Ambassador of the Korean Republic at USSK

A courtesy visit including an excursion round some production operations (Steel Plant and Hot Strip Mill) was paid to U. S. Steel Kosice last Thursday, July 12th, by the Ambassador of the Korean Republic Yong-Kyu Park with his wife Eunsook Yang. During his meeting with USSK Vice-president Management Services and Administration Miroslav Kiralvarga, among other things he took a lively interest in cooperation between USSK and Korean firms.

Every crown saved is a good thing

In the first six months of 2007 our efforts at U. S. Steel Kosice to achieve the objectives of the Costs-saving Program were once again successful. In fact the results achieved in the first half-year were excellent. Everyone who played any kind of part in that achievement deserves thanks. Originators of ideas, project managers and implementers are all worthy of recognition. The biggest portion, 32% of the whole company's costs-saving, was contributed by the group made up of the Power Division, Power-generating Strategy and Management, Transport, three Maintenance plants and Maintenance management. The second biggest contributors to costs-savings were the Strip Mills with a 27.5% share, the third was Primary with 18.7%, and the fourth was Purchasing with 9.8%. These were followed by Quality, Research and Development, Company Management and Best Practises. There were also very valuable contributions from other sections of the Company, such as BSCE, Secondary Production, Safety and Environment.

Investors' interest in Eastern Slovakia grows

Improving conditions for the inflow of foreign direct investment into the Kosice Region is the name of a project which was started by the Kosice Self-governing Region (KSR) two years ago in March, using support from European Union funds. Marking the occasion of its completion, a conference was held in the last few days at the TeleDom center in Kosice, attended by experts in this field who can claim the credit for attracting several foreign investors to the KSR, and by representatives of commercial enterprises which have already established themselves in the Kosice region. The group of experts of course included representatives of U. S. Steel Kosice's Economic Development Center, and it is our Company in fact which has been in close cooperation with the KSR and which has played a leading role in bringing new investors to our region.

Informal lunch at Refrako

While at USSK President David H. Lohr has been inviting the best employees to informal lunches for several years now, the General Manager of subsidiary firm Refrako Gabriel Torhany did so on Friday of last week for the first time. Taking seats around the shared table were machining shop coordinating foreman Jozef Lakatos, magnesia products plant coordinating foreman Stefan Hornak, Company General Manager and host Gabriel Torhany, Financial Manager Anna Fedorova, firebricks preparation plant coordinating foreman Miroslav Myca and firebricks presser and sorter Eduard Ox.

Holidays carousel

If you want to enjoy some pleasant Sunday afternoons during the school holidays, then get yourselves and your kids off to Kosice Zoo. What child would not like to have fun, a bit of a competition, or match their strength and knowledge with others'? Every Sunday throughout July and August, starting at 3 pm, the holidays carousel starts revolving at the Zoo amphitheater. Take your children for a ride on it.

Steel Arena goes over to tennis

Kosice people once again had the chance to see some world-class tennis last weekend, and this time the sport filled the Steel Arena with thousands of spectators. Once again they showed that they know how to be rewarding fans, and they greeted every point and game won with storms of applause for the players. In the matches for a place in the second world group for the Federation Cup 2008, the young women players of the Slovak team beat their Serbian rivals 4:1. U. S. Steel Kosice was an advertising partner of this event.