OREANDA-NEWS. In 2013 158 employees at Pikalevskiy Cement, part of EUROCEMENT group, took part in the training, retraining and professional development courses.

90 managers and specialists were trained for certification as part of the Northwest Agency of the Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service of Russia courses in the field of industrial safety, 18 plant specialists were trained for certification on the rules of technical operation of railways in Russia, 12 drivers from the transportation department were retrained, 6 took professional development courses at educational institutions of St. Petersburg, 15 people received a second related specialty at the Institute of Industrial Safety, Labor Protection and Social Partnership, and 2 specialists in the corporate personnel reserve were trained at the Oskolcement plant.

EUROCEMENT group pays close attention to the career development of young professionals, which implies their professional and special adaptation, as well as improving their skills and involvement in science, technology and innovation. To implement these tasks they are assigned mentors among the experienced workers, there are Young Professional Councils at the Holding's plants, the young professionals are trained (workshops, lectures and seminars), annual internal research conferences are held at the plants and the winners present their projects at the 'Inspired by Success' young professionals conference.

In 2013 more than 40 young professionals representing all 16 EUROCEMENT group plants in Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, from 21 to 24 October, took part in the III Inspired by Success research conference held at Oskolcement.

Employees at Pikalevskiy Cement won the III Forum of Young Professionals at the EUROCEMENT group in the following categories:

in the 'Management and Logistics' category Sergey Burdaev, a communication wire engineer at the IT Department of Pikalevskiy Cement, won with his lecture on 'Modernizing telephone lines at Pikalevskiy Cement';

in the 'Energy saving technologies in cement production" section Stanislav Vinogradov, the electricity foreman at the Pikalevskiy Cement switchgear section emerged victorious for his paper on 'Installing RTZE relaying in the scheme of electric motors";

In 2013, 15 young professionals at Pikalevskiy Cement participated in the 'Personal Efficiency' workshop.

The Corporate University based at the new EUROCEMENT group high-tech plant in the settlement of Podgorensky in the Voronezh region, opened its doors. This institution is open all year round and the Holding trains specialists from various professions. The teachers at the Corporate University are specialists from the EUROCEMENT group and guest workshop leaders. Corporate University classrooms are equipped with the latest equipment enabling students to combine theoretical and practical training.

Pikalevskiy Cement employees including its General Director Gennady Kulikov, Deputy General Director - Technical Director Sergey Morozov, Head of the Department of Labor and Personnel Accounting Olesya Shevtsova, Chief mechanic Andrey Chumazov, Head of the Quality Control Department and the Laboratory Galina Ilchuk, quality control manager Ekaterina Averianov and leading engineer Elena Cherepanova took part in the Corporate University program entitled 'Modernization of equipment and reconstruction of cement enterprises'.

EUROCEMENT group, an international vertically integrated industrial holding company, is Russia's leading producer of building materials.

EUROCEMENT group is ranked among the world's top ten cement companies and brings together 16 cement plants in Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, as well as the plant manufactures concrete, concrete goods, the open pits extracting aggregates and industrial construction enterprises.

The production capacity of the Holding Company entities is 40.0 million tonnes of cement and 10 million m3 of concrete. The reserves of aggregates related to carbonate rock extraction with the total actual reserves are more than 2.8 billion tonnes; the extraction of granite with reserves, about 1.8 billion tonnes.

In December 2012, EUROCEMENT group commissioned a new plant producing dry cement in the Voronezh Region, designed to produce 3 million tonnes of cement per year. Incidentally, the percentage of dry cement production went up from 13% to 25% of the annual output of the Holding Company.