Rusal dropping imported special equipment for Russian equivalent, may save over $1.5 mln
MOSCOW. Dec 15 (Interfax) - UC Rusal is implementing a program of import substitution for special technical equipment, according to which the Russian aluminum giant's engineering and construction division is planning to supply about 180 units of equipment for Rusal's aluminum plants by 2020 and abandon imported equivalents altogether.
The goal of the program is to lower expenses on the acquisition of manufacturing machines and their future servicing by creating its own types of next-generation equipment, the company said in a statement.
Work on the creation of special equipment has been conducted on the basis engineering and construction division in Krasnoyarsk since October 2012. Rusal and Russian constructors developed ten types of specialized machines with 15,000 operating hours, among which included hauler trucks for the transport of metal, machines for punching through the electrolyte crust, the transportation of anode paste briquettes, the distribution of alumina on the crust and anode beam racking.
During 2014 as part of the program of import substitution at the Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant, 13 pieces of equipment were supplied that were produced domestically. In 2015, the company is planning to also supply about 20 specialized pieces of domestically produced equipment to the Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant, the Sayanogorsk, Bratsk and Novokuznetsk plants.
The implementation of the program allows the company to completely stop purchasing specialized equipment manufactured in the Netherlands, which was earlier supplied to Rusal by Hencon. The total savings from using machines produced domestically is more than $1.5 million, with account of the fall in expenses for servicing the equipment.
According to their characteristics, Rusal's own processing machines are better than the foreign analogues, but 40% less expensive. With serial production they will become at least two times cheaper, said Rusal CEO Vladislav Solovyev was cited as saying.