality steel for picture tube masks. In 2001 the corporate sales approached one billion dollars.

R E F E R E N C E The United metallurgical company (OMK) incorporates about 20 enterprises and institutions. OMK comprises producers and metallurgic products’ traders, transport organizations, scientific research institutes and financial structures. The main direction of its business is to make pipes for different purposes (36% of Russia’s domestic market), steel springs for passenger cars and trucks (70% of the country’s market). Besides, OMK is producing cast iron, coke, ferrotitanium, ferrovanadium, super-thin sheet steel for picture tubes and electronic devices. In 2001 OMK’s sales volume came close to $1 billion. The personnel at its enterprises numbers about 40 thousand people. Anatoly Sedikh is the company's general director, Andrei Komarov is the chairman of its board of directors