August 29, 2014. Russia’s first three-part low-floor tram 71-409 designed and produced at Uraltransmash (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation) is now undergoing performance tests in Nizhniy Novgorod. According to the corporation’s press service, the tram was accepted for industrial production by an interdepartmental committee in 2013. The product received all the necessary certificates. ‘A number of innovative technologies were used for the 71-409 tram; the prototype of R1 was actually based on this tram. Uraltransmash designers drew out a new tram

August 29, 2014. In the first half of 2014, the income of Sverdlovsk Region residents increased by 3.8% compared with the first half of 2013 and came to 776bn RUR, Sverdlovskstat reports. The local population’s spending rose by 4.3% and amounted o 779.6bn RUR. Local residents spent 645.8bn RUR on goods and services, which was 7.1% more than in the first half of 2013. Savings reached 21.5bn RUR, which was 2.1 times less than in January-June 2013. In June 2014, Sverdlovsk Region residents’ income rose by 141.8bn RUR, which exceeded the figures for a year earlier by 1.7%, while spending went up

August 29, 2014. Lyudinovsky Locomotive Plant (LTZ, a member enterprise of Sinara Transport Machines) underwent its first surveillance audit of the plant’s business management system. The system was tested for compliance with the IRIS (International Railway Industry) standards, the company reports. Auditors from the German company DQS Holding GmbH, headed by Herbert W. Rademacher, looked into the documents presented and gave an expert assessment of whether the production process meets the IRIS standards. In their final report, the international auditors stated that the plant was using a

August 29, 2014. Ural Airlines operated their first Moscow-Harbin flight on August 27, 2014. There was a stopover in Yekaterinburg, the company’s press service reports. Passengers on the return flight from Harbin to Moscow are leaving for the Russian capital on August 28. There was a special flight-opening ceremony at Harbin Airport for their sake. Now there are special information boards for passengers’ convenience at Yekaterinburg’s Koltsovo Airport to help the travelers find their way quickly and move from the international arrivals hall to the domestic flights terminal. Special

The representatives of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) are now developing a new professional standard for a business process architecture specialist. The company’s initiative has already been approved of by the Russian Federation Labor & Social Protection Ministry. Any interested party is welcome to take part in the discussion of the new standard. This is how MMK Internal Control, Audit, Risk Management & Business Processes Director Ekaterina Bolotova explains the need for a new profession: ‘Russian companies entering the global market have to compete with the world’s

On September 16-25, 2014, Yekaterinburg Gallery of Modern Art will be featuring Simple Portraits, an exhibition of photographs by Maxim Loskutov. Forty photographic portraits of the ‘new wave’ people who are well known in Yekaterinburg will be displayed at the exhibition. These people are media managers, artists, photographers, entrepreneurs, journalists, and ad men, the so-called trendsetters, the ones who are to shape Yekaterinburg’s business and culture agenda in the foreseeable future. They are the ones who set the rules of the game for the developing city. These popular, successful,

August 28, 2014. Ural Airlines are making a special offer for Wings Club members: bonus rubles for personal data, the airline’s press service reports. ‘Wings Club members can fill in their profile, including their passport details, in My Account, and they will never have to worry about bonuses – every time they book a ticket the system will automatically add up bonus rubles granted for the flight. The company is offering customers an additional 200 bonus rubles for filling in their data,’ the press service says. This offer is valid through September 30, 2014. Bonus rubles are granted once,

August 28, 2014. The employees of Uraltransmash (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) took part in an athletic tourism contest for the first time in the company’s history, the corporation’s press service reports. ‘Athletic tourism is a kind of sport based on meeting a series of challenges in the course of a route, including obstacle-crossing in the open air. This is particularly a team sport, so mutual help and support, quick decision-making under nonconventional circumstances, sharing one’s experience and knowledge, and a creative approach are crucial. This is why the goal of

August 28, 2014. Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) upgraded its 9330 machine meant for fine turning of outer surface of 72mm-160mm pipes. Most of the pipes treated with this machine are used for making couplings for the Finishing Center’s key customers: Gazprom Neft, Rosneft, and Lukoil, ChTPZ Group’s press service reports. The upgrade required some 2m RUR worth of investments. It enhanced the quality of treatment and increased the machine productivity by 15%, that is, from 600,000kg to 700,000kg of pipes a month. The repairs will also indirectly reduce the time

August 28, 2014. Uralcryomash (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation) increased its net profit (calculated in accordance with the Russian Accounting Standards) up to 45.415m RUR in January-June 2014, which was 8.7 times more than in the first half of 2013. According to the corporation’s press service, this growth was caused by a large order for the 15-157-02 tank car meant for transportation of caustic natron and by the fact that the company finished designing its polymeric container made from composite material and is planning to start producing it on

