Metinvest Group releases interactive book to help simplify the steel-making process
Metinvest Group operates around the globe and is the largest producer of iron and steel in the Ukraine. To help Ukrainian citizens understand how mining and steelmaking work, the company published an interactive book called The Steelmaker’s Kitchen in June 2019. The authors of the book understood that the topic can be complex, so they chose to compare steelmaking to cooking because most people are familiar with that process.
Interactive book aimed at high school students who may want to get into the trade
As a company, Metinvest Group cares about encouraging young people to pursue profitable careers in mining and steelmaking. That is one reason leadership decided to publish this interactive book. The company also wanted to reach people who just felt curious about the production process. Since Metinvest Group operates businesses all over the world, it created the book in English and Russian, in addition to Ukrainian.
How the book uses augmented reality
Readers can download this book to their tablet or smartphone at by clicking this link. Since The Steelmaker’s Kitchen is a charitable edition, the company made it available to libraries, colleges, vocational schools, and other institutions of higher learning in Ukraine and around the world. While advancing through the book, readers can view a video about the stage of steel making described in the book to help them retain the information better.
Metinvest Group has also published a video installation to accompany the book called Art of Steel. The video follows the steel-making process, starting with when the company obtains raw materials to transform into steel. The purpose of the video is to spark discussion among students, some of whom may go on to pursue careers in the steel-making process.
Metinvest CEO describes The Steelmaker’s Kitchen in more detail
Yuriy Ryzhenkov, the Chief Executive Officer of Metinvest Group, stated at the time of the book’s release that he sees it as both simple and unusual. The Steelmaker’s Kitchen does not contain complex formulas or a lot of technical terms that only industry insiders would understand. Instead, it uses few words and relies mostly on pictures to tell the story of the steel-making process.
Ryzhenkov describes how the world has progressed from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age and then the Iron Age. Today, silicon is the most used element from the periodic table. With artificial intelligence now matching or surpassing human intelligence, Ryzhenkov predicts that every aspect of life will soon be digital. He also stresses that a digital transformation is not possible without steel since the computer manufacturing process requires it.
For Yuriy Ryzhenkov, steel making is a dream job. He grew up in a family of steelmakers and has been fascinated by the process since he was three years old. Ryzhenkov feels a deep sense of personal fulfillment in creating useful things for humanity.
The Steelmaker’s Kitchen is a continuation of Ryzhenkov’s enthusiasm for the steel-making business as it shows how workers at Metinvest Group make furnaces, quarries, and deep mines. He concluded his comments about the book in 2019 by describing how Metinvest employees turn solid rock into bridges, planes, and skyscrapers that people see and use every day.
About Metinvest Group
Metinvest Group is the largest steel-making operation in Ukraine and the 42nd largest in the world. The company, which launched as a subsidiary of SCM in 2006, produces 9.5 million tons of steel every year. Metinvest employs approximately 80,000 people in its corporate branch and at smaller steel-making facilities in Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, and other developed nations.
Another way that the Metinvest Group has invested in the education of future steelmakers is by opening Ukraine's first private mining and steel university. The company founded the Metinvest Polytechnic Institute in June 2020. Its first class of students was its own employees looking to gain skills and education to advance their careers.
Metinvest Polytechnic Institute will begin accepting students for its degree programs in early 2022. The university has received permission from the state to issue degrees in these disciplines:
- Computer Science
- Economics
- Health and Safety
- Metallurgy
- Metal Science
- Mining
Metinvest Group has also been in the news recently for revamping its sister plant at Ilyich Steel to reduce smoke and dust emissions in the city of Mariupol. Recognizing that its own plant contributed to much of the pollution, Metinvest Group committed to a project that took seven years and completed it on time despite the coronavirus pandemic. The result was a 90 percent reduction in dust emissions and a 46 percent reduction in sulfur emissions.
One of the company subsidiaries in West Virginia, United Coal Company, joined the Metallurgical Coal Producers Association along with three other local steel companies in September 2020. The organization formed to determine how they could collectively serve the community better due to a recent trend showing a shift from producing thermal coal to metallurgical coal. Joining the community organization underscores how much the company cares about improving the lives of those they serve.
