‘Software sales cannot become an independent business right now’, GD of Uraltone chain stores Evgeniy Furashov said to UrBC interviewer. ‘We offer different kinds of e-translators and posting services, that is, the licensed versions that our customers can afford. These software items do not cost any more than a hundred dollars. We have tried selling 30 copies of Windows operational system for a year but and have not been able to do it. The retail price of the package is 7,500 RUR, which is not very cheap, given especially that a pirate copy can be bought at a mere 100 RUR. Even the big

Sverdlovenergosbyt JSC is going to become the Region’s guaranteeing electricity supplier, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative. To acquire this status, the company must be economically stable and operate on the whole territory of the region. According to the company’s spokesperson, Sverdlovenergosbyt JSC cooperates witl all municipal units of Sverdlovsk Region and has been serving over 700,000 clients, including 20,000 legal entities, in February 2006.

All the orders for metal goods, building materials and machine-building produce coming from Chelyabinsk Region were fulfilled in 2005, and businesses provided for the regular regional metal-roll produce supplies (the total of 78,100 tons plus 206,400 tons of cement). 28 businesses took part in the order completion altogether. This year, the companies keep working on the regional orders; thus, the metal-roll supplies agreement is to be signed by the regional metallurgical enterprises and Governor of Chelyabinsk Region. According to the Governor’s decree on the cement supplies, Uralcement JSC

The first segment of Martinite aggregation production line designed for balancing and commissioning was launched after the tubular carrier chains and aspiration systems had been installed at Magnesite Industrial Complex. As Magnesite Group representative explains, the aggregation will be produced on a large scale starting April. The special production line will allow to increase the aggregation output from 3,600 to 12,000 tons annually, with 4.500 tons produced in 2006. The line construction is part of the Investment Program for 2005 and cost 80 million RUR. Additional equipment was installed

N.A. Semikhatov Scientific Production Association of Yekaterinburg will soon be exporting launchers to France, reports Rocket and Space Deputy GD Lev Belskiy. The equipment is to be used at the French Guiana space-vehicle launching site of European Space Agency, Mr Belskiy says. The Association (alongside with V.P. Makeev design office of Miass, Chelyabinsk Region) is also going to sign a contract with Brazil in February 2006. The agreement concerns modernization of Brazilian carrier rocket under the auspices of RosAviaCosmos, Mr Belskiy explained.

Billing Center Ltd. is to be wound up, and the site is to be used for KESK Multienergetika Ltd. and Kompleksniy Raschetniy (Complex Calculation) Center Ltd. subsidiaries, the spokesperson for KES Holding reports. All personnel members will be reemployed by the new enterprises, the first human resource shifts and changes are not to take place until after a few months. Billing Center Ltd. used to be part of KES Holding and dealt in production distribution as the middleman for energy suppliers and Sverdlovskenergosbyt, TGK-9, natural gas businesses and management companies.

Uralskaya Kusnitsa JSC, a smithy in Chelyabinsk Region, has been audited by AAR for meeting ААR М -1003 quality specification requirements, which is an indispensable proviso for companies willing to supply forged pieces of engine crew wrist pins onto the North American market. As the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative, on his first visit to the smithy (and Russia, coincidentally), AAR leading auditor Thomas Dedeck checked out the Technical Management, Technical Supervision Department, the corporate laboratory, the forge-and-press workshop and the disc cutting shop. He examined

Unichel CJSC, a shoe factory of Chelyabinsk, was visited by some Czech executives in February 2006. The visit was aimed at introducing the new CAD-Cobbler computer equipment for shoe graduation and design. As the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative, CAD-Cobbler software provides for meeting technological requirements as well as norms and standards. Over 1,000 Czech software sets are currently used by shoe factories abroad. This equipment will ensure better design and allow the firm to develop and introduce fashionable and technically sophisticated shoe models.

