UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 16, 2016. Omsktransmash (a member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) recently underwent an audit that was necessary to start applying for pipeline manufacturing permits, the company press service reports. The plant is now working, among other things, on pipeline lock valves for a number of large Russian enterprises. A technical audit of the company’s overall activity to prepare the plant for licensing and certification was the first stage in the project. The next step was creating a roadmap on personnel training and production preparations. Once these have

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 16, 2016. Electromachine (a member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) got the international compliance certificate IRIS, the company press service reports. Now Russian Railways, the company’s customer and partner, completed the development of its strategic quality management system last year and adopted a policy of prioritizing suppliers with IRIS certificates. ‘Our company set up an ad hoc team in late 2014 to work towards a certification audit and getting the certificate. In the course of one year, a set of documents necessary for the introduction of a

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 15, 2016. A special ceremony was performed at Tolmachevo Airport’s domestic flights terminal for Ural Airlines’ Novosibirsk-Moscow flight in celebration of the airline’s and Novosibirsk International Airport’s ten-year partnership today, the air carrier’s press service reports. ‘The special date was turned into a memorable event for the passengers of this Flight 99, all of whom received souvenirs and could take part in a prize-winning lottery coordinated by the airline and the airport. Ural Airlines’ first prize (a fully paid flight from Novosibirsk to Moscow and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 15, 2016. The telecommunications provider MegaFon now makes a special offer to its business customers: companies can now buy high quality telephone and Internet connection equipment for just one ruble, MegaFon’s press service reports. Express Office PRO, a special set of a multi-functional router, a 4G modem, and a DECT telephone, will provide a company with wireless IT infrastructure built from scratch. All the connecting appliances come included. ‘If you are about to set up a new outlet or are moving office, Express Office PRO is probably the best option for a

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 15, 2016. EVRAZ NTMK directed around 500m RUR to labor protection and industrial safety projects as well as to over fifty initiatives on working conditions improvements last year, the company press service reports. For one, sixteen shower rooms and WCs as well as repair mechanics’ rooms, a crane section, and a cafeteria were repaired and remodeled. Also, window panes and roofing were replaced in all the main production departments. ‘The company remains focused on working conditions improvements. In 2015, we had industrial vacuum cleaners and special dust-trapping

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 15, 2016. Burevestnik Central Scientific Research Institute (a member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) celebrated the 90th birthday of the institute’s first director Lev Plevako, the company press service reports. ‘This was an outstanding person, who was one of the organization’s founding fathers coming from Sergei Korolev’s designer school, and a Great Patriotic War veteran as well. He was chosen to run the institute when the organization was founded in 1970 and remained in office for over two decades, contributing greatly to Burevestnik’s development

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 15, 2016. Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant/ChTZ (a member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) supplied its new B11.6000EN bulldozer to Magadan Region, the company press service reports. ‘The machine is already in use at a heat and power station and has proven very efficient. The order was fulfilled after we won MagadanEnergo’s tender for a bulldozer, as Margus, our Magadan dealer, was the winning bidder. The plant shipped the machine, the dealer handed it over to the customer and provided all the startup and installation services and is now in charge of all the

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Region, March 14, 2016. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) delivered 86,000,000 kg of metal goods to its customers in the shipbuilding industry last year, which exceeded the figures for a year earlier by nearly 11%, the company reports. In fact, MMK has been increasing its sheep steel output for the second year in a row. In 2014, 37% more produce (78,000,000 kg) got shipped to shipbuilding companies than in 2013. MMK is currently responsible for up to 50% of all the metal goods supplied to customers in the Russian shipbuilding sector. United Shipbuilding

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 14, 2016. Over 700 complaints relating to debt collection agencies’ actions were submitted to Sverdlovsk Region’s police last year, head of the Criminal Investigations Department at the Russian Internal Affairs Ministry’s local division Evgeniy Logvinsky said at a press conference. Remarkably, the number of complaints remained under 200 only one year earlier, in 2014. According to Logvinsky, most complaints have to do with collectors’ threats, damage to private property, personal insults, slander, and petty crimes. ‘Despite the growing number of locals’ complaints,

UrBC, Moscow, March 14, 2016. Ural Federal District construction industry’s output was estimated at 663.2bn RUR last year, which was 13.2% less than in the year 2014. In Sverdlovsk Region, the output figures dropped by 15.2%, Sverdlovskstat reports. As it happens, Ural Federal District’s share in the overall construction activity in the country currently comes to 11.2%, with builders and developers most active in Khanty-Mansiysky and Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Districts, whose outputs in the sector amounted to 184.1bn RUR and 181.1bn RUR, respectively. Building materials and products

