OREANDA-NEWS. September 21, 2009. Last year the Severstal-metiz Group of Companies declared its intention to invest US27.4 mln into Dneprometiz. Half of these funds have already been utilised within the “Wiredrawing production optimisation aimed at concentration of the production capacity with annual output up to 210 thousand tonnes” project, reported the press-centre of Severstal-metiz Group.

This project is a part of a complex programme of infrastructure and production capacity optimisation. Its implementation will enable the Severstal-metiz plants to become enterprises with European standards of in-dustrial engineering and high quality products.

Oleg Veter, the Head of the Severstal-metiz Group of Companies, declared the project to be “crucial for the whole company” and emphasised: “Today each market player is aware of the fact that its competitiveness is defined by how effectively its costs optimisation work is implemented. We used the opportunity of the economic crisis to accelerate the imple-mentation of the complex programme of capacity and infrastructure optimisation, of which the Dnepropetrovsk project is a part, because it contributes to increase our internal effi-ciency, to cut costs, and allows us to be stronger and more successful in a new economic environment.”

Wiredrawing production optimisation implemented at Dneprometiz is a project which is be-ing carried out in several stages (during 2007-2011). During the first one the heat treatment and galvanization lines were modernised. In the second, the site for renewed production facilities was reorganised (including all the utilities), 18 wiredrawing machines were transferred from another shop area and upgraded and 8 new high-performance wiredraw-ing machines were purchased and installed.

The start-up of new production facilities and modernisation of the existing ones is not so much about increasing the capacity as optimising its performance, which means improve-ments in product quality and service levels. “Having concentrated all wiredrawing equip-ment on one site, we simplified the logistics, improved business processes and streng-thened our competitive edge: flexibility in client relationships, the speed of order execution, development of new types of products”, – noticed Dmitry Sergeev, the CEO of Dneprome-tiz.

Following the implementation of the project, Dneprometiz has now become not only the biggest producer in the market segment (low carbon), but also one of the most effective in the region.

The increase of Dneprometiz production capacity up to 210 thousand tonnes, as it was announced initially, is planned for the last stage of the project and will be implemented with adjustments to reflect the market situation.