SUAL Group signed a cooperation agreement with Alu Menziken Aerospace/UAC and Corus Aluminium Rolled Products on February 13, 2006. The parties agreed to join their efforts in terms of developing and producing extruded and rolled items made of aluminum and lithium alloy. SUAL Group is rather experienced in this particular field of production; whereas Alu Menziken Aerospace is the leading extruded products supplier for aerospace (it supplies innovational alloys and specific utilities, among other things). Corus Aluminium Rolled Products produces high-quality plate and sheet products for space

Fireproof Works of Kyshtym (part of Magnesite Group) sold 2.5 times more produce than in the last three years (61% more of chamottes, for instance) in 2005. This means that the works managed to achieve their goal of doubling their gross output in less than 3 years; the company is now rated as profitable and gradually breaks into the fireproof markets of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. According to GD Vladimir Zaitsev, the works will launch some new items in 2006 which should make up one third of the total output. The company’s gross output comprised 8,973,000 RUR in January 2006. The production

Ural Car Factory (managed by GAZ Group) is undergoing the inspection audit procedure carried out by Intercertifica-TUF specialists on behalf of TUV CERT certificating authority. In January 2005, the factory managed to prove that its management system meets the ISO 9001:2000 international standard requirements. According to the leading expert Stanislav Mikhailov, Intercertifica-TUF representatives are hoping to find the management not only properly maintained but also improved. The procedure is to take four days, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative.

The electricians of Ufaleynickel JSC have done the scheduled repair of SBS-1 furnace installed in the hydrometallurgical workshop of the nickel producer. The repair included full replacement of heating spirals, partial replacement of furnace lining and examination of electrical equipment. What is more, the feed and discharge units were also fixed, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative.

Ural tube maker Uraltrubprom JSC sums up its success in January 2006. The company’s sales came to 10,333 tons of iron goods (increase of 10.1% compared to the same figures for the previous year). Most sales fell to the share of electric welded bent box sections (6,770 tons or 65.5% of total monthly sales). The company also sold 3,563 tons of oil pipeline tubes, reported PR-department of Uraltrubprom JSC.

The Board of Vanadium ore mining and processing enterprise of Kachkanar decided to hold an extraordinary general meeting in absentia. The agenda includes delegating individual executive authority to Evraz Holding Ltd.

According to the estimations of Koltsovo International Airport specialists, profitability of economy class service transportation of 1 passenger flying Ural Airlines from Koltsovo to Moscow and back is about 84%. The ticket price is 14,500 RUR, whereas the prime cost of 1 passenger transportation by TU-154 aircraft is 7897 RUR. PR-department of Koltsovo International Airport also announced that despite the claims of Ural Airlines top-management, the real share of fuel expenses in the overall ticket price is only 32% and not 50%. All this is the outcome of Ural Airlines GD Sergei Skuratov

Sevuralboxitruda JSC, bauxite ore maker of Severouralsk, Sverdlovsk Region, has successfully launched an energy saving program. Thus, the company’s electricity bills comprised 241 million RUR in 2002 but 227 million a year later and only 216 million in 2004, which meant the general decrease in electricity expenses from 13.4% to 7.2% within three years. According to the company’s chief power engineering specialist Vasiliy Molodtsov, the savings program still ran in 2005, for instance, in terms of wiser use of compressed air in the mines. Cheremukhovskaya mine compressor was equipped with a

Sverdlovsk Region Court of Arbitration is going to consider claims laid by Kalina JSC to Nefis Cosmetics JSC today. The case file number is А60-25094/04, the plaintiff being Kalina Concern, the defendants Alliance Trade Company Ltd. and Nefis Cosmetics –Vakhitov Chemical Industrial Complex of Kazan Ltd.

Trek Industrial Association of Miass, Chelyabinsk Region, has successfully produced and stocked a new lot of ball and socket joints for Daewoo and Opel car suspensions, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative. The joints are meant for Daewoo Espero (05/95 – 09/99), Lanos (06/97-), Nexia (02/95-) and Opel Kadett E (09/84 – 07/91).

The power-engineering specialists are now replacing the obsolete high-voltage oil-blast circuit breakers used at the electric power stations of Ufaleynickel JSC, regional nickel producer, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative. To ensure the uninterrupted power supply for the melting shop consumers, a new set of breakers has been bought to replace the old ones, and these breakers are currently under installation at № 2 substation.

440 improvement suggestions were applied in industry at Bogoslovskiy aluminum producer (part of SUAL JSC) in 2005, which brought the company the additional 6.8 million RUR in profits. The best part of suggestions came from the Technical Supervision Department, the central laboratory and Heat-and-Power Supply Department. The number of improvement suggestions coming from the shops involved in the company’s core activity, namely, aluminous and electrolysis workshops, was twice the estimate. 446 employees took part in the innovation process in 2005 altogether.