History & Heritage
- In
1940, the government of the Soviet Union decided to build a metallurgical plant
in the town of Rustavi. This decision was based upon the presence of raw
materials in the region and upon the town’s close proximity to existing oil fields
on the Caspian. Building works began, but were halted by the outbreak of the
Second World War.
- On
the 23rd of March 1944, building was resumed around the South
Caucasian railway station of Rustavi.
- In
1946, the first auxiliary workshops (the power plant, the mechanical repair
workshop, the shape-casting workshop, the metal construction workshop, etc.)
began to operate.
- In
1948 the Plant was officially established.
- On
the 27th of April 1950, the first 150 tonnes of open-hearth Georgian
steel were smelted.
- In
September 1952, the first hot-rolled seamless pipes were produced on the
Plant’s tube-rolling workshop’s “Mill-140”
- In
December 1953, the “Mill-400” of the Plant’s tube-rolling workshop was rebuilt;
in those days, the mill was the largest of its kind in Europe for the
production of seamless pipes.
- In
July 1954 the first Georgian pig iron was smelted in the Plant’s blast furnace.
- In
1954, the first Georgian coke was produced.
- In
1955, the Plant’s sheet and re-bar workshops began to operate.
- In
1961, the Plant’s cold-drawing workshop began to operate.
- In
1962, the automation of the tube-rolling workshop’s “Mill-400” was completed.
- In
1967, the Plant’s continuous-casting machine produced its first cast slab.
- Between
1961 and 1991, the Plant’s main installations were systematically modernized,
its capacity was increased and the quality of its production was improved
- Between 1975 and 1980, the Plant’s
open-hearth furnaces were modernized and their capacity was increased from 150
to 200 tonnes.
- In 1980, following the reconstruction
of the Plant’s blast furnace, its capacity was increased from 750 to 1,093m3.
- The Plant’s new sintering plant began to operate in 1982.
- Between
1944 and 1999, the Rustavi Metallurgical Plant produced around 50 million
tonnes of steel and over 36 million tonnes of pipes, reinforcing bars, sheet
metal, etc.
- In
1999, the Rustavi Metallurgical Plant ceased to operate.
- In
2006, a British-Georgian private company bought 100% of the Plant’s shares, and
the difficult process of rehabilitating it began.
- In
2009, induction furnaces were installed in the Plant’s steel-melting workshop
and the Plant’s modernized shape and bar production workshop resumed production
of re-bars.
- In
2011, after an interval of several years, the Plant’s production process
resumed. More specifically, different diameters of seamless pipes were produced
on the tube-rolling workshop’s “Mill-400” following an order placed by a large
international company.
- In
2011, the Plant’s owners and new management brought back its old, historic
name. To recover its former importance and to strengthen its market position,
the first task will be to increase the Plant’s production capacity. Management
is currently implementing measures for the Plant’s systematic modernization and
re-equipment, is introducing new technologies and is training young employees
with the help of experienced professionals.
