NLMK Group, an international steel producer which operates facilities in Russia, the USA and the EU has been certified by ABB Group, the power plant engineering company hailing from Sweden and Switzerland as a qualified supplier of transformer steel.

NLMK Group produces transformer steel at its VIZ-Steel plant in Yekaterinburg. ABB, a global supplier of automation and power technologies, conducted a comprehensive audit of the plant’s processes and quality management system, and confirmed that VIZ-Steel is worthy of its status.

During the audit ABB experts visited VIZ-Steel’s cold-rolling shop and magnetic measurements lab. They also reviewed the procedure for testing the end-user performance of transformer steel and were introduced to the activities of the plant’s Environmental and Energy departments, among others.

Ilya Guschin, NLMK Vice President Sales said: "NLMK Group is the only transformer steel producer in Russia. NLMK has an 11% share of the global market for this high-end product. ABB experts were effusive in their praise of our continuous improvement in technology and consistent approach to quality assurance. ABB also confirmed its intention to increase the volume of transformer steel purchased from NLMK."

NLMK and ABB also agreed on the use of trial batches of new and improved grades of Russian steel in ABB’s projects and the testing of transformer cores manufactured from NLMK’s steel.

NLMK Group has supplied transformer steel from its facilities in Lipetsk and Yekaterinburg to ABB’s plants in Europe, Asia and North America for over 15 years. NLMK’s steel is used in the manufacture of sophisticated power equipment, including power and distribution transformers.

In 2015, NLMK Group supplied 9,100 tonnes of transformer steel to ABB (+300% vs. 2014). The key sales markets were Spain, Canada, the USA and Egypt. In Q1 2016, ABB purchased 2,700 tonnes of steel (+13% vs. Q1 2015).