ZAO Intercos IV (a member of MMK Group) launched the first block of a drop forged components plant and a maintenance center in Saint Petersburg recently. The launching ceremony was attended by Head of the Russian Federation Government Vladimir Putin and Governor of Saint Petersburg Valentina Matvienko.

The first block of MMK-Intercos required 4.018 billion RUR worth of investments; its output is expected to exceed 250,000 tons of metal products a year. The construction of second block will probably begin in 2011.

ZAO Intercos IV produce is meant for the carmakers, white goods manufacturers, the construction business, machine- and ship-building, and other industries. Its sheet billets and drop forged components are targeted at both existing and future automobile factories such as Ford Motor Company, General Motors Company, Nissan Motor, Hyundai Motor Company, Renault Group, and others as well as at the manufacturers of household appliances operating both in Russia and abroad such as Bosch und Siemens Hausgerate GmbH, LG Corp., Indesit Company, and some others.

‘Our top priority is meeting the Russian metal-consuming industries’ demand efficiently, with high quality goods. The achievement of this goal will be facilitated by, for example, direct supplies of MMK sheet products to the processing facilities of MMK-Intercos. In the future, the latter will be supplied with automobile body sheets from MMK’s cold-roll Mill 2000,’ says MMK BOD Chairman Viktor Rashnikov.

Rashnikov reports Mill 2000 will also provide both Russian and foreign customers with high-value-added produce, which is bound to make MMK more competitive and to contribute to the development of Russia’s metal-related industries.

‘Our new production facilities in Saint Petersburg will also create new jobs, including those for highly skilled employees; this is a factor of particular importance for the North-Western part of the country,’ he points out.

‘We are making another step on the way to creating a truly innovative economy that can withstand the fiercest international competition. The plant we are opening today is an advanced and powerful facility that can boast the technologies of the twenty-first century,’ Governor Matvienko said at the opening ceremony.

She stressed that the enterprise made possible a full production cycle, from designing a new technology to making great quality car parts.

‘The automobile industry cluster is developing quite rapidly in Saint Petersburg at the moment; we have already welcomed the world’s car-making giants here, and these are these companies that will become Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works new plant’s key partners,’ the Governor observed.

Valentina Matvienko also said she greatly appreciated the city’s established partnership with Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works, one of the world’s largest ferrous metallurgy businesses.