Volzhsky pipe plant (VTZ), a subsidiary of the Russian pipe producer TMK Group (TMK), has announced that it has produced the ten millionth metric ton of steel at its electro-smelting shop, commissioned in 1990.
VTZ smelted its first five millionth mt of steel in April 2004, after 14 years of the shop's operation, and in just six years the plant has managed to double its steel production, due to the large-scale modernization project implemented both at its electro-smelting shop and at the plant in general. As a result, the production capacity of VTZ's electro-smelting shop increased from 400,000 mt to 900,000 mt of high quality round billets per year, which allows VTZ not only to fully meet the needs of its seamless pipe production, but also to supply billets to other subsidiaries of TMK.