The mining and metallurgical group Metinvest is transforming its business processes with artificial intelligence (AI) through automation, the use of drones, and the application of these tools in the financial sector.
“In 2020, we were able to automate about 70% of our processes, with 30% remaining inaccessible due to technological limitations. Today, this figure has risen to 95%. This opens up completely new opportunities, and we are actively moving in this direction,” said Anton Ishchenko, head of the R&D product development team at Metinvest Digital, at the 13th Annual Forum of Financial Directors of Ukraine in Kyiv.
According to him, in five years of working with intelligent process automation, more than 500 solutions based on various technologies have been implemented, which has made it possible to automate about 200,000 hours of work, equivalent to approximately 100 full-time employees.
He noted that modern intelligent automation at Metinvest is based on a combination of RPA (routine operation robotization), low-code platforms (rapid solution development without complex coding), Process and Task Mining (process analysis to identify inefficiencies), and AI (automation of complex tasks and real-time data processing).
One of the main innovations is the active involvement of employees in the automation process. At Metinvest, employees independently record their business processes and work activities using Task Mining, Power Automate, and SAP Scripts. This allows for the formation of high-quality and structured automation requirements from the ground up, reduces the workload on business analysts, and speeds up the transition from idea to finished solution. The collected data and processes are analyzed automatically using AI and then quickly transformed into working automated scenarios. As a result, the time and resources spent on development and implementation are reduced by tens of percent. In the context of limited business budgets, this approach has become extremely important, emphasized Ishchenko.
The result of this practice is the creation of the Application Warehouse corporate platform, a centralized repository of universal applications for automating typical business processes in various departments of the company. This significantly increases the availability of digital tools: new solutions are quickly implemented, distributed among employees, and do not need to be developed from scratch for each task. Currently, about a thousand employees use the platform.
“We continue to invest in research and development to create business value and remain among the leaders in digital transformation,” Ishchenko concluded.
In turn, the group’s CFO, Yulia Dankova, pointed to the comprehensive implementation of computer vision and intelligent document processing technologies in the company’s financial and production processes. According to her, modern solutions based on Computer Vision enable instant reading, analysis, and classification of documents from various sources, from scanners to corporate mail, without the need for prior training.
Since 2023, Metinvest has been using its own intelligent document processing system, myOCR. The platform, which processes up to 40,000 pages of documents per month, including confidential ones, has been implemented at seven large enterprises of the group. It saves about 20,000 hours of working time per year and is integrated with a universal translator from foreign languages into Ukrainian. It contains modules for identifying stamps, signatures, contextual analysis, document classification, data verification, and extraction. At its core are advanced AI models.
“For example, a company is importing goods from an Italian factory. The automated process receives a package of documents in Italian and English, compares them with the accounting system data, generates an authentic translation into Ukrainian, adds it to the package, and transfers it to the electronic document storage system. For financial departments, this has been a real breakthrough in the speed and convenience of document flow,” said the CFO.
The CFO added that the company has implemented a unified solution for SPAIS computer vision systems. This system helps to identify safety violations in production, such as employees being in hazardous areas or without personal protective equipment. When a violation is detected, the program signals it and stores the data in the appropriate systems. This solution is already being used at several Ukrainian enterprises of the group. SPAIS also helps detect damage at Metinvest’s production facilities using drones.
Another solution from the family of computer vision systems at Metinvest enterprises, which has undergone pilot testing and is being implemented for industrial use, is automatic slab quality control.
Dankova emphasized that the group’s assets operate exclusively on proven, