This time we’ll show you Vyksa Metallurgical Plant (VMP) which is located in the city of Vyksa in the Nyzhniy Novgorod Region. Founded in 1757, it is the most powerful pipe and train wheel producer in Russia. The main event of the recent days became the opening of the new ‘Stan-5000′ metallurgical complex (or ‘MKS-5000′).

[youtube]CKgKBssir-s[/youtube]

Construction of the ‘MKS-5000′ began in 2008 and this fall they put it into operation. They invested over 1.5 billion dollars into the complex and by 2013 they hope to make domestic pipe producers independent of metal sheets supply from abroad.

The metallurgical plant in Vyksa is the main employer for the city’s population (60 thousand people).

Most of the city sights are somehow connected with it.

This is a monument to brothers Batashev, powerful Russian industrialists who played a great role in the country’s industry development and factory construction. However, people say thay they were also savage and bloodthirsty and tell stories about some gibbets, tortured people and animals, mysterious vanishing of their worker and so on and so forth. Who knows if it’s true or not.

‘Vyksa Metallurgical Plant’.

VMP produces up to 3 million tons of pipes a year and is the only pipe maker in Russia that produces pipes for underwater pipelines.

Everyone who enters the plant must wear a hard hat (orange for regular workers, white for the management and specially designed hard hats for visitors of the plant).

Preparing for the grand opening.

The ceremony went great. They even showed a video from the International Space Station where Russian flight engineers congratulated those present on the big event.

Pipes like this were used in the famous Nord Stream gas pipeline construction in the Baltic Sea.

The ceremony consisted of 4 parts: an official part, awarding best workers, a concert and a guided tour around the ‘MKS-5000′.

This is the first pipe made of the metal sheet made by the ‘MKS-5000′. Wall thickness: 41 mm, withstands pressure of up to 220 atmospheres. No pipe producer in the world can make pipes this strong.

The show’s going on. Officials from different organizations have come to congratulate the plant.

‘MKS-5000. The Metallurgical Complex Stan-5000. Start. Vyksa. 25 November, 2011′.

‘MKS-5000′.

‘MKS-5000. The Metallurgical Complex Stan-5000. Start. Vyksa. 25 November, 2011′.

At the complex, they use one of the most powerful stands in the world (1200000 kilonewtons!).

These rollers move red-hot steel plates for another processing stage.

The complex is equipped with an up-to-date cooling system which allows to chill 1000-degrees hot steel without changing its characteristics.

Metal sheets they make here may be used not only in pipe production but can also become a part of a ship, a bridge or a nuclear power construction.

Watching the rolling mill.

The production process is really impressing. Looking at it, you can feel the power and heat involved in it.

Location: Vyksa

via onepamop