October 31, 2013. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) successfully underwent witness audits of its quality management system. The system was inspected for compliance with the ISO 9001:2008, ISO/TU 16949:2009, and STO GAZPROM 9001:2006 international standards, MMK reports. For five days, a committee of auditors from the international certification body TUV NORD CERT and from OOO Paritet conducted an inspection of how the quality management system processes worked at MMK. The audit involved nearly all of the enterprise’s structural divisions and services. During the final meeting, Mr.

October 30, 2013. Delovoy Kvartal analysts came up with a rating of largest businesses in Sverdlovsk Region. The rating features companies that are registered and operate in Sverdlovsk Region as of October 1, 2013, excluding subsidiaries of nation-wide companies and international companies. The main criterion for the rating was the revenue in 2012. For banks, revenue was calculated as the sum of interest rate and commissions income, SKB-Bank’s press service reports. The rating featured four Urals-based banks whose consolidated revenue amounted to 49.8bn RUR. 50% of this figure (25.8bn RUR)

October 30, 2013. Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) shipped 3,200,000 kg of pipes to customers in January-September 2013, which was 1.7% more than in January-September 2012, the company's press service says. It's worth mentioning that the increase in the shipments volume had to do with growing demand for the O&G pipes, primarily OCTG and large-diameter pipes (LDPs). The shipments in the third quarter decreased by 2.1% compared with the second quarter of the year. In the nine months of 2013, 1,807,000 kg of weldless pipes were shipped to customers, which was 2.8% less than a year

October 30, 2013. Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (ChTZ, a member of Uralvagonzavod Scientific and Production Corporation), is going to deliver its most powerful PK 65 loader to Mongolia, where it will be used at one of the largest coal mines. According to the corporation's press service, the delivery contract was signed with some involvement on the part of the company's dealer, Promtechservice, which has been representing ChTZ on the local market for a decade now. Even the export is on a much smaller scale now compared to the Comecon era, Mongolia still uses Chelyabinsk-produced

October 30, 2013. Yakov Osadchiy fellowships were awarded at Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant (ChTPZ) today. Four straight A grad school students of South Ural State University – Kirill Andreyev, Yuri Afonin, Yuri Bezgans, and Anatoliy Kuznetsov will be receiving this special ChTZP stipend that amounts to 1,500 RUR, the company's press service says. ChTPZ Group established the fellowships in 2001, in the year of Yakov P. Osadchiy's 100th birthday, and has been awarding them to gifted Engineering students of two Moscow-based colleges and one Urals-based one every year. This year, the

October 30, 2013. Ural Airlines keeps expanding its destinations network around the CIS and is launching a new scheduled flight from Kulyab to Novosibirsk and back. Starting from November 27, 2013, the flight will be offered every Wednesday, the airline’s press service reports. ‘The new direct flight to Novosibirsk will mean Kulyab residents will be able easily and beneficially to plan their business trips and fly to one of Russia’s business capitals without losing any time. Once in Novosibirsk, they can enjoy the convenient connecting flights to Russian and European cities. The departure

October 28, 2013. Ural Federal District-based federal constituencies spent nearly 660m RUR on e-government systems development in 2012-2013, URFOTech.ru’s research papers say. To calculate the expenses, data from the official government purchases website were used. The research accounted for tenders for the creation, development, and administration of the electronic interdepartmental cooperation systems and tenders for the development of e-services and their becoming available via a single web portal. Tenders for buying the necessary equipment and IT-coverage of certain executive bodies and

October 29, 2013. Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation member enterprises are now helping flood victims in the Far East. The corporation’s press service reports that workers from Saint Petersburg-based Central Scientific Research Institute of Materials bought 42 sets of bed sheets, blankets, and mattresses worth a total of 49,788 RUR, and this humanitarian aid was delivered to Saint Petersburg Social Welfare Center. Head of Saint Petersburg Central District Adminsitration thanked the company workers for their ‘humanitarian aid to the victims of flood in Far Eastern Federal

October 29, 2013. Starting October 28, 2013, Alexander Yakob officially assumed office as Head of Yekaterinburg Administration. A contract to this extent was signed by Mayor of Yekaterinburg and Chairman of Municipal Duma Evgeny Roizman, the city council’s press service reports. Alexander Yakob was appointed Head of Administration on October 22, during Yekaterinburg Municipal Duma meeting. The decision got 30 votes. Yakob was born in Yekaterinburg (called Sverdlovsk at the time) on July 14, 1958. In 1975-1977, he was a radio equipment operator as Sverdlovsk Electrics Plant. In 1977-1995, he

October 29, 2013. Sverdlovsk Region Entrepreneurial Activity Support Fund announced an additional round of applications for subsidies that can be submitted by innovative, small startups. The company’s press service reports the decision to process more applications was taken after a committee meeting dedicated to funds distribution. After the applications had been considered, it was decided to allocate a total of over 5m RUR worth of subsidies. A subsidy can come to up to 500,000 RUR, and 16.6m RUR will be allocated from the federal and the regional budget this year altogether. This means

October 29, 2013. Ural Airlines is expanding its destinations network and is launching a new international flight from Sochi to Milan. Passengers will be able to travel from the South of Russia to the fashion capital starting from January 31, 2013 at only ?300 per ticket (plus the fees), the air carrier’s press service reports. ‘Milan in winter will bestow plenty of bright and unforgettable impressions upon its visitors! The grandiose sales are, of course, the season’s primary attraction: late January and early February is the time when discounts on goods by the best Italian designers come to

October 28, 2013. A new study lab meant for helping automatic line and unit operators get some training was set up at Sinara Pipe Plant, a member enterprise of Pipe Metallurgical Company. The study lab is located in the building of Pipe-Drawing Department 2, Pipe Metallurgical Company’s press service says. The simulators that are installed in the lab reproduce the production process in a kind of virtual reality. The 3D images of how the NC equipment and the internal components of a mill work are displayed onto the computer monitors; one can also look closely at the equipment setting

October 28, 2013. The Pipe Electric Welding Department of Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ, a member of ChTPZ Group) is celebrating its 20th anniversary these days. The technological line of the electric welding mill 10-76 was launched in 1993. A year later, the automatic refrigerator pipe line was launched there as well. Later on, the lines for making shock absorbers and section pipes were installed as well. Director of Department 15 Evgeny Ilyin says that his department is the only one in ChTPZ Group that makes small-diameter pipes of various section kinds. ‘The electric welding

October 28, 2013. Ural Airlines took yet another one of its A320 planes out of operation after the leasing term has expired, the airline’s press service reports. The air carrier currently operates 30 Airbus aircraft. This year, the company took one A320 out of service. These airplanes, made in 1992-1993, were in service for five years. It should be noted that the company’s development plan for the next three years says the airline will be operating as many as 50 foreign aircraft in the future, including long-haul wide-bodied airplanes. Ural Airlines were one of the top five Russian air

October 26, 2013. TRUST National Bank paid a fine of more than 200,000 RUR for imposing the terms of a contract upon a Yekaterinburg resident. According to the press officer of Rospotrebnadzor, the lending institution included some clauses on extra payments into the three loan agreements that were signed with the customer. For one, the borrowing party had to pay a commission for the transfer of loaned money onto her account, and the monthly fee for the settlement services. Besides, the bank made the borrower join the Collective Insurance Program: TRUST National Bank’s standard loan agreement

October 28, 2013. One of Vietnam’s Defense Ministry divisions in Hanoi is going to receive a B12 bulldozer produced at ChTZ (one of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s member enterprises). The delivery contract was signed with some support from the plant’s sales intermediary, Nga Fat, and resulted from a tender, the corporation’s press service reports. Nga Fat is the company’s second official dealer in Vietnam. The dealer used to buy spare parts from the Chelyabinsk plant on a regular basis, and a few years ago it started selling its tractors on the local market as well.

October 25, 2013. Sverdlovsk Region Tourism Development Center is launching a new app for iPhone and iPad in November. The app is a tourist guide on Sverdlovsk Region for those who’d like to explore the area on a driving tour, the center’s Director Elmira Tukanova says. ‘The main idea behind the app is to motivate both the locals and the residents of our neighboring constituencies to look at Sverdlovsk Region’s landmarks and plan weekend trips for their families. There are a lot of filters in this application that will allow the user to shape a holiday in accordance with the most suitable

October 25, 2013. Court officers imposed a 90-day ban on all the operations in the acids and formaldehyde warehouse of Russian Chrome 1915 because of grave industrial safety violations, says the spokesperson for Sverdlosvk Region division of the Federal Service of Court Officers. The scheduled inspection of the enterprise by the head of the Ural division of Rostechnadzor for Chemical Industry Surveillance revealed numerous violations of industrial safety regulations. For one, the pump station is actually in total disrepair, is full of see-through cracks, brick wall and roof defects; there is

October 25, 2013. Ural Airlines launched five new flights from Moscow to Bishkek and back. Starting November 1, 2013, one can fly to the Russian capital from Bishkek every day of the week except for Monday and Tuesday, the airline’s press service reports. The company values its customers’ time highly and designs the timetable in a way that offers a convenient time slot for both departures. This means the residents of Bishkek will be able to depart for Moscow in the early morning (5:30 AM), do their business there and fly back at 10:00 PM and thus save a lot of time. Now when in Moscow, these

October 25, 2013. Kristall, an up-do-date thermal cutting unit meant for cutting sheet metal, made in Saint Petersburg, is now being assembled at Uralcryomash, Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation member enterprise, Uralvagonzavod's press service reports. This is the first such machine at the cryogenic facility. The launch of this unit will mean the company won't have to buy spare parts on the side any longer; this will also increase the precision of the produce parameters and will improve labor productivity. The new equipment costs 8m RUR. Kristall can perform two