Kola MMC, Monchegorsk, Russia:

D. O. Sannikov, Director of the Innovation and Digital Technology Department, e-mail: Digital@kolagmk.ru
I. V. Orlov, Senior Manager at the Innovation and Digital Technology Department
A. V. Berveno, Chief Manager at the Innovation and Digital Technology Department
A. I. Gavrilov, Chief Manager at the Innovation and Digital Technology Department, Candidate of Chemical Sciences

This paper demonstrates that modernization and adoption of innovative technology, equipment and materials do influence the competitiveness of metals producers, make a significant contribution to the assortment of final products, help reduce the amount of generated waste by processing it into valuable products and raise the recovery of valuable components from ore. Considering the current policy of import substitution, such approach plays an important role for Russian production companies. The paper looks at the Kola MMC and the company’s effort to find the most innovative technology, equipment and materials that are at different stages of development – from actual developments to patented and certified solutions, prototypes and commercial products, which can be used for process optimization and reducing the cost of consumables or reagents. The paper explains why the company focuses on certain areas when searching new technology. This includes the technology that enables to produce new materials with high added value from the company’s raw material, recycle industrial waste thus minimizing the environmental impact; the technology and equipment for production process optimization, new data analysis techniques and process optimization on the basis of automatic decision making algorithms. Thanks to the proven mechanism of searching and analyzing projects and techniques established in the period of 2022–2023, the company managed to identify and build up a pool of innovative projects that rely on novel technology. The company has been engaged in research and development and trial work in order to adopt them in the future, while also utilizing patented and certified solutions.

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