The Belarus Iron and Steel Works has mastered the production of ten new grades of alloyed steel and carbon steel for the automobile engineering industry, the company’s Press Secretary Alexander Olesik declared.
According to the source, BMZ’s engineering division always works to expand the choice of products for the automobile industry.
“This year alone we’ve mastered the production of ten new grades of quality alloyed steel and carbon steel for the automobile engineering industry. We already batch produce two of them. We will start producing the other eight in Q1 2019 once the consumers approve them. The procedure can take more than a year,” said the press secretary.
In the last two years BMZ has mastered the production of over 30 new grades of steel. Now the regular buyers of BMZ’s steel for the automobile industry include over 20 internationally recognized companies, such as Mahindra Forgings AG, Hammerwerk Fridingen GmbH, Schondelmaier GmbH Presswerk, KamAZ, BelZAN, etc. BMZ metal is used to make components for Daimler, Volkswagen, BMW, and FIAT.
In January-August BMZ managed to increase sales of metal products designed for the automobile industry by 23% in comparison with the same period of last year. Alexander Olesik stressed that metal products designed for the automobile industry had to pass very strict requirements, including geometric parameters, purity of steel, and the lack of internal and surface defects. In order to fully satisfy customers’ demands BMZ has spent about $1 million on buying and installing cutting-edge quality control equipment in its bar-rolling division this year. In particular, the company has bought a non-destructive testing tool, which can detect surface defects starting with 0.2 mm. Another instrument has been bought to measure the purity of steel using ultrasound waves.
“No other Belarusian company uses such equipment. Not every steel mill in the world uses it either,” added Alexander Olesik.
At present the choice of BMZ’s products for the automobile engineering industry includes hot-rolled round bars with the diameter of 30-160 mm, rolled steel in coils and bars for making springs and special fixtures, and metal products for making bearings. The source reminded that in December 2017 BMZ was one of the first CIS companies to be certified for compliance with the International Automotive Task Force (IATF) 16949:2016 standard. (BelTA/Ukrainian metal)