OREANDA-NEWS. Ural Steel hosted Metalloinvest and mefro wheels Russia Plant Zainsk Coordination Committee session on supply of rolled products for manufacturing of car wheels for the international automotive industry. The meeting resulted in the extension of the cooperation agreement.

The aim of the bilateral meeting was to agree the special characteristics and quality requirements of flat rolled products to be supplied by Ural Steel to Zainsk for wheels production for foreign car manufacturers.

Vladimir Afonin, Deputy CEO of mefro wheels Russia Plant Zainsk, said: “Our companies have been partners for a long time. The metallurgists already provide us with flat rolled products to make wheels for the domestic car industry. We now have international customers as well: Volvo, Mercedes, Renault-Nissan and Ford, all globally-renowned manufacturing firms, and thus the materials requirements became even stricter.”

As part of the meeting, the parties discussed production process, parameters, and quality requirements and product labelling. Ural Steel expressed its readiness to satisfy the final customers' demands to rolled products properties. During the site visit, its guests were introduced to the production chain of steel products with improved quality characteristics, as well as the measures taken to increase surface quality of flat products. The parties' representatives agreed the delivery of a trial batch of Grade 15 and Grade 10UA flat steel products, with the possibility of supply as a hot rolled product.

Dmitry Mitrofanov, Managing Director of Ural Steel, said: “Manufacturing of flat rolled products for car manufacturing is one of Ural Steel's priorities. In June, the plant supplied a trial batch of flat rolled products to mefro wheels Russia: 10UA steel 6.5 millimetres thick to produce wheels using a cold stamping method. This product has been made at the plant for a number of years now, but this batch was different because of a very small margin for variation from specifications. The plant works continuously to improve quality of its rolled products and we are not daunted by clients' additional requirements. Ural Steel specialists will do everything possible to ensure that our key Zainsk client continues to place orders with us and not the competitors.”