UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 4, 2019. EVRAZ Nizhny Tagil Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ NTMK) recently coordinated a series of job skills contests which involved 190 employees in the 18-45 age group. This year, the age bracket got extended so that not just the younger workers but also the more experienced ones could compete.

According to EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Communications Center, the contests were held in eight professional fields and covered a multiple choice test on theory, an interview with the judges’ panel, and a practical task.

‘Welders had to do butt weld and a T joint on plates and pipes. Crane operators had to move a 500-kg wheel along a maze and then mount it on a metal stand. Steel-smelting operators had to take steel samples for chemical tests and to get their intermediate ladles ready for ladling. Truck and bus drivers had to do a bank-to-bank reversal backwards and forwards, parallel parking, and reverse parking, drive with their wheels passing between four strategically placed bars, and maneuver their vehicle inside a limited space. Repair technicians had to use a beam compass to measure a range of cylinder-shaped ingots and disassemble/assemble a reduction gearbox. Electricians had to build a control cabinet, a reversing-type starter, and a lighting layout. Turners had to mill a range of pivot pins for the converter shop. Mill rollers had to position roll fittings and set the mill stand parameters,’ the company says.

For the first time this year, the contestants competed in two age-based categories: 29-45 and under-28 age groups.

All the prize winners are going to get money premiums. Winners in the under-28 category will also represent EVRAZ NTMK at the intra-holding competition in Novokuznetsk.