USSR STEEL PLANTS PUSH TECHNOLOGICAL IMPROVEMENTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600280591-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 12, 2011
• Sequence Number: 591
• Publication Date: January 30, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

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F' F" ' nr i IMFt4Tq OR RADIO BROADCASTS
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGE 4r3yy3
INFORMATION FROM
COUNTRY USSR
PUBLISHED 3n Sep - 7 Dec
LANGUAGE Russian
WHERE
PIBLISHED USSR
DATE
PUBLISHED Daily newspapers
HOW
SUBJECT Economic - Iron and steel
DATE DIST..33 Jan 19j0
NO. OF PAGES 7
SUPPLEMENT,TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
USSR STEEL PLANTS PUSH TECHNOLOGICAL IMPROVEMENTS
`Humbert in parentheses refer to the appended sources.7
The drive Started recel,tia by 88 Moscow enterprises for better utili-
zation existing producticn facilities has had wide response from metallurgi-
cal enterprises throughout the USSR. IT, November, some metallurgical enter-
prises made special pledges for increased production in honor of Stalin's
birthday, 21 December.
In Moscow, the "Serp i molot" Plant had completed the Five-Year Plan
for level of production on 13 October, having exceeded the 1950 level for
steel production by 8.8 percent, for finished rolled products by 7.9 per-
cent, and for gross-production output by 22.6 percent (1). The plant's
success in exceeding progressive norms and in improvi.a3 utilization of its
facilities for greater production output has been the result of introduction
of new technology, and has in turn resulted in new and higher progressive
norms (2). A group of plant engineers and scientific workers, headed by
Academician I. P. Bardin, was awarded the Stalin Prize last spring for de-
veloping the technology for and introducing into production the use of
oxygen for intensifying the open-hearth smelting process. Among the winners
were A. A. Lebed'kov, chief of open-hearth shop No 1, and A. G. Mament'yev,
chief of open-hearth shop No 2 (1).
By the beginning of 1949, the first open-hearth shop had completely
adopted the use of oxygen in smelting steel, and the shop's norms were
raised accordingly to meet the increased production. Other technological
measures adopted include the mechanical turning of ingots and the use of
waste furnace gases for drying ladles. The time required for the latter
process was thus cut in half (2). For their forrth-quarter goals, the
shop's workers have pledged to increase the recovery of steel per square
meter of furnace sole to 7.39 tons, an increase of 8.5 percent over the
third quarter. Preparations have begun for conversion to automatic control
of the feeding of fuel and air into the f naces. A shop spectra analysis
laboratory gill be organized to make accarnce analyses of the content of
slag and steel. %
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square meter of furnace sole, which will represent an irerease of 1.7 per-
cent over the third quarter and the highest production 1.dex to be achieved
the metallurgical industry. The shop's workers are giving particular
attention to the creation of a large-scale auxiliary base where the charge
The entire production cycle of the "750" Mill in the rolling shop is
being made completely automatic. The "450" and "300" mills are being recon-
structed. The pickling division is undergoing reorganization to increase
rolled steel output further (3). The sweet-rolling shop has introduced
alkaline pickling of shee? steel. As their answer to the Mozcn enterprises'
campaign, rolling shop workers have pledged to increase hourly productivity
saved. All of.the plant's shops are nor driving for greater durability of.
equipment be~ween repair jobs. In Lhe past 3 monthc,th~- auraoility of al Y
furnaces in open-hearth shop No 1 has increased an average of 19 melts (2).
Since last year, the plant's losses from defective production have, de-
creased 26.8 percent (3).
Another Moscow enterprise, the Moscow Pipe Plant (director, A. Ilolyada),
in its drive to increase production by faller utilization of existing re-
serves, recently increased production out put 50 percent (4).
The Leningrad Rolled Steel and Wire and Cable Plant imeni Molotov has
been making technological improvements Through the effarls of its technical
council. The council is currently working on problems of reconstructing
the plant, improving production quality, adopting new types of Production,
and marring radical changes In technology. :t fcllov., ~, definite plan, eu;cing
a systematic check on the progress of its recommendations, and works closely
with engineers and eorkerG in industry and with scientific ascn eiates of the
Lenin ad Polytechnical Institute, "Gipromez" fState Institute for Planning
Metallurgical Plants ?7, "Giprometiz" LrS-tate Institute for Planning Metal
Consumers' Goods Enterprises 17, and "Mekhanobr" (Scientific Research Insti-
tute for Machine Processing of Minerals).
