OREANDA-NEWS. Representatives of Metalloinvest, Russian bridge and steel building companies, as well as employees of the national research centres participated in the Coordination Council held at Ural Steel. As a result of the meeting, the participants identified key cooperation points and signed partnership agreements.

The discussion of cooperation prospects in supply of rolled products by Ural Steel to the Russian bridge builders was the key topic of the Coordination Council. The improvement of product quality and output growth is the priority area of the plant's activities.

Vladimir Kopyrin, Technical Director at JSC “Kurganstalmost”, commented: “Ural Steel is one of the Kurganstalmost's key suppliers of bridge steel. In 2013, the plant has delivered approximately 25,000 tonnes of rolled products without any single complaint from our side. I would like to note the continuous improvement of the quality of rolled products from Novotroitsk. The high quality and optimum price of Ural Steel's rolled products will facilitate our fruitful cooperation in the future.”

As part of the programme, the companies' representatives discussed issues related to the possibility of expanding the range of bridge steel products and promising trends in bridge building. The representatives of all parties agreed that one such trend is the usage of products with thickness exceeding 50mm. Ural Steel expressed its readiness to organise the production of thick steel plate of bridge building grades of up to 60mm thick. The participants determined that another promising trend was the usage of pipes produced from bridge steel grades.

After the meeting, the guests visited EAF and rolling shops at Ural Steel and became familiarised with the technology and processes for the production of high quality steel plates at the plant. At the concluding meeting the parties agreed on a joint action plan.

Dmitry Mitrofanov, Managing Director of Ural Steel, commented: “Our steel grades comply with the strict requirements of bridge builders. Ural Steel is ready to fulfil new requirements of our clients to produce steel of higher quality. This is thanks to the reconstruction of the rolling shop, including mill 2800. Upgrade works continue: last year we launched a vacuum degasser at the EAF; in the plate rolling shop, we are finalising an upgrade of the “Sever” ultra-sound control unit and preparing to launch a hydro-mechanical descaling unit. At present, rolling facilities at Ural Steel can ensure compliance with client's requirements in regards to the quality of products for bridge building. As a result of the meeting with the representatives of bridge and steel building companies, we have reached an agreement on cooperation. We will receive details from them in the near future.”