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OAO Chusovoy Metallurgical Works (CMW) is one of the oldest ferrous metallurgy enterprises in the Urals area with complete technological cycle of metal production. The specific nature of the enterprise’s business was originally stipulated by its geographical location. The factory is located in the very heart of the Urals on the Chusovoy river bank close to raw materials and energy sources. The immediate proximity to a junction station provides railway communication with all Russian regions.
The factory was founded in 1879 by the French/Russian Urals Joint-Stock Company set up by prince Golytsin and Frenchman Ch. Barrouin. Based on the French design, the factory had long been the most modern metallurgical enterprise in the Urals. During the Civil War, the production facility was heavily demolished, but within a short period of time metal-makers rebuilt it. In 1930, the government made a decision that the plant would specialize in the production of high-quality steels and rolled products and, in the long term, springs for a developing domestic automotive-tractor industry.
1931 saw the then largest 280 m3 blast furnace No. 3 built, which started the pilot smelting of vanadium cast iron in 1935. A year later, the Chusovoy produced the first kilograms of domestic ferrovanadium, a most critical alloying element allowing high-quality steel to be made. In 1943, as requested by the State Defense Committee, blast furnace No. 3-bis was built within a record-breaking short term (seven months), which allowed tripling cast iron production. The war-time conditions saw new, higher-quality steel grades brought under production and armor plates used in tank manufacture produced. The factory made static flame throwers, components for the famed Katyusha launchers and for antitank cannons.
The Chusovoy metal makers’ selfless work during the war was noted by the State Defense Committee as the factory received the Red Challenge Banner in 1943 and a grateful telegram from I.V. Stalin in 1944. A big group of metal-makers was personally decorated with government awards. Following the Great Patriotic War, the factory continued developing all the core production operations: blast furnace, steal-smelting, rolling, and ferroalloy. By decision of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Europe’s largest automotive spring shop was built at the plant in 1976. In 1982, the Chusovoy spring was cheapest and of best quality in the USSR. Over 125 years, the Chusovoy Metallurgical Works had changed its form of ownership several times. In 1989, the factory became an open joint-stock company. Due to the shareholders, the factory has gained key positions in the modern ferrous metal market at the Russian and international levels.
CMW is a leading enterprise of United Metallurgical Company's metallurgical complex. As part of UMC, CMW is operating in close collaboration with such leaders of the pipe-rolling industry as the Vyksa Steel Works and the Almetiyevsk Pipe Plant.
OAO CMW’ products are currently exported to Finland, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, Germany, China, South Korea, and USA. The Chusovoy supplies sptrings to almost the entire automotive industry of Russia. The dynamic production development is ensured due to continuous upgrading and technological improvements.
The working collective’s willingness to strive for the greater, the shareholders’ support, and mutual responsibility are factors contributing to the plant's confident future and an earnest of the Chusovoy's products continuing to take a worthy place in the domestic and foreign markets.
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