OREANDA-NEWS. On September 21, 2007 production of stabilized strand commences on new equipment recently installed at the Cherepovets plant of Severstal-metiz. A ceremony will take place to mark this occasion which will be attended by the general director of the company, Olga Naumova, and the executive director of the Cherepovets plant, Alexander Shevelev, reported the press-centre of "Severstal-metiz".

This new equipment provides the Cherepovets plant with a capacity of up to 24 thousand tonnes per year of strand in diameters from 6mm to 18m. The strand meets the Russian State Standard (GOST) 13840, the UK standard BS5896 and the proposed Euronorm prEN10138 as well as the current standards of other European countries.

The equipment is located in a 110 m2 area within the existing wire rope facility and consists of stranding machines, an induction heating furnace, a coiling unit and a packaging machine.

In addition to the strand equipment, a new wire drawing machine will also commence production today which will provide wire for the manufacture of the strand. A second machine is currently being installed and will commence production at the beginning of October.

The equipment has the latest state of the art computer controls measuring a variety of technical parameters within the manufacturing process.

This investment in production of stabilized strand is part of the development of Severstal-metiz activities in its high carbon product range. The project has taken one year to complete from approval to start-up. The cost of the investment is 150 million roubles.