Sheffield Forgemasters is Russia's leading steel roll supplier

The multimillion pound deal is for a range of work and back-up rolls, which will be supplied to the Russian steel giant's plant in Cherepovets, Northwestern Russia. The finished components, which can weigh up to 35 tonnes, will be used in cold rolling mills to roll steel sheets for domestic use such as car manufacturing and white goods. "This contract forms part of a three-year development of business between Sheffield Forgemasters International and Severstal, which is worth £15.5m in total," explained Ken Brooks, senior sales manager at Forgemasters. "We first began working with Severstal in 1999 and Forgemasters now supplies more forged steel rolls to Severstal than any other roll maker. "This new contract is testimony to the strength of our relationship, as well as our position within the wider Russian steel market. Forgemasters is now responsible for providing 70% of Severstal's entire forged steel roll requirement. "Russia's demand for domestic steel is enormous and, as the country's largest forged steel rolls supplier, we can use our expertise and state-of-the-art techniques to deliver the highest quality products." The rolls will be produced using specialist techniques, including forging each steel ingot and heat treatment – a process that exposes the rolls to temperatures from +940 ° to -40 °C to create highly specific hardness properties. The rolls will then be machine finished to within 0.05 mm, using CNC machine tools. Cherepovets is one of the most significant industrial centres in northwestern Russia and is closely associated with Severstal products, which are exported to more than fifty countries. Severstal employs around 70,000 people and has assets in Russia, USA, the Ukraine, Latvia, Poland, Italy, Liberia as well as investments in Brazil.