Technical education has a future!

Slovakia is now entering a period which will be characterized by a lack of qualified workforce. That is the plain truth. Is the cause of this simply the growing interest of foreign investors in Slovakia and their establishment of plants in this country, or is this also the result of unfavorable demographic development, the state which specialist education finds itself in, or insufficient information about the real requirements of the job market? It turns out that all of these factors are involved, and others besides.
Specific regional differences being no exception. And the upshot of all this? On the job market there is primarily a lack of technically-skilled specialists. This was also confirmed by USSK Vice-president Human Resources Martin Pitorak, speaking at a specialist seminar focusing on current issues in the field of technical education in the Kosice region which took place at the Technical Univerity in Kosice at the end of March. He said, among other things, that although U. S. Steel Kosice has so far not felt the impact of this problem, the time is coming for the Company to concern itself more intensively with it. This seminar was initiated by the Kosice steelworks together with the Technical Univerity in Kosice and in close cooperation with the Kosice Self-governing Region.

KORAD radiators at the Racioenergia fair

KORAD radiators produced by U. S. Steel Kosice were presented to the public at the Incheba Exhibition Center in Bratislava last week at the international trade fair for energy usage, Racioenergia. Ocel Vychodu got details about the event from USSK Commercial Promotions section manager Frantisek Helfen. "The Racioenergia and Coneco fairs took place together, and these two events are the most important building and construction fairs in Slovakia. The organizers Incheba Bratislava hosted 900 exhibitors from 14 different countries. Our exhibition stand stood out well with its 100 square meters of floor area, and it got a very positive response from the visitors," says Helfen. "Racioenergia and Coneco are considered to be something like a festival for builders, a mirror of the building trade," was the assessment of the event from USSK marketing manager Jozef Zofcak.

No more restrictions on drinking water

Last Friday, March 4th, workers from the Water Management operation and the Maintenance department of the Power Division together installed the last of the 178 water meters at U. S. Steel Kosice, thereby completing the drinking water measurement system for the main plant lines. This project, supervised by GM Production Support Jan Vranec, took 200 days. All the steelworks employees deserve a vote of thanks for their patience, then, especially for putting up with the unpleasant restrictions on the supply of drinking water. This project represents the first step in a radical approach towards solving the problem of excessive drinking water consumption in the plants and divisions.

Gift for the best-looking picture of penguins

Calling all kids! You have just one more week and one day to join in our art competition that we've prepared for you to mark International Children's Day. The celebrations will be taking place at Kosice Zoo on June 1st, which is when we want to get together and welcome the cute penguins for the first time. Your part in this, if you are between 8 and 15 years of age and one of your parents works for U. S. Steel Kosice, is to draw a picture of the penguin family on art paper. You can use crayons, wax crayons, or water-colors, acrylic or oil paints. Better leave the felt pens aside this time, though. Send your pictures to this address: Projects Management, Public Affairs, U. S. Steel Kosice Public Access Area, 044 54 Kosice, or bring them personally to the Public Affairs building, room no. 205 upstairs, by Thursday, April 17th 2008 at the latest. The best-looking picture will be used as the theme of our campaign for this year's Children's Day, and the winner will egt a great gift from us. So let's get drawing!