December 19, 2014. A quarter of respondents in a recent survey said they were considering not buying a car because of economic troubles, Avtostat reports. 20.8% of those surveyed do not exclude the possibility of buying a less expensive make. At the same, every one in five respondents isn’t going to give up on the idea of buying a car due to an economic crisis. 9.7% of Russians are considering second-hand cars as an option; there are also those who will buy an automobile a bit earlier than planned (6.2% of respondents). 18.3% of those surveyed remain undecided.

December 18, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s head plant introduced youth surveillance raids: young skilled workers on these teams have to detect any deviation from rational use of energy, material, and labor resources at the plant and to give advice on how to improve the situation. ‘The reason we decided to engage our younger workers in the project is that they become involved in the production process and grow more labor-responsible through actually witnessing how material, labor, and other resources could be used irrationally and how energy spending and other expenses could (and should)

December 18, 2014. Volchansk Mechanical Plant (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) celebrated the 40th anniversary of its gas cylinder department. According to the corporation’s press service, this is Russia’s only enterprise to make such a wide range of gas cylinders, from standards household ones to innovative, composite ones. The first product was made in Volchansk in 1974, and the millionth one was produced as soon as in 1980. 2 million units were made in 1983, 3 million in 1987, 4 million in 1990, 5 million in 1993, 6 million in 2004, and 8 million in 2013. All in all, the

December 18, 2014. Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant (ChTPZ) launched a new storage facility for raw materials and finished goods from the ceramic flux production department, ChTPZ Group’s press service reports. The red-ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on the eve of the department’s anniversary. The new site means ChTPZ will be able to increase its one-off shipments to customers considerably and spend less on logistics expenses. ‘The company’s ceramic flux production facility supplies its customers with 14,000,000 kg of goods a year, about a half of which amount is used for making large-diameter

December 18, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court is going to consider Raiffeisenbank’s claim: the bank insists that OAO Pnevmostroymachine be declared insolvent. The plaintiff says Pnevmostroymachine owes the bank 29,129,135 RUR according to the two parties’ peace settlement (Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court’s ruling to this effect came into force on July 18, 2012). The court hearing has been scheduled for January 19, 2014.

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