August 28, 2014. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development was featured in the rating of Yekaterinburg- and Sverdlovsk Region-based leaders in terms of deposit portfolio volume as of July 1, 2014. The rating was compiled by the Delovoy Kvartal magazine, the bank reports. According to this rating, the UBRD is No.1 in Sverdlovsk Region in terms of attracted funds and the number of deposits: in the first half of the year, over 170,000 deposits were opened by private individuals and corporates, with the amount of money totaling to more than 34.5m RUR. All in all, the UBRD’s deposit

August 27, 2014. In the first half of 2014, the amount of investment in the Russian economy went down by 2.8% and came to 4.8 trillion RUR. At the same time, the investment volume was actually up in 48 federal constituencies; together, their share in the total volume of fixed capital investment reached 55.7%, Russia’s Ministry for Regional Development reports. Investment volume was the highest in Chechnya (+76.2%), Khakasia (+69.1%), Zabaikalye Territory (+56.3%), and Adygeya (+39.3%). If we look among the country’s top ten federal constituencies responsible for 48% of the national volume of

August 27, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s head plant allocated 2m RUR for the repairs and remodeling of Childhood, a municipally run kindergarten in Nizhniy Tagil. According to the corporation’s press service, 1.5m RUR were given to Dandelion Kindergarten and 500,000 RUR were given to Little Dolphin Kindergarten. ‘Dandelion is already 54 years old and needs to be renovated both on the inside and on the outside. The money provided was directed to repairs of the façade and replacing the old wooden window frames with double glazing. All the windows have been replaced by now, and the façade

August 27, 2014. ChTPZ Group and Turkmenneft signed a memorandum on commercial and scientific and technological cooperation. Such was the result of a business visit the Turkmen company representatives paid to ChTPZ Group’s member enterprises Alnas, Izhneftemash, Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant, and Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant, ChTPZ Group’s press service reports. The memorandum secured the two parties’ interest in multi-faceted cooperation, primarily in the area of the White Well Project in Turkmenistan. ChTPZ Group’s project is currently unique to the Russian energy sector market, for it

August 27, 2014. The revenues of Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) rose by 3% in the second quarter of 2014 compared with the previous quarter and came to $1,516m, the company report states. Its EBITDA increased by 3% in Q’II 2014 compared with the first quarter and amounted to $190m. The EBITDA margin remained the same as in the first quarter of the year, that is, 13%. TMK’s nest profit reached $60m. At the same time, the company had $16m worth of net loss in the first quarter of 2014. In the second quarter of the year, the company made $32m worth of profit through exchange rate fluctuations

August 27, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) conducted an unscheduled inspection of one of McDonald’s restaurants at 8V Vosmoye Marta St in Yekaterinburg and closed the place for ninety days, the agency’s press service reports. It was determined in the course of the inspection that the said restaurant did not have enough production areas and did not comply with the so-called route principle in the cooking process. The agency found some faults with the food itself as well. For one, salad samples did not meet the existing microbiological

August 25, 2014. The median price of a square meter of housing in Yekaterinburg might go down by 2% to 3% by the end of 2014, analyst from Ural Chamber of Real Estate Mikhail Khorkov announced at a press conference. According to Khorkov, this forecast stems from a considerable increase in the market supply as well as from the noticeable drop in demand. ‘Last year was a rather favorable one, yet it became clear by the start of 2014 that the market is in for a certain change. The market needed a temporary halt to ‘catch its breath’. However, this never happened. Negative external trends were

August 25, 2014. Lyudinovsky Locomotive Plant (LTZ, a member enterprise of Sinara Transport Machines Holding) received a new compliance certificate issued by the certification register for federal railway transport for its TEM9 locomotive, the enterprise’s press service reports. Based on the successful trial runs, Certification Register for Federal Railway Transport Federal Budget Enterprise decided to issue the certificate of compliance for the plant’s pilot set of 23 TEM9 locos. The certificate confirms that TEM9 meets all the safety requirements and allows the loco to be used on 1,520mm

August 25, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service allowed Ural Scientific & Production Enterprise (NPRO Ural) to acquire the right of acting as the sole executive body at Vysokogorsky Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise, the Service’s official website states. ‘Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service did not find any signs of restraint of competition in the case,’ the website says. Now the ore mining and processing enterprise was bought out by NPRO Ural from EVRAZ in the fall of 2013; the price came to $20m.

August 25 2014. An off-site meeting of the Union of Industrialists & Entrepreneurs’ social partnership committee dedicated to the role businesses play in promoting a healthier lifestyle took place at Uralvagonzavod Corporaiton’s head plant’s Palace of Culture. According to the corporation’s press service, the meeting participants talked about improving the quality of industrial cadre, promoting a healthier lifestyle, and preventing work-related diseases. The meeting was attended by experts from the corporation’s head plant as well as from Seversky Pipe Plant, ChTPZ Group, Sinara Pipe