OREANDA-NEWS. The Association of American Railroads (AAR) has extended until December 15, 2009, the term of its certificate for compliance of the Quality Management System (QMS) of Vyksa Steel Works (VSW), part of United Metallurgical Company (OMK), with the requirements of its AAR M-1003 standard. This certificate is required to be able to supply railroad wheels manufactured to the AAR standard to the world market.
 
According to the press service of OMK, the decision to extend the certificate was made on the basis of the results of the regular audit of the VSW QMS carried out in December 2006 by chief auditor of International Quality Consultants Inc. (IQC), USA, Tom Dedek. The previous recertification audit at VSW was conducted three years ago.

In the course of the audit, the Wheel-Rolling Division, the Directorate for Transport Logistics, the Directorate for Material Logistics, and the Quality Management Department were inspected, with such processes as documentation management, contract analysis, internal audit procedures, and personnel qualification issues have been covered.

For the first time, the VSW QMS for railroad wheels was recognized as complying with the requirements of AAR M-1003 in 1997. As a result, VSW was given its first license to supply its wheels to North America.

At present, VSW is Russia’s largest solid wheel manufacturer. The Works has mastered the production of about 20 standard size wheels (diameter: 710 mm to 1,098 mm) designed for freight cars, passenger cars, locomotives, and subway electric trains. In 2006, VSW produced 805,379 wheels, including 100,165 wheels for export. In 2008, the Works plans to increase its production for the external market up to 150 thousand wheels.