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Vyacheslav Popkov: TMK will increase its digital investments

TMK intends to increase its investment in digital technologies to improve production efficiency and business processes in a new economic reality. The announcement was made by Vyacheslav Popkov, TMK’s First Deputy CEO – Chief Engineer, at the Horizons corporate forum of TMK and Sinara Group.

Vyacheslav Popkov noted that TMK is now actively seeking out new market tools, expanding the range of services, adopting a differentiated approach to targeting various business areas, launching new products and technologies, and building a service policy tailored to each specific product. Embracing digital technology is a key driver of the Company’s competitive edge.

“Amid stiffer competition, we are using all available tools to improve production efficiency and business processes. Digitization, which is set to become an even more important pillar of TMK’s strategy, is coming to the forefront. Significant funds have been allocated to continue the digitization program in 2021. We are focused on areas such as the Internet of things, artificial intelligence, big data, predictive analytics, robotic process automation (RPA), chatbots, and digital twins. We are rolling out an integrated planning system (IPS) and manufacturing execution system (MES), expecting serious progress on these projects in 2021,” said Vyacheslav Popkov.

TMK is currently implementing integrated projects to roll out its IPS and MES solutions. The new integrated planning system will help TMK automate the processes of developing and aligning sales, production, procurement and transportation plans up to 18 months ahead. The MES system will collect, transmit, process and display data on production processes in real time. A diagnostic has been completed on TMK plants, and operational production management processes are being reengineered to unify them as much as possible. Pilots will be run at shops of TMK’s major production sites, including Volzhsky Pipe Plant, Seversky Pipe Plant, Sinarsky Pipe Plant and Taganrog Metallurgical Plant. The system will then be rolled out to other TMK facilities.

Vyacheslav Popkov also noted that TMK has already implemented RPA (Robotic Process Automation) in Human Resources and Marketing and is developing RPA solutions for the financial, sales and accounting functions. Another important project which is currently being implemented is building a new customer relationship management (CRM) system, pioneering the use of an intelligent integrator in sales automation for the Russian steel industry.

Representatives of TMK and Sinara Group’s Russian and international divisions participate in the Horizons corporate forum, organized by TMK2U Corporate University. Over the course of two weeks, the Horizons online platform hosts meetings with top managers of Russian and international plants and entities, professional competitions, trainings at the Personal Effectiveness School and other events. The forum’s highlight is the TMK Youth Scientific and Technical Conference, the results of which are used by a judging panel to select the best innovative projects presented by young specialists for implementation within the group companies.