UrBC, Magnitogorsk, August 15, 2017. Keramik, a ceramics plant operated by MMK Group’s Stroykompleks, is now active once again, MMK Information & PR Department reports.

‘The plant had to be shut down temporarily between November 2016 and August 2017 because of the plummeting demand for non-load-bearing clay tiles and bricks that are used for housing construction. Shortly before the stoppage, the plant started making solid bricks that can be used both in housing construction and industrial construction. The plant also had its Siemens automated control system replaced with a newer version in 2015. The system is responsible for product quality control from brick moulding to packaging, so replacing Simatic 5 controllers with Simatic 7 ones and overall system upgrades resulted in much more efficient production control. Besides, the plant got a new digging machine for furnace-charge loading and moulding jobs. Finally, the stoppage provided the time necessary to upgrade the thermal-treatment furnaces. The entire furnace reconstruction process is estimated to cost 15m RUR and will have been fully completed by the end of the year,’ the Department states.

The plant’s produce will get supplied to building businesses in Magnitogorsk as well as to those based in Perm, Orenburg, and Chelyabinsk Regions and in Bashkortostan and Kazakhstan. One of the two production lines has been launched so far; the lines’ accumulated capacity comes to 25m brick units a year.