One of the problems solved by the council was an improvement in the
patenting process. to obtain greater uniformity in steel wire. This problem
had been plaguing the plant for a long time, since overheating of the lead
could not be avoided and the fluctuation in the temperature of the lead bath
prevented uniformity in the wire. The council has also recommended adoption
of hot washing of the wire to prevent formation of crystals on its surface.
Water cooling is being used on multiple draw benches as a result of a council
proposal. The design of existing patenting furnaces is being reconsidered by
the council with a view toward obtaining uniform heating (5).
The Leningrad "Trubostal" Plant has introduced straight-line operations
in galvanizing pipe in the galvanizing shop with the result that the machin-
ery's productivity has been doubled and consumption of zinc has been cut
substantially. "'he shop's workers are also developing a method for mechanized
feeding of pipe into the zinc bath, which will also result in higher produc-
tivity of existing machinery (6).
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The "Krasnyy metallurg' Plant, Liyepaya, Latvian SSF., has answered the.
Moscow appeal by starting a drive to increase the hourly removal. r,f steel.
rolled wire by 60 percent over the fourth quarter 1948, of section rolled
metal by 16 percent, and of drawn wire by 36 percent. By better utilization
of production area, the plant also expects to increase output of shaped iron
and castings by 62 percent and to increase the productivity of the molding
area by 61 percent. The machine shop plans to increase output of rolled
cylinders by 32 percent. Twenty new machines are being installed in the
nail shop, which should thereby increase production 20 percent (7).
ber gross-production plan 108 percent but also fell short of the plan for
quantity of steel output. The month plan for rolled. metal for the republic,
on the other hand, was fulfilled 111 perceL.t and was 157 percent of October
1948 (8).
In the Karelo-Finnish SIR, the Vyartsilya Metallurgical Plant has ful-
filled the 1949 plan for finished goods production 124 percent and has re-
leased so far this year 1,300,000 rubles of 'crkizlg capital to be remitted
Among metallurgical enterprises in the southern USP'I, the Moscow appeal
has gained a wide following.
The Metallurgical Plant imeni Dzerzhinskiy, Dnepropetrovsk Oblast, has
made a number of technological improvements to increase production. The
blast furnaces have been converted to graded coke, which provides them with
uniform operation and saves 300,000 rubles per year (10). For 10 months
of 1949, the plant's blast-furnace workers obtained an average )f one ton
of pig iron per 0.88 cubic meter of furnace capacity, while last year the
coefficient for utilization of blast-furnace capacity was only 0.91. A new
heating system which will increase the temperature of the blast has been
worked out for the blast furnaces. On all furnaces, an adjustment of the
charge for ::omoval of blast-furnace dust will be csrried out every :? h_)arc.
!.osses of pig iron are being cut in half.
fhe plant's steelworkers have increased the recovery of steel per square
meter of furnace sole by half a ton. A pouring bridge crane is being rssem-
bled in the second open-hearth shop and will increase the weight of the melt
in two furnaces by 13 percent (11). Automatization of the control of open-
hearth furnace No 10 has been completed, increasing its productivity 6 per-
cent. The operation of two other open-hearth furnaces and three rolling mills
is also being made automatic (10). Case hardening of all rollers is being
carried out in the rolling mills, increasing durability 200-300 percent.
In many mills, cast-iron rollers are being replaced by steel rollers (11).
In mid-November; this plant completed and dispatched the tenth train-
load of steel for construction of high buildings in Moscow for 1949. The
new rolling shop was reported to have exceeded the norm for hourly producti-
vity of equipment planned for 1950 by 150 percent (12).
The Nikopol' Southern Pipe Plant, Dnepropetrovsk Oblast, has increased
production 65 percent over 1948 and is taking measures to increase production
another 25 percent. It also plans to attain the 1950 production level in
December. Drawing machines in shop No 1 are being made automatic, and a regu-
lazed regime has been adopted in operating the "Bol'shoy Shtifel'" Mill.
