OREANDA-NEWS. Today, at the opening of the "Severstal for the Automotive Industry: Quality, Competences and Customer Focus" automotive conference in Turkey, Sergey Toropov, CEO of the Severstal Russian Steel Division, announced the launch of Russia's first welded component production line for automakers.

Severstal SMC Vsevolozhsk is a joint venture between OAO Severstal, one of the world's leading steel and steel-related mining companies, and Mitsui, one of Japan's largest financial groups.

Sergey Toropov, CEO of Severstal's Russian Steel division, said: "The launch of the welded component production line makes Severstal the first Russian steelmaker to produce Ultra Light Steel Auto Bodies (ULSAB) for automotive assembly in Russia. This further strengthens Severstal's position as the number one supplier for international automakers with their production operations located in Russia."

The welded component production line welds blanks with a thickness of 0.5 to 3 mm. The line is fully automated, with automatic quality control for top and bottom welded joints.

The line is currently operating in test mode with production scheduled to launch in early 2015.

Severstal SMC Vsevolozhsk's first batch of welded blanks (flat welded blanks for front and rear doors) will be supplied to the Izhevsk Automotive Plant for stamping and further welding as a part of Izhevsk's joint project with a Japanese automaker.

This is only one of the Severstal SMC Vsevolozhsk's initiatives directed at automakers relocating to Russia. Last year, SMC launched a production line for blanking a range of different steel types, including high tensile grades. The blanking press cuts steel parts with a thickness of 0.5mm to 3.2mm and up to 1900 mm in width. The line's 800 tonne press uses stamps to produce a variety of parts - from simple to complex-shaped.

In December 2013 a slitting line was launched at Severstal SMC Vsevolozhsk for cutting cold rolled, hot rolled pickled and galvanized rolled steel strips with a thickness of 0.3 to 4.5 mm and thickness of 0.4 to 2.3 mm. In June of this year, a cut-to-length line (mini-CTL) was installed of thickness 0.4 to 2.3 mm. The line can produce plates/sheets of cold rolled, hot rolled pickled and galvanized rolled steel with thickness of 100 to 750 mm and lengths of 150 to 2000 mm.

Severstal SMC Vsevolozhsk's production volume currently stands at 3 thousand tonnes per month. The launch of the welded component production line should enable the Company to reach production volumes between 5 to 6 thousand tonnes per month from the beginning of 2015.

The Cherepovets Steel Mill will provide more than 90% of the rolled steel to Severstal SMC Vsevolozhsk.

The total investment in the welded component production line amounts to 1.7 billion rubles.

At capacity, SMC production will be around 150 thousand tonnes per year. The majority (up to 60%) of products processed by SMC will be supplied to automakers. The rest will be sent to construction and engineering companies, including manufacturers of household appliances.

Reference:

Tailor Welded Blanks technology (TWB) is a welding technique to produce parts consisting of sheets with different thicknesses, strength and alloys joined by lazer welding. With TWB, the automakers to reduce the weight of auto body, improve strength and reduce production costs. TWB technology has been widely used in global automotive industry for over 20 years. Now, Russia and CIS has adopted it.