December 18, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region’s large enterprises received 101bn RUR worth of investments in the first half of 2014, which was 12.4% more than a year earlier, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. Over a half of this sum (57bn RUR) was invested in the processing industries and in the enterprises involved in production and distribution of electric power, natural gas, and water. Investments were also on the rise in the healthcare and social welfare sector: these reached 2.4bn RUR, which was 1.5 times more than a year earlier. For one, an increase in

December 17, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Corporation took part in the Russia-Persian Gulf Trade & Industry Forum in Manama, Bahrain, on December 14-15, 2014. The Russian delegation was chaired by the Industry & Trade Minister Denis Manturov, the company’s press service reports. A number of work teams met to discuss various directions of collaboration. UVZ International Director-General and Foreign Trade Counselor to Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s head Konstantin Demin took part in the meeting on equipment and machine-building, while UVZ Neftegazservice DG Alexei Samoukin joined the one on

December 17, 2014. Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ, a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) won a special RosTechSert prize for Ongoing Development, the enterprise’s press service says. The best enterprises were selected on the basis of their certification and annual audit procedures. The certificate and the prize were given to PNTZ Quality Management Department’s representatives by RosTechSert Director Maria Koroleva and Quality Austria Vice President Ekelhard Bauer at RosTechSert Customer’s Day, the annual international conference. PNTZ quality management system was certified for compliance

December 17, 2014. 24,900 people, or 1.1% of working-age population, registered as unemployed in Sverdlovsk Region by the end of November 2014, Sverdlovskstat reports. The working-age population in the area reached 2,888,300 people throughout September to November 2014, including 2,131,800 employed citizens (93.2%) and 156,500 (6.8%) residents without a position but on the look-out for one (this latter category is defined as the unemplpyed by the International Labor Organization).

December 17, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court is going to consider OOO Voskhod’s application: the company laid a claim asking for OOO Elmash (UETM) to be declared insolvent. OOO Elmash (UETM) was founded on April 28, 2012, but the history of the business actually dates back to 1934, when Uralelectromachine’s first Appliances Plant was launched. The company now makes distribution and control equipment for electric grids, assembles, repairs, and maintains lifting and transportation equipment, produces precious metals, and makes material-processing mills.

December 17, 2014. Allianz Insurance is leaving the retail market of property, liability, and third-party liability car insurance. ‘Allianz Insurance Company had its agreement with a federal partner annulled in September 2014, which meant no third-party liability car insurance was sold any longer in the areas outside of Allianz’s presence. All the attempts to find a new partner proved economically inexpedient,’ the company’s website states. The Russian Central Bank imposed limitations on the insurer’s third-party liability car insurance license shortly thereafter. Still, the company is still

December 16, 2014. Ural Locomotives (a member enterprise of Sinara Group) completed all the rounds of tests for Lastochka trains, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policies Department reports. Governor Evgeniy Kuivashev paid a visit to the enterprise’s production premises on December 15 and was present when an interdepartmental committee signed the acceptance act (which means Lastochka can now be produced for Russian Railways). The acceptance act was signed by Russian Railways Senior Vice President Valentin Gapanovitch and Ural Locomotives Director-General Alexander Saltayev. ‘An

December 16, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Corporation saved around 60m RUR thanks to introduction of lean production principles in nine months of 2014. According to the corporation’s press service, twelve of its member enterprises switched to lean manufacturing all in all. It all began in May 2013 when one of Moscow’s Corporate Governance Center’s subdivisions started coordinating and monitoring the launch of the principles within the corporation. Lean production is now practiced at Uralcryomash, Uraltransmash, Plant 9, OmskTransMash, Burevestnik Research Institute, TETZ, Kamensk Uralsky Foundry

December 16, 2014. Russian Copper Company Group won in the Urals & Siberia’s Achievements 2014 Contest as the Investment Project of the Year for implementation of two major investment projects: Mikheyevsky and Tominsky Ore Mining & Processing Enterprises (both based in Chelyabinsk Region), the Group reports. The two projects required about 60bn RUR worth of investments. The launch of the processing enterprises will ensure the company’s raw resource independence for at least thirty years to come; important for the company that is known as one of Ural Federal District’s major taxpayers

December 16, 2014. Governor of Kaluga Region Anatoly Artamonov and Sinara Transport Machines Director-General Evgeniy Gritsenko signed a socioeconomic cooperation agreement. According to Sinara Group’s press service, the document was also signed by Kaluga’s First Deputy Mayor Konstantin Gorobtsov and Mayor of Lyudinovo Daniil Aganitchev. ‘The ceremony took place at Kaluga Philharmonic Concert hall during the solemn celebration of Kaluga Track Machines & Fluid Drive Plant’s 140th anniversary (Kalugaputmash is a member enterprise of Sinara Transport Machines Holding), the press service