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 14, 2016. The telecommunications provider MegaFon’s subscribers sent or made over 26m texts, voice messages, and calls on International Women’s Day, the company press service reports. ‘Residents from Komi, where an average call lasted more than two minutes, proved the most talkative subscribers in the country, followed by those in Kirov Region and Khanty-Mansiysky and Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Districts,’ the press service says. People living in the Urals sent a record-breaking number of texts, with most of these sent from Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk Regions.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 14, 2016. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s corporate loan book rose by 16.6% last year (thanks to, among other things, an increase in the number of issued LCs) and reached 123.5bn RUR on January 1, 2016, the bank’s press service reports. According to the bank’s analysts, the increase mainly had to do with the re-evaluation of the company’s foreign currency assets (27.35% of the bank’s portfolio at the moment). 70% of corporate loans are working capital loans; the UBRD issued almost no investment loans last year due to economic factors. The bank’s

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 14, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation adopted a head plant retooling program for the year 2016, the company press service reports. More than 2bn RUR have been allocated for the purpose this year, which is comparable with last year’s figures. This is expected to cover purchase and delivery of up-to-date technological equipment and capital construction costs (the preparations necessary for the installation of and power supply for the new machines). ‘Just like in the previous years, the new equipment will be obtained for all of the head plant’s primary production

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 11, 2016. 37,195 people registered with Sverdlovsk Region’s employment agencies as officially out of jobs between January 1 and March 9, 2016; this exceeded the figures for late December by 9.6%, Head of Sverdlovsk Region Labor & Employment Department Dmitri Antonov said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. ‘The increase has to do with seasonal factors as well as the economic downfall. One year earlier, for example, unemployment was up by 16%,’ Antonov said. According to Antonov, 1,396 people are expected to be made redundant in the near future, and over

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 11, 2016. The number of applications from customers wishing to receive their pay onto the Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s account doubled last year, the bank’s press service reports. Some 6,000 applications were submitted to the bank in 2015 altogether. According to head of the UBRD Plastic Card Department Alexei Piskunov, quite a few customers started applying for a bank card account after the so-called ‘pay slavery’ regulation (when you could only get paid into the account in a bank chosen by your employer) was lifted on November 5, 2014. ‘We

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 11, 2016. Ural Airlines are now offering a daily scheduled flight from Moscow to Tomsk and back, the air carrier’s press service reports. Starting from April 15, the company’s Moscow-Tomsk flight will be operated daily at 10:30 PM, with the return flight departing at 6:30 AM; this means a business trip to the capital can be planned without any time losses. ‘Once in the capital, travelers from Tomsk can use the company’s connecting flights to the cities of Russia and the CIS member states as well as to destinations abroad. All of Ural Airlines’ flights are operated

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 11, 2016. Ural Locomotives (a joint venture run by Sinara Group and Siemens) completed successfully its operational tests of 2ES7 001, an AC locomotive, at South Ural Railways in February. Sinara Group’s press service reports the loco has traveled over 13,000 km from Kartaly to Magnitogorsk to Inzer so far, with seventy trains connected to it all in all. The largest train was 8,000,000 kg big. The loco also proved very efficient at traveling up and down at steep slopes: A loco set of 7,400,000 kg went up the challenging Khalilovo-Sara slope at 50 km per hour during

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 11, 2016. The foundry departments of Omsktransmash (a member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) are now running on natural gas rather than furnace oil, the corporation’s press service reports. Based on the company’s calculations, this is expected to result in 40m RUR in savings this year, and even more in the years to come. ‘Our Senior Engineer’s and Senior Metallurgist’s Departments did a lot of work finding contractors and getting all the necessary pipelines and ducts installed for the converted equipment and purchasing all the new appliances. For one,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 10, 2016. EVRAZ Group’s NTMK completed the first stage of retooling its coke dry-quenching plant, the company press service reports. ‘This is the first time such technological solutions are being used in Russia or the CIS member states. The new technology will increase our recycling coefficient, improve the quality of coke we use at our blast-furnace departments, and make the entire process much safer than before. Besides, the retooled unit will also reduce atmospheric emissions by 20%, which will mean less negative impact on Nizhniy Tagil’s environment,’ the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 10, 2016. Sinara Development (a member enterprise of Sinara Group) proved one of Volgograd Region’s most reliable developers in the year 2015, the Group’s press service refers to the local state construction surveillance inspectorate as determining. ‘The inspectorate’s analysis was based on the following basic criteria: getting the apartment buildings commissioned on time; complying with the government regulations on contracts with private customers and the use of these customers’ funds for participatory share lending projects; directing the said funds to