PAO TMK : Dmitry Pumpyanskiy speaks about future challenges for mechanical engineering and metallurgy at Russian Academy of Sciences congress

17.12.2021 Dmitry Pumpyanskiy speaks about future challenges for mechanical engineering and metallurgy at Russian Academy of Sciences congress

Dmitry Pumpyanskiy, Chairman of TMK's Board of Directors and President of Sinara Group, spoke at a congress held by the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) called National Science and Technology Breakthrough Trends 2030. He presented the key technological challenges faced by railway engineering and metallurgy, including the pipe industry, and outlined ways to ensure that new solutions are developed and brought to market faster.

One of the key areas in rail development includes the construction of high-speed tracks and trains. Dmitry Pumpyanskiy noted that seamless high-speed travel requires a system that ensures secure data transfer between smart devices. Other prerequisites to ensure comfortable and safe travel at speeds above 400 km/h include an appropriate infrastructure, technological solutions to build new rolling stock and improvements to the classic wheel-rail contact system. "We also need to enhance the reliability and safety of rolling stock, build a truly smart rail network, and develop new types of propulsion systems," said Dmitry Pumpyanskiy.

He reminded the audience that TMK and Sinara Group's R&D facility is engaged in developing a Russian high-speed electric train to be manufactured at the Ural Locomotives plant, a joint venture of Sinara Group and Siemens in the Sverdlovsk Region. "The conceptual design phase of the development project is now underway, to be completed in 2022. The first train is scheduled to be manufactured in 2027, with testing and certification slated for 2028. Siemens will be the technological partner in this project, while all intellectual property will belong to Russia-based enterprises, including Russian Railways," he explained.

The metals and pipe industries, in turn, are facing the task of cutting their energy consumption, carbon footprint and per unit environmental impact. Dmitry Pumpyanskiy noted that these goals can be achieved while simultaneously developing innovative materials and products with fundamentally new properties.

He reminded the audience that over the past ten years TMK has been developing pipe production processes to ensure import substitution, primarily in the energy sector. Production technology solutions for high-quality welded and seamless steel pipes designed to operate in extreme climates, aggressive environments, and at high temperatures and pressures, have been developed and deployed. TMK engages in the development of these products through its corporate R&D facilities - the Russian Research Institute of the Tube & Pipe Industries (RUSNITI) in Chelyabinsk and TMK's R&D facility in Skolkovo.

To innovate and upgrade its production, the company widely uses end-to-end digital technology, including AI algorithms and big data, as part of a digital transformation of TMK's operations. Enterprises also apply computer vision and deep learning algorithms to do tasks related to operating processes and additional control systems. These technologies help detect and classify objects in images, control the quality of raw materials, and identify dangerous items contained within them.

"The effect from such projects cannot be overemphasized: apart from direct economic benefits, they have a positive impact on work safety while automating operations to a large extent. We forecast a potential benefit of at least half a billion rubles in 2022 and thrice as much by the end of 2023," said Dmitry Pumpyanskiy.

According to him, a national technology breakthrough will require improved time to market for innovations, which will be possible through concentrating the innovative value chain within R&D hubs and collaborating with the scientific community. To work on its innovations, TMK partners with fundamental research institutes, such as RAS institutes, research and design institutes of the metals and oil industries, as well as with Russia's key technology-focused universities. The company's partners include the Baikov Institute of Metallurgy and Material Science and several institutes of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (the Miheev Institute of Metal Physics, the Institute of Metallurgy).

"In cooperation with RAS scientists, we have successfully started the work on analyzing the primary and secondary steelmaking technologies for stainless steels at TMK's Volzhsky Pipe Plant; this new product type is very important to us. Our ambition is to develop and build Russia's largest advanced production of steel and flat-rolled products offering the widest range of stainless steel grades made to Russian and international standards by employing the newly created capacities of Russian Stainless Company," underlined Dmitry Pumpyanskiy.

At the same time, he noted that the company considers it necessary to intensify cooperation between industry and science. "Complex and sophisticated industrial challenges cannot be addressed by corporate researchers alone. Large-scale industrial projects are implemented through joint efforts of many R&D organizations and manufacturers," he said.