December 16, 2014. A delegation of Tatarstan’s officials, headed by Education & Science Minister Engel Fattakhov, paid a visit to ChTPZ Group’s Training Center, the enterprise’s press service reports. The delegates took part in a conference on public-private partnership in the field of training highly skilled industrial workers through dual education principles. The conference was also attended by ChTPZ Group’s Organizational Development Director Tatiana Kozhevnikova, ChTPZ Group’s Training Center’s head Nikolai Desyatov, Tatarstan’s Education & Science Ministry’s Vocational Education

December 15, 2014. 100+ Forum Russia, the second international construction forum, will be held in Yekaterinburg on September 23-25, 2015, Executive Director of the Urals’ Developers’ Guild Vyacheslav Trapeznikov told UrBC. ‘A coordination committee met in Moscow on Wednesday to decide on Yekaterinburg as the regular site for hosting the forum. I’d like to point out that this event is currently unique to Russia both in terms of participants attending and in terms of the issues under discussion. In 2015, the forum will be dedicated not only to skyscrapers, but to all sorts of

December 15, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s Executive Director Vladimir Rochshupkin was elected Chairman of Sverdlovsk Region Union of Industrialists & Entrepreneurs’ Gornozavodskoy branch; the council members all voted unanimously in his favor, the corporation’s press service reports. The council meeting was attended by heads and members of Sverdlovsk Region Union of Industrialists & Entrepreneurs’ Gornozavodskoye branch, Sverdlovsk Region Industry & Science Minister Andrei Misyura, directors of major enterprises in the area, and representatives of Nizhniy Tagil Council.

December 15, 2014. The reconstruction of Yekaterinburg Central Stadium began in preparation for the World Cup 2018 games. The city council’s press service says the internal parts of the stadium will get dismantled in December, whereas all the other remaining components will be removed from site by the beginning of summer, upon which the reconstruction per se will start. All in all, it will take twenty-two months to make the football stadium meet all of the FIFA’s requirements. The surrounding area will be improved as well. ‘Yekaterinburg Council has already come up with all the tender files

December 15, 2014. Ural Airlines offered its services to 4,801,504 people between January 1, 2014 and November 30, 2014, which was 17% better than in January-November 2013, the airline’s press service reports. The air carrier expects to fly its first-ever 5,000,000th passenger in the second half of December. The airline has operated 37,362 flights since the beginning of the year altogether, including 11,723 international flights, 18,008 domestic flights, and 7,361 flights within the CIS member states (up 19% on last year). The company’s passenger traffic came to 12,433,388,000

December 15, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation Director-General Oleg Sienko was among the delegates accompanying Russian President on his visit to India. According to the corporation’s press service, Sienko took part in President Vladimir Putin and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with the representatives of Russian and Indian business communities; he also attended the meeting with the President of the Republic of India Pranab Mukherjee. ‘Uralvagonzavod is a well-known name on India’s military vehicles and technologies market; the corporation has

December 12, 2014. Australian model maker Philip Govenlock asked the management of ChTZ Uraltrac (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) for photographs and sketches of T 800, the biggest tractor ever produced at the plant. According to Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service, he says he needs the precise images of this gigantic vehicle under different angles in order to re-create a large-size model of the bulldozer (which will still be 16 times smaller than the original). ‘This T 800 didn’t really enjoy much popularity with Russian small model makers. Yet this is a famous

December 12, 2104. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s personnel healthcare policy won the first prize in the Corporate Practices Contest during the international forum People Investor 2014. The corporation’s press service explains the prize-winning project has to do with the organization of a multi-purpose clinic and health unit in Nizhniy Tagil. The corporation’s Deputy DG for Human Resources Svetlana Ivanilova said at the awarding ceremony that ‘investing in personnel healthcare is a key feature of a socially responsible business today’. The clinic is expected to be one of the solutions to

December 12, 2014. 1.65m sq m worth of housing got commissioned in Sverdlovsk Region in January-October 2014, which was 1.8 times more than a year earlier, Sverdlovskstat reports. Private developers put up 52.1% of these dwellings (859,100 sq m), which was also 1.8 times more than a year earlier. The overall figure includes 142,600 sq m worth of economy class dwellings, which was 2.1 times more than in January-October 2013.

December 12, 2014. A partnership agreement was signed by Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant (ChTPZ) and KAZENERGY, Kazakhstan Association of O&G and energy companies, ChTPZ Group’s press service reports. The agreement was signed by ChTPZ Chairman of the BOD Alexander Fedorov and KAZENERGY Director-General Aset Magauov. The agreement is meant to strengthen the two parties business, educational, and scientific research ties. Both ChTPZ and KAZENERGY proved interested in co-training of vocational cadre, designing educational programs and professional development seminars, developing professional