UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 27, 2016. TÜV Rheinland auditors looked into ChTPZ Group’s Pervouralsk New Plant (PNTZ) quality management system and stated it meets the ISO 9001-2008 and GOST ISO 9001-2011 standards, the Group’s press service reports. The company is now officially a dependable and qualified supplier. Auditors inspected the plant’s production departments, including the OCTG finishing center and pipe-rolling, pipe-drawing, and electric smelting shops. They also studied the technical documentation and the state and effectiveness of the produce quality management system. In the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 26, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation plans to sell 14,500 freight railcars of all types next year, the company’s First Deputy Director-General Yuri Bolyayev said at a BOD meeting. According to the company press service, the Board of Directors met in Moscow on December 22 to look into the year’s performance results. The meeting was attended by the corporation’s top management as well as by heads of the company’s member enterprises, including design offices and research institutes. ‘Ural Vagon Zavod remains one of the Russian defense industry’s most viable

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 26, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant fulfilled Russian Railways’ large order for the production and delivery of nine multifunctional TMV2 vehicles. These have been manufactured and sent to customer. The company press service reports this was part of Russian Railways’ investment project on the introduction of resource-saving technologies for railway transport. Russian Railways placed its order for nine TMV2s with Ural Vagon Zavod’s head plant following a tender in late September. The auction procedure was carried out through the corporation’s member

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 26, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (ChTZ) got twenty of its tractors repaired and recycled; the tractors were made at the plant a while ago and grew worn-out by now, the plant’s press service reports. The repair/recycling jobs were done for the customer in charge of maintaining the oil company Bashneft’s facilities. ‘The tractors got de-assembled, washed, cleaned, and inspected inside. All the parts that needed to get repaired or replaced were sent to our production department. The tractors were then re-assembled in accordance with

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 26, 2016. The telecommunications provider MegaFon reports its Board of Directors plans a general meeting to get shareholders’ votes to approve the purchase of 11.5m A shares and 21.9m ordinary shares in Mail.Ru Group Limited; this controlling shareholding (63.8% of voting shares) currently belongs to USM Group, MegaFon’s press service reports. Under the terms of the prospective deal, MegaFon is to purchase 11.5m A shares and 21.9m ordinary shares in Mail.Ru Group’s authorized capital (63.8% of the Group’s voting shares) from New Media and Technology Investment

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 26, 2016. ChTPZ Group’s employees are to celebrate the coming New Year’s Eve in Chelyabinsk (on December 22) and Pervouralsk (on December 23) with shows that over 1,000 workers will see, the company press service reports. As usual, the awarding ceremony of the annual Golden Fund Contest is going to be the key feature of the day. Thirty-eight metallurgical workers, including a rolling mill operator, an arc welder, a boilmaker, and a crane operator, got awarded by the company management for their exceptional skills and support of the company values (Reliability,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 23, 2016. 431 automobiles belonging to people with unpaid debts got seized in Sverdlovsk Region this year, the local division of the Federal Court Officers’ Service reports. ‘Court officers regularly go on raids to identify and seize automobiles that belong to people involved in enforcement proceedings. The launch of our Mobile Search app this year helped double the number of debtors’ cars we could find. The idea is quite simple: a court officer walks through a parking lot with a mobile device in their hand and scans all the license plates with an in-built

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 23, 2016. SKB-Bank is among the best-performing Russian banks of the year according to The White Square Journal, the bank’s press service says. SKB-Bank was given the 51st position in the rating. The journal analysts explain their rating was based on the following criteria: online banking and mobile app usability, customer satisfaction, brand awareness, development dynamics, turnover, market share, brand’s market worth, and service innovations. Corporate culture, customer-friendliness, top managers’ professional skills, CSR projects, adjustments for people with

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 23, 2016. EVRAZ Holding’s Kachkanar Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise (KGOK) agreed on the changes in the plant’s Collective Agreement for the year 2017, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s press office reports. ‘All the terms and conditions of this year’s agreement have been complied with; the plant implemented all the programs aimed at improvements in working conditions in full. By now, all the wages, salaries, and bonuses have been paid out,’ the press office says. Next year, the company expects to make inflation adjustments on the worker’s base pay rate, provide two

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 23, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Omsktransmash was granted experts’ permission to get its military produce testing equipment certified, the company press service reports. The plant is now busy upgrading its existing test stands that are used for strength, airtightness, and thermal impact tests as well as for simulating real-life operation conditions. The stands need to be brought in compliance with the current government standards. Omsktransmash is Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s first member enterprise and Russia’s 55th company to be allowed to certify

