Personnel changes
USSK General Manager Customer Technical Services Michael Rogers, who is leaving for the USA, is being replaced from February 1st onwards by Zoltan Baksay, who till now has been GM Quality. The post of GM Quality is being taken over from the same date by Kerim Cetin, currently GM Best Practices Europe, who will be replaced in this position in three months time by Andrej Kristofcik.
Euro conversion without problems
The several months of preparation at U. S. Steel Kosice for the transition to the euro culminated at the beginning of January with conversion of the principal financial and accounting system known as Financial 2000. The credit for the successful implementation of the conversion during those very busy first days of the year, as well as the planning for the transition to the euro, is shared by more than four hundred employees of the parent and subsidiary companies.
New standard ISO 9001:2008
In 2008 the quality standard ISO 9001:2000 was revised, reflecting new requirements for quality management systems. It was reissued as ISO 9001:2008, effective from November 15th 2008. Compared with the version from the year 2000, the standard ISO 9001:2008 is just an adaptation, not a fundamental reworking. Even so, within one year of the new standard being issued, all accredited certifications (both new and renewed) will have to be carried out in line with ISO 9001:2008, and 24 months after the issuing, all existing certificates in line with ISO 9001:2000 will lose their validity. This means that the current certificates will remain valid only until November 2010.
Winter Olympic Games for USSK employees
Steelmakers are preparing for the XIIIth edition of the annual U. S. Steel Kosice Winter Olympic Games. This year's events start off this Saturday, January 31st, with the ice-hockey tournament for the USSK President's Traveling Cup in the Steel Arena in Kosice. The adults' giant slalom, snowboarding and children's giant slalom competitions will be taking place on February 14th up at the Jahodna Ski Center near the city. The little ones can also look forward to their own Carnival in the Snow.
