Russian firm turns to International Copper Association's CuproBraze for Entry into International Markets

    NEW YORK--June 12, 2001--Seeking to take its circa 1942 plant into the new millennium, and the heat exchangers it produces into western markets, Russia's Shadrinsk recently adopted the CuproBraze process and will be in full production by next year.
    Shadrinsk will roll out 60,000 to 100,000 CuproBraze heat exchangers in 2002 and 450,000 in five years, says the company's technical director, Vladimir Starikov. Shadrinsk currently produces 350,000 soldered copper and other heat exchangers annually. During the Soviet era, it produced 1.4 million per year.
    Shadrinsk is aiming to position itself and its $1 billion parent, Urals Metals and Mining, as a major player among heat exchanger manufacturers worldwide.
    "Our approach is to make our facility world class with the most advanced production technology," Starikov says. "We are currently certified in Russia to ISO 9001, and have the quality control and production ability to meet the toughest requirements of any western company."
    Shadrinsk is looking to export nearly 50 percent of its heat exchangers to North America and Western Europe, with 65 percent of its production earmarked for OEM construction.
    Shadrinsk investigated all available technology, including the aluminum Nocolok process. Starikov says he found CuproBraze to be the most cutting-edge technology available, offering strength and reliability, smaller size and a higher heat exchange rate compared to aluminum and other cores, and materials savings due to CuproBraze's low scrap rate.
    "Shadrinsk's choice of CuproBraze demonstrates the growing international respect the technology has," says Anthony Lea, an International Copper Association vice president. "We expect more and more manufacturers to turn to the process."
    Currently, the CuproBraze process is used in the manufacture of about 100 different types of heat exchangers in the United States and Japan. The technology was developed by the International Copper Association and is licensed to qualified manufacturers without cost.

    The International Copper Association, Ltd. (ICA) is the leading organization for the promotion of the use of copper worldwide. The Association's twenty-nine members represent about 80 percent of the world's refined copper output, and its six associate members are among the world's largest copper and copper alloy fabricators. ICA is responsible for guiding policy, strategy and funding of international initiatives and promotional activities. With headquarters in New York City, ICA operates in 28 worldwide locations through a network of regional offices and copper development associations.