Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works : MMK’s rolling mill marks 90th anniversary

The rolling mill at Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) has been in operation for 90 years. During this time, the mill's operators have produced 716 million tonnes of rolled steel, the most of any steelmaker in the country.

MMK's rolling mill began operating at the end of July 1933 with the launch of blooming and billet mill No. 2, where the plant's first steel ingot was pressed. The equipment was designed and manufactured by the German company Demag, and Sergo Ordzhonikidze, the People's Commissar of Heavy Industry of the Soviet Union, was present for the opening of the mill.

In 1969, the Company put its cold-rolling mill 2500 into operation, which helped provide high-quality steel for the fast-growing passenger car industry and, notably, for the Volga Automobile Plant (VAZ). At the same time, MMK's mill operators quickly responded to the needs of the national economy by developing niche skills. For example, MMK became the first producer of white tinplate in Russia, and it remains the only such producer in the country to this day.

Another milestone in the history of MMK's rolling mill was the commissioning in 1994 of sheet rolling shop No. 10 and its hot-rolling mill 2000. Featuring next-generation technology, it remains MMK's most productive mill. Since its construction approximately two decades ago, it has today reached an annual production capacity of 6 million tonnes of rolled steel.

Over the past 20 years, production at MMK has undergone major changes. A large-scale investment programme was carried out to retrofit and modernise the plant's equipment. The lion's share of these investments were made in the rolling mill, with an emphasis on the development of capacities to produce high-margin, high-value-added products.

The following were among the key projects aimed at modernising the rolling mill during this period:

· The complete cold-rolling mill 1700 at sheet rolling shop No. 5 (2002), which was completely rebuilt in 2021

· the comprehensive reconstruction of the long products mill (2005-2006), which involved the replacement of obsolete mills with new Danieli units

· the creation of state-of-the-art facilities for the production of coated rolled products

Of particular note are MMK's two biggest investment projects in the new millennium: the construction of a plant for the production of heavy plate (mill 5000, continuous casting machine No. 6 and an out-of-furnace processing complex, in 2009-2010); and the establishment of a state-of-the-art cold-rolling facility for the production of high-quality automotive sheet (mill 2000, in 2011-2012).

In 2020, a complete overhaul of mill 2500 was completed in sheet rolling shop No. 4, where the reheating furnaces were replaced, the roughing train was rebuilt, and the finishing train was replaced. The large-scale reconstruction made it possible to expand the mill's output in terms of the size and grades of its product range and also to improve product quality; in addition, the mill's capacity increased to 5.2 million tonnes of rolled steel per year. It is now a highly automated unit, whose products meet the highest international standards.

MMK has won the Event of the Year in Russian Metallurgy competition on several occasions for its rolling mill investment projects. In addition, the Company has consistently been among the leaders on the list of the best manufacturers of flat products according to the industry magazine Metal Supply and Sales. MMK's efforts to create a state-of-the-art high-tech rolling mill have successfully enabled MMK to become one of the leading suppliers for the Russian automotive, pipe and shipbuilding industries.