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The plant has released 3.non ,:.?Are meters cf cducticn sea ~c in-
stalling equipment for output of new types of seamless pipe (13). Since
Five-Year Plan for production of rolled metal (15), and. on 20 November
rolling-mill workers had completed the first trainload of rolled productis
toward the 1951 goal (16). In 101 months, the plant has produced as much
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planned for 1950. In 10 months of 1949, the shop has smeltod the volume
of steel which had been n]enned for all of 1950 (17). Steelworkers are
The plant record for steel recovery per square meter of furnace sole is
now 9.15 tons as compared with the norm of 5.4 tons and the socialist
pledge of 7.8 tons (19).
The "Zaporozhstal'" Plant, Zaporozh'yc Oblast, in answer to the Moscow
appeal for better use of pioduction reserves, plans to increase output of
steel in existing open-hearth furnaces by 13 percent as a result of im-
proved technolog-, particularly by use of oxygen in the steel?sinelting proc-
The leading shift of the "1700" Rolling Mill at the Staiingred "Kra,.nyy
Shtyabr" Plant has converted to an hourly schedule and has increased the
mill's productivity to 88 sheets per hour. Leasing steelworkers are com-
pleting standard-weight melts in 7 hours 15 minutes as compared with the
no' t,n of ] Ci hc"ire ( 22) .
The TAfenrog Meta i 1'ir%r' c en t is n L indreyev, Rostov Ot iaet, bee
completed the Five-Year Plan for the entire metallurgical cycle. The 1950
gross-production plan was fulfilled from November 194b to November 1949 by
125.2 percent, and the Five-Year Plan for pipe production was completed in
3 years, for rolled meta]. in 32 years, and for steel in 3 years 10 months
(23). In 1948, the average recovery of steel per square meter of hearth in
the plant's second open-hearth shop w,as less than 6 tons, whereas now it :s
7.3 tons, and workers are now driving for 8.2 tons per square meter (24).
In Kazakhstan, the metallurgical Plant in Temir-Tau is taking measures
to improve utilization of plant facilities. Open-hearth furnaces are being
insulated to speed smelting and save fuel (25), and the shop has pledged to
increase steel smelting in the existing equipment by 10 percent (26).
Formerly, the average recovery of steel per square meter of furnace hearth
was 1, tons. With a reorganization of work, the weight of all melts was in-
creased by 16 or more tons, and the recovery of steel has increased to 6-
tons per square meter (27).
Changes made in the plant's "4?C" Mill will increase rolled metal out-
put by 10-12 percent. Sorting of finished steel ba wil] be transferred
from the open-hearth shop to the cleaning department. New storage insealla-
tione axe being erected (25).
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plates for its on use (28).
in October, the Aktyubir,s Fcr.roalloy Plant (director, V. Nakhabin),
Kazakh SSR, exceeded the 11-month plan and also exceeded toe average
production 106 percent, which was double the October 1948 figures (30).
iu Ural metallurgical plants as a whole, for 10 months of 1949,
smelting of pig iron increased 14.5 percent, steel 19.4 percent, and out-
put of rolled metal 17.1 percent over the same period of 19kb (31). The
Ural plants have made active response to the Moscow drive and have made
equipment in its main machinery shop, removing storage area to make room.
High-frequency generators for heat treatment of Parts, new machine tools,
bracket cranes, and electric cers for transporting ;+_eev; ]oads are being
installed (32). The ^omUjre'r. ze,,sir' shift has set a new record for
c,, re ailr o o op_a-aeerth ` urnaco, coml,ledina the job in b days,
or 5U }hours-. shsei of schedule (33).
In honor of Stalin, the combine has pledged to complete the 1949 plans
fc:. steel production and rolled metal on 25 December, and the plan for pig
iron on 27 December (34).
The Zlatount Metallurgical Plant imeni Stalin (director, Nesterov),
Chelyabinsk Oblast, completed the Five-Year Plan for production volume and
for the entire production cycle by 5 December, and, without any additions
to production facilities, increased steel production 60 percent and rolled
metal output 40 percent aver 1945. By Stalin's birthday, the plant has
pledged to produce 53,000 tons of steel and 19,000 tons of rolled metal
above the Five-Year Plan (34). Among the innovations adopted by the
plant to increase rolled-steel output and to decrease costs is automatic
control of the process of heating steel ingots in soaking pits (35).
