Severstal and Makropromyshlennoye Predpriyatiye (Moscow) began to develop the study program for Severstal employees, who will take part in implementing of Statistical Process Control (SPC).
   SPC, which is initiated within the TQM (Total Quality Management) program at Severstal, is being implemented in the converter shop - one of the largest Severstal's units. Based on the experience which will be accumulated in the process of implementing SPC, the study program will be arranged for employees of other production units, which are part of the production chain of the cold rolled substrate for Severgal - joint project of Severstal and Arcelor, for which the foundation tone was laid in April of 2002. Besides the converter shop, the production chain includes the second sheet rolling shop and the cold rolled steel shop.
   The study program includes a description of how the project went at Severstal's converter shop, the study materials and exercises, examples of paperwork, practical experience of project's participants and video materials. It will allow not only to study the theory of SPC but through use of specific examples test various ways of solving production and technological problems by means of statistical analysis.
   At the first stage 50 employees of relevant units will go through the study program. In the future the study program will be used for transferring of knowledge on effective use of SPC in production and other units of Severstal and the Severstal-group.
   SPC allows to increase the degree of influence on various technological parameters and improve the controllability of the technology in the converter shop.
   According to Igor Kostin, director of strategic planning of Severstal, SPC is one of the main ways of improving the quality of final product and the stability of the manufacturing process.