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 23, 2016. Science Editor of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant’s PR Department Sergei Ustyantsev was recently awarded the Fatherland’s Shield & Sword Prize, the company press service reports. The awarding ceremony took place at the Pashkov House in Moscow. Ustyantsev was awarded for his Essays on the History of Russian 20th Century Industrial Culture. ‘The three-volume piece is dedicated to Ural Vagon Zavod, an enterprise with a unique industrial culture that works to create all kinds of produce: railcars, cryogenic equipment, and armored vehicles. The

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Region, December 22, 2016. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) and Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) signed a long-term strategic agreement for the delivery of iron ore stuffs to MMK. The two parties agreed that over 30,000,000,000 kg of iron ore materials, including pellets and ore concentrate, all produced by ERG’s Sokolovsko-Sarbaiskoye Ore Mining Enterprise, would be supplied to MMK before the end of 2020. This is the largest deal to be struck on the metallurgical market as of late. ‘This contract fully covers MMK’s iron ore needs for the next four years

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 22, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation met all of the defense procurement requirements for this year. The company fulfilled over ninety state contracts, 70% of which are long-term ones. According to the company press service, the corporation’s member enterprises completed more than ten R&D projects and supplied the country’s Armed Forces with over 1,200 new and upgraded military vehicles and weaponry units. To make sure the Russian Army remains competitive and combat-ready, the company mechanics serviced over 800 vehicles right on military sites this year.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 22, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant became Nizhniy Tagil’s Charity Giver of The Year and received the mayor’s honorary certificate and cup for its ‘long-standing social partnership and support for the locals’. The corporation’s press service reports this is the fifth time the machine-building giant has won this award. This year, Ural Vagon Zavod implemented a number of socially important projects that benefitted both the city and its residents. 159m RUR were directed to charity in the first nine months of the year alone. The funds got distributed

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 22, 2016. Sputnik Hockey Club, for which Ural Vagon Zavod Scientific & Production Corporation acts as the primary sponsor, was founded fifty-five years ago this month, the corporation’s press service reports. Sverdlovsk Region Physical Education, Sports, & Youth Policy Minister Leonid Rapoport, Head of Nizhniy Tagil Physical Education, Sports, and Youth Policy Department Dmitri Yazovskikh, the club’s famous alumni, and many others congratulated this Nizhniy Tagil-based club on the happy event. ‘Sputnik Hockey Club is a true talent pool. Nizhniy Tagil

UrBC, Moscow, December 22, 2016. Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK), Russia’s Natural Resources & Environment Ministry, Federal Nature Management Agency (Rosprirodnadzor), and Sverdlovsk Region Government signed a cooperation agreement that is part of the next year’s Year of the Environment in Russia, the company press service reports. The paper was signed by Russia’s Natural Resources & Environment Minister Sergei Donskoy, Head of Rosprirodnadzor Artem Sidorov, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev, and TMK Director-General Alexander Shiryayev. According to Donskoy, TMK is

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 22, 2016. SKB-Bank is offering its customers increased interest rates on deposits this holiday season, the bank’s press service reports. The annual interest rate on our Wish Fulfillment Deposit goes up 1% on December 20, 2016. This is a 270-day deposit, the minimum deposit amount comes to 10,000 RUR,’ the press service says. If you open your deposit using SKB Online mobile app, the interest rate will be raised by an additional 0.3%.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 22, 2016. Overdue debt and non-performing loans currently make up 16.1% of Sverdlovsk Region online loan market, the online lending service E-Zayem reports. This is the third largest percentage among Ural Federal District’s constituencies. It is reported that Yamalo-Nenetsky and Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Regions are the two Ural federal constituencies with the smallest amounts of overdue debts on online loans (12.2% and 14.1%, respectively). The only Russian constituencies that are doing better are Chechnya and Moscow (11.7% and 12.1%, respectively), while

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 21, 2016. EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK) got its current pumping equipment replaced with the more energy-efficient counterpart, which is expected to reduce energy spending by 6.1m kilowatt-hours a year, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s press office reports. Four new, 45- to 55-kilowatt strong pumps were installed at three pumping stations at the water supply department that is in charge of delivering manufacturing water to all the other departments. A new 500-kilowatt pumping unit is meant to deliver water for gas scrubbing of Blast

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 21, 2016. SKB-Bank’s most popular All-Purpose consumer loan option is now available to retirees, the bank’s press service reports. To apply for the loan, the potential borrowers need to provide their passport details and one other ID (either their compulsory pension insurance certificate or a driver’s license; their international travel passport goes as well). A pensioner’s ID that states how much one’s pension is, or an income statement from one’s former employer, or a bank statement of a retirement account opened at SKB-Bank can all serve as proof of solvency.