Kuzbass residents were congratulated by Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation in the Siberian Federal District Dmitry Kolozin, Acting Governor Ilya Seredyuk and Deputy Minister of Energy Sergei Mochalnikov (from left to right). Photo: Evgeny BIYATOV/SUEK Press Service
It is not surprising: here in every family this day is revered no less than the New Year and birthday. According to tradition, the holiday began with a parade of coal miners. On that day there were aerobatics by the Swifts, a concert program that closed Lyube, fireworks and, of course, the presentation of awards to distinguished employees.
They were awarded not only on the main square of Kuzbass, but also in the mines. And not only active miners, but also veterans. For example, on the eve of the celebrations at the mine named after him. SM Kirov, one of those who received the award from the hands of the acting governor of the Kemerovo region of Kuzbass, was Sergei Zaikin, who worked in the mine for 36 years. He is a representative of one of the largest dynasties in the region.
– My grandfather also worked in a mine during the war, then my father and I. Now two of my sons work at Novaya 7th of November and one of my grandsons studies at a technical school. I am sure that both grandsons will follow in our footsteps, because being a miner is the most honourable profession, a job for real men,” the veteran shared.
Photo: Evgeny BIYATOV/SUEK Press Service
CONNECTING GENERATIONS
During a meeting with journalists at the mine, Acting Governor of Kirov Ilya Seredyuk noted that the region urgently needs qualified personnel. Coal companies are negotiating with secondary vocational institutions and universities on the subject of specialized training of their specialists. With budgetary funds, premises and training workshops in schools were renovated and equipped by enterprises.
– So that during training, when the student comes to practice, he or she works with the same equipment that is installed in his or her training workshops.
“We would like our mining dynasties to continue,” said Ilya Seredyuk.
For example, in Leninsk-Kuznetsky there is a Personnel Training and Development Center for the SUEK-Kuzbass company. By 2023, more than 16 thousand specialists were trained and retrained in its laboratories.
And not only them.
– We have vocational classes of the Andrei Melnichenko Foundation, where eighth and ninth graders are trained according to an extended program and then enter our basic technical schools. This year we had the first graduation of children with the specialty “repairman”. Most of them went to the Mining School. They are our future employees,” said the director of the center, Yana Kalish.
Uniform operating standards for all the company’s companies are developed in the centre’s laboratories. Not only the centre’s full-time employees are involved in this, but also coal mining experts.
– All our mines have a positioning system. There is general technical documentation for installing base stations, but there are no details. That is why we have set up a stand here where we show how to do it correctly, so that mechanics do not waste time trying to figure out where everything is and how it is installed,” Evgeniy Vetrov, deputy director for production of technological communications at SUEK-Kuzbass, gave an example.
Representatives of all companies in the region took part in the parade. Photo: Evgeny BIYATOV/SUEK Press Service
IN NUMBERS, IN YOUR PALM
The positioning system is only a small part of the digital structure of SUEK companies. In Leninsk-Kuznetsky there is a Unified Dispatch and Analysis Center, which “sees” everything that each of them breathes.
– Every second, more than 250 thousand parameters “fly” here from each mine: the state of the equipment, the location of all employees, how much coal the miners produced per day, since the beginning of the month, since the beginning of the year. And, of course, the quality of the mine atmosphere is analyzed around the clock,” said Alexander Boyarkin, senior mechanic for automation of process control systems and communications at SUEK-Kuzbass, stressing that the software was developed in Russia.
DO NOT DEPEND ON OTHERS
Moving towards independence from foreign suppliers
This is happening not only in the IT sector, but also in hardware. Ilya Seredyuk said that coal miners solved the problem of equipment supply with the help of manufacturers from friendly countries, in particular from Belarus. Chinese manufacturers are interested in supplies.
“But the most important thing is that we should use this opportunity to develop our own machine-building group. In the region, large coal mines have their own machine-building companies with 200 percent utilization,” said Ilya Seredyuk.
For example, the SUEK SIB-Damel machine-building plant operates around the clock. It repairs and produces equipment for the coal industry. This year they mastered the production of motorized roof support profiles. The first 14 sections already shine with snow-white paint under the arches of the workshop and are being prepared to be sent to one of the mines for testing.
– We have previously purchased support sections in Germany and Poland. We have a strong design bureau, which started working on the project at the beginning of this year, and we have implemented the designers’ ideas. After the tests, we plan to implement an investment project, increasing the production of new support profiles, while continuing to repair about 350 profiles per year,” said Alexander Britousov, CEO of the plant.
FOR EVERYONE AS FOR YOURSELF
Despite the difficult situation in the industry, coal miners continue to support the social system of the region. For example, within the framework of public-private partnership, SUEK-Kuzbass annually supports more than 100 socially significant and long-term projects aimed at improving the comfort of mining areas.
“We see that SUEK-Kuzbass is an example of skillful and safe coal mining at the level of the most modern world standards and contributes to improving the social infrastructure of Kuzbass: medicine, education, sports, patriotic education of youth,” said Acting Governor Ilya Seredyuk.
