Workers in the uniform of the color of that harsh St. Petersburg sky flashes at the entrance of the St. Petersburg Precision Alloy Plant. On the jackets, the new logo — a dynamic interweaving of gray and orange rings — looks like a schematic image of the endless interaction of colored metals, the combination of chemical elements and eternal movement. It is no exaggeration to say that real alchemy sometimes takes place within the walls of the plant. Early in the morning, workers start making precision alloys. “Precise” means “accurate.” These are materials with the most accurate chemical composition and predetermined physical and mechanical properties.
A vest, a helmet and special protective boots are provided to be in production. Most workers prefer a classic helmet — a lightweight version of a helmet with a visor, in other words, a baseball cap with protective elements. This is also part of the new workwear; when developing it, the opinion of the staff was taken into account.
Dozens of stands dedicated to the long history of the enterprise are located in the cozy factory corridors. From here we enter production: the electric steelmaking plant immediately receives heat from steel cooling in special tanks. This is where some of the alloys start their journey. The site has several types of melting furnaces that heat treat up to 350 tons of raw materials per month.
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The electric steelmaking site has several types of melting furnaces that heat treat up to 350 tons of raw materials per month.
Viktor Vladimirovich Romanov, Deputy Head of the Technical Department, is monitoring the process. Even at the end of the working week, he is reluctant to be distracted by conversations if they interfere with his work: precision alloys require special control at every stage of production. It is necessary to accurately observe the specified number of elements in the material in order to subsequently achieve the desired properties from it. Real alchemy.
Viktor Vladimirovich Romanov, Deputy Head of the Technical Department
“New” alloys of all stripes are hot-rolled. There, under the weight of the mill, the metal comes out in the form of a tape that requires further processing. And here we are, welcome to the cold-rolled section. It is equipped with nine cold-rolling mills, cutting and surface cleaning lines that specify the required dimensions and physical properties of the product.
The cold-rolled section is equipped with 9 cold-rolling mills, cutting and surface cleaning lines with a capacity of up to 600 tons per month, which specify the required dimensions and physical properties of the tape.
Viktor Nikolaevich Rezchik is one of the local old-timers who has been working at the plant for a total of forty years. “I live on Vasilyevsky Island and worked here, at the Steel Rolling Plant, for 33 years. Then I went to another company, but came back, and now I've been working here again for seven years,” says Viktor Nikolaevich. According to him, suitable working conditions and work schedule largely contributed to the return to the already renovated St. Petersburg Precision Alloy Plant.
Viktor Nikolaevich at work on the cutting line. He has been at the plant for 40 years.
Another employee, the cat Dusya, is quite happy with the conditions here. Rumor has it that she is not the only one among the mustachioed and striped colleagues at the plant. She monitors production and helps Tatyana Karbysheva, perhaps the youngest and most airy head of the technical control department. Tatyana has been working at the plant quite recently; with us, she confidently and elegantly measures the thickness of the tape with a special device - a micrometer.
Tatyana Karbysheva, Head of Technical Control
A micrometer is a device for measuring the thickness of a tape. The company is capable of producing the finest products up to several microns thick.
There are more and more young employees at the plant, notes Vladimir Nikolaevich Akinshin, Head of the Occupational Safety Service: “The company has special programs during which children undergo internships, learn professions, and get a chance for further employment.” Already successful workers also receive all the conditions for professional growth. The plant organizes professional development for existing specialists. This need arises more and more often in today's conditions of supply of new equipment, production automation processes, and the development of new materials.
Tape processing
Today, when it has taken a course towards import substitution and the development of domestic production, the plant has been given important tasks to develop and develop new types of products. This opens up opportunities for professional growth for many specialists and attracts young professionals. Young people see that the professions of workers, engineers and technical specialties are again in demand and promising.
Moreover, the company has a lot to be proud of and a lot to teach: the St. Petersburg Precision Alloy Plant has extensive experience in mastering the full technological cycle for the production of certain materials. One of the few in the country, the plant is capable of producing metal tape from specified alloys with a thickness of only a few microns. In particular, this can be verified at the so-called “micron” site. Here, at the “150" mill, they produce magnetic tape for flight recorders, the same “black boxes” installed in airplanes. According to experts, this thin metal tape is still the most reliable information keeper that can withstand extreme loads in emergency situations. And this unique product is being created within the walls of PZPS LLC.
Dmitry Borisov, cold rolling mill operator
The plant produces tape for magnetic recording in flight recorders
In their spare time, employees of the St. Petersburg Precision Alloy Plant play football. “We have our own PZPS team, and we will soon have a football uniform,” Vladimir Nikolaevich smiles. For regular training sessions, management rents a gym on Vasilyevsky Island, and employees come with children and fans. The team is still young and is playing for fun, but there is not much time left before participating in the factory club championships. So far, football is at the factory with a male face, but everything is yet to come. However, it is highly likely that the female part of the team, which, according to employees, is becoming more numerous, will choose another sport. Be that as it may, one thing is clear: the company is moving forward, expanding and transforming into something more than just a plant, and its soul - a friendly team - lives its own business and does not intend to rest on its laurels.
