UC RUSAL announced a marked increase in output from its ARMENAL foil mill, Armenia. In June the foil mill produced nearly 2,500 tonnes of foil, a 12% improvement on its nominal design capacity taking ARMENAL’s half year production to over 10,000 tonnes.

ARMENAL reported a 77% production increase from January to June 2009 compared to H1 2008 and said that it expected to see its output double by the end of this year.

ARMENAL, in parallel with the expansion of output was making improvements in practically every technical and economic indicator including a 60% reduction in production costs and minimization of the rate of rejects due to production defects.

Mr Sergey Borovik MD of ARMENAL said that “The keys to success for ARMENAL’s workers were reduced material consumption rates, firmer process discipline and a comprehensive program implemented to reduce costs and raise the yield ratio.” He said that “The yield ratio more than doubled in only 12 months to 72.4% and we are set to improve that important performance indicator to 75%.”

ARMENAL has enough orders on hand to keep the foil mill running until the end of this year. Its products are mainly exported to the US with the Middle East becoming a rapidly growing market for them.