Mishima-Mashprom

July 10, 2013 the opening ceremony of mold walls production of the Russian-Japanese joint venture “Mishima-MASHPROM” took place in Nizhniy Tagil. The ceremony was held on the premises of Nizhniy Tagil Machine-Building Plant (NTMZ), where the improved wear-resistant mold walls would be manufactured.

The opening of new production line will allow the region to increase the volume of metals industry output, will ensure the application of innovative technologies of mold walls’ coating and will increase the effectiveness of metals industry of Ural region and Russia. In addition, about 100 new jobs will be created with the startup of the joint venture.

Demand for the technology, used for the production, could be easily explained. In Russia about 90 % of all steel is produced, using continuous-casting machines. Mold walls, which are being used in Russia, are able to endure 400-600 meltings on the average (that means from 64 to 96 thousand tons of molten steel). The technology developed by the Japanese company Mishima Kosan includes the improvement of mold cooling system and usage of special thermal spraying coating, which increase life of mold walls up to 8 times.  Thus, industrial tests of the “EVRAZ NTMK” mold No 6 showed the following results: 3984 meltings were made, which stands for more than 600 000 tons of molten steel, without any midlife repairs. This is the world record. The major Russian metal manufacturers have shown great interest in this new technology.

The opening ceremony was attended by representatives of the Sverdlovsk Oblast Government, officials of Nizhniy Tagil, Directors of JSC “R&D Enterprise “MASHPROM” (Yekaterinburg), Mishima Kosan (Japan), OJSC “EVRAZ NTMK”,  SEZ “Titanium Valley”  and other guests. In their addresses the participants of the ceremony particularly noted the successful work of both parties on the harmonization of various aspects of Russian-Japanese cooperation, which had made the realization of this project possible. The participants expressed their confidence in promising future of the joint venture, which would stimulate the development of Nizhniy Tagil by creating 100 new jobs and also would help metal manufacturers to reduce costs of equipment repair and to extend repair intervals.