RELAY

R A C E OF GO OD D E E D S D,

Chvanov

Mechanization of the m e t a l l u r g i c a l industry is one of the main tasks making up t e c h n i c a l progress in the i n dustry. The m e t a l l u r g i c a l plants of the country are working on m e c h a n i z a t i o n of labor-consuming processes in the m a i n shops of the p l a n t - blast furnace, steelmaking, and rolling. However, m e c h a n i z a t i o n of production processes as a whole for the m e t a l l u r g i c a l industry has still not attained the necessary level and the rate of decline of manual !abor in total expenditure of labor is stilI rather low. This especially pertains to auxiliary services. The number of workers engaged in these services still remains high. Therefore, the attention given by the Sverdlovsk executive c o m m i t t e e of the trade union of metallurgists and the regional board of the scientific and technical department (STO) of ferrous metallurgy to this important problem is understandable. Last year they organized a relay race for the introduction and promotion of t e c h n i c a l innovations in the area of m e c h a n i z a t i o n of loading and unloading operations, warehousing, and other auxiliary operations, and for improvement of the organization of labor in these types of operations, The retay race was held in two stages. The first stage was the selection by special c o m m i t t e e s at the plants of innovations developed by the plant or borrowed as a result of exchange of experience and which were of interest to other plants, After appropriate notations, the plants sent the journal-baton farther along the planned schedule. The second stage was to check the introduction of the innovations selected during the first stage of the relay race, further study and selection of the innovations written into the journal, and the entry of newly adopted suggestions into it. The relay race was carried out among m e t a l l u r g i c a l , tube, and refractory plants. Nine m e t a l l u r g i c a l plants participated in the relay race: Verkh-Iset', Serov, Kushva, Nizhne-Serginsk, Nizhne-Saldinsk, and Staroutkinskii m e t a l l u r g i c a l plants, the N i z h n e - T a g i l and Alapaevskii combines, and the Reva Hardware-Metallurgical Plant. At these enterprises 166 members of the S T O - l e a d i n g innovators, engineers, and technician - during the relay race introduced 47 suggestions effecting an annual economy of 277,000 rubies. Twenty nine were developed and introduced into production b y the efforts of the plant collectives. The economic effect from their introduction amounted to 134,000 rubies. Eighteen were borrowed from the t e c h n i c a l literature and from other plants, The annual e c o nomic effect from their introduction was 143,000 rubies. During the relay race eight suggestions of the plants that participated in the relay race were used, which y i e l d ed an economy of 50,000 rubies. The metallurgists of the Alapaevskii Metallurgical Combine, for instance, introduced container hauling of refractory brick and runner refractories, which for the first time gained recognition at the Kushva Plant. The economy from its introduction was 15,000 rubies. The Verkh-Iset' metallurgists borrowed from the Serov metallurgists the pallet for loading and unloading bricks by means of a a u t o m a t i c loader and m a chines for cutting wire for the hatches of railroad cars; the Saldinsk metallurgists borrowed from the Nizhne-Serginsk metallurgists an e l e c t r o m e c h a n i e a l stamper of metals, and the metallurgists of T a g i l and Kushva borrowed a vibrator for m e c h a n i z e d unloading of ore, coke, and limestone which was developed and introduced at the Serov Plant. Four tube plants participated in the relay race: Pervoural'sk New Tube and Old Tube plants and the Sinarskii and Severskii tube plants. At these plants 114 members of the STO - innovators, engineers, and technicians - during the relay race i n troduced 54 suggestions effecting an economy of 274, 000 rubies. All 54 suggestions were developed by the efforts

Translated from Metallurg, No. 6, p. 41, June, 1971.

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of the plant collectives,.laboratories, and innovators and inventors - members of the STO. During the relay race six suggestions of the plants that participated in the relay race were tIsed, which yield an ecoa0my of 12,500 rubles. The Sinarskii Tube Plant used the device for pumping fuel from tank cars which was manufactured at the Pervoural'sk New Tube Plant; the Severskii Tube Plant used the suggestion of the Pervoural'sk OId Tube Plant: l o a d ing of tubes into four-axle gondola cars in two stacks, etc. In all, 882 persons from plants serviced by the STO of ferrous metallurgy participated in the retay race and the 117 suggestions introduced effected an economy of 803,000 rubies; a06 persons were released for other jobs. The reports of the relay race were examined by the industrial commissions of the regiouat board of the STO, who awarded: for m e t a l l u r g i c a l plants, first place to the Verkh-Iset', second p l a c e . t o the Serov. and third place to the Revda Hardware-Metallurgical Plant; for the tube industry, first p!ace to the Severskii Tube, two second places to the Pervoural'sk New Tube and Sinarskii Tube, and third place to the Pervoural'sk Old Tube plants. The relay race m o b i l i z e d the creative initiative of the engineers a n d technician~ for the successful conduction of the All-Union review of the improvement of the use of production facilities and strengthening of the economy at . ferrous metallurgy planta

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