US RUSAL announces structural changes

UC RUSAL announces changes in its organisational structure. The current Aluminium and Alumina divisions have each been split into Aluminium and Alumina East and West divisions respectively in line with the geographic location of production facilities and their core products and key markets. In addition, two new directorates have been established: the Commercial Directorate and the Production Development Directorate. All these divisions and directorates report to the first deputy CEO of UC RUSAL, Vladislav Soloviev.

Alumina Division East is responsible for managing Russian alumina production assets such as Timan Bauxite, the Achinsk alumina complex, the Boksitogorsk alumina refinery, the North Urals bauxite mine, the Bogoslovsk and Urals aluminium smelters, as well as the Nikolaev alumina refinery in Ukraine. The division is to be headed by Valery Matvienko, the former deputy CEO for operations at MMC Norilsk Nickel OJSC. Alumina Division East will focus on ensuring uninterrupted supply of alumina to the company’s aluminium smelters to meet their specific technological and logistical requirements. The International Alumina Division (Alumina Division West) has been put in charge of the western bauxite mining and alumina production companies, such as the Friguia Alumina Refinery and Compagnie des Bauxites de Kindia in Guinea, the Bauxite Company of Guyana, Aughinish Alumina in Ireland, Eurallumina in Italy, Alpart and Windalco in Jamaica and Queensland Alumina in Australia. The division is to be headed by Yakov Itskov, who formerly held management positions at Basic Element companies and RussNeft. One of the key objectives of the International Alumina Division is the production of high quality alumina for the international market, which requires the company to use a flexible approach in working with each of its customers. This structure mirrors recent changes to the Aluminium Division has also been split into Aluminium Division East and Aluminium Division West. The production facilities of the new Aluminium Division East, which will be headquartered in Krasnoyarsk, will focus on satisfying the growing demand for UC RUSAL’s products in Asia. In the meantime, the company’s western production facilities, located close to its European customers, will focus on making high value added products including secondary alloys for end consumers in Europe and Russia. The Commercial Directorate, which is a full-fledged business unit, has been created to centralise and optimise purchasing to meet the demand of the aluminium and alumina divisions, and to manage the sales of secondary products. The Commercial Directorate will also be in charge of the day-to-day management of several production facilities supplying raw materials to the company’s aluminium smelters: Shanxi RUSAL Cathode in China, Polevskoy Cryolite Plant, the South Urals cryolite plant, SUAL-Silicon in Shelekhov and Kamensk-Uralsky, SUAL-Powder Metallurgy in Shelekhov, Krasnoturyinsk and Volgograd, and Yaroslavsky mining and beneficiation plant. The Commercial Directorate is headed by Pavel Ovchinnikov, the former director of UC RUSAL’s Alumina Division.

The Company has also established a Production Development Directorate, whose main function is to create, introduce and develop the production system at all of the company’s production facilities, introducing best practices to increase efficiency and standardising production processes. Dmitry Bondarenko has been appointed Director for Production Development. He has ample experience introducing the Toyota Production System at GAZ Group OJSC.