The Chusovoy Metallurgical Plant, Molotov Oblast, without putting in-
to service new prodnction equ?pncnt, has this year increased the production
of pig iron 40 percent, steel 76 percent, and rolled metal 56 percent over
1945, and. has decreased production costs 28 percent. The plant is taking
measures to improve utilization of existing equipment. The blast-furnace
shop is modernizing Cowper stove operations, is improving loading facili-
ties, will. put into operation a new electric air blower, and is introducing
automatic control of the temperature of the blast. All these measures
should increase pig iron smelting an additional 20 percent (26). The
a-crage coefficient of capacity utilization of blast furnaces is 0.91, and
the recor.-ery of steel per square meter of hearth has been increased to 4.39
tons (36). Automatization of open-hearth furnaces and complete regulation
of the process of conducting the melc will increase productivity in the
steel smelting shop by 20 percent. Automatization of rolling mills is being
completed. Soaking pits are being reconstructed, and rolling-mill workers
have pledged to increase production output by 15 percent (26).
The Iys'va Metallurgical Plant, Molotov Oblast, completed the 1950
plan for production volume for the entire metallurgical cycle 11. 1948. The
plant's average daily output in 1949 exceeds the level planned for 1950 as
follows: steel smelting, 45 percent; finished rolled products, 36 percent;
tin plate, 75 percent, and galvanized iron, 44 percent.
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The Nizhniy Tagil Plant imeni Kuybyshev, Sverdlovsk Oblast, has made
the following plans for December: to complete the 1949 plan for pig iron
on 24 December, for steel smelting on 22 December, for commercial rolled
metal on 26 December, and for roofing iron by 20 December; to save 1
million rubles by mechanization and efficiency meesures; and to produce
6,200,000 rubles' worth of goods above plan by 21 December (34).
The Serov Metallurgical Plant has speeded pig-iron production by
improving methods of feeding air into the furnaces. Pig-iron smelting per
.;ubic meter of blast-furnace capacity has,increased by 500-600 kilograms
(37)?
SOURCES
1. Vechernyaya Moskva, No 263, 4 *,?ov 49.
2. Moskovskiy Bol'shevik, No 275, 23 Nov 49
3. Vechernyaya Moskva, No 278, 24 Nov 49
4. Moskovskiy Bol'shevik, No 261, 4 Nov 49
5. Leningradskaya Pravda. No 231, 3G Sep 49
6. Leningradskaya Pravda; No 262, 5 Nov 49
7. '.)vetskaya Latviya, No 271, 18 Nov 49
8. Sovetskaya Latviya, No 269, 16 Nov 49
9. Ler.:askoye Znc ra, No 219, ~ Nov 49
10. Kommunist, No 275, 23 Nov 49
11. Krasnyy Flot, Nc 270, 16 Nov 49
12. Moskvoskiy BL'shevik, No 269, 16 Nov 49
13. Trud, No 276, 23 Nov 49
14, Sdvets:cya Kirgiziya, No 230, 23 Nov 49
15. Leningradskaya Pravda, No 270, 17 Nov F9
16. Krasnyy Flot, No 2'(4, 20 Nov 49
17. Izvestiya, No 269, ).5 Nov 49
18. Pravda, No 315, 11 Nov 49
19. Pravda Ukrainy, No 263, 6 Nov 49
20. Pravda Ukrainy, No 266, 11 Nov 49
21. Krasnaya Zvezda, No 275, 22 Nov 49
22. Izvestiya, No 276, 23 Nov 49
23. Izvestiya, No 268, 13 Nov 49
24. Trud. No 271. 17 Roc hQ
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(Continued)
25. Kazakhstanskaya Pravda, No 227, 20 Nov 49
26. Krasnaya Zvezda, No 269, 15 Nov 49
27. Kazakhstanskaya Pravda, No 218, 5 Nov 49
28. Kazakhstanskaya Pravda, No 225, 18 Nov 49
29. Kazakustanskay. Pravda, No 219, 7 Nov 49
30. Pravda Vostoka, No 228, 19 Nov 49
31, Pravda, No 308, 4 Nov 49
32. Moskovskiy Bol'skevik, No 262, 5 Nov 49
33. Leningradskaya Pravda, No 269, 16 Nov 49
34, Gudok, No 146, 7 Dec 49
35. Izvestiya, No 262. 5 Nov 49
36. Pravda, No 311, T Nov 49
37. Pravda Ukrainy, No 267, 13 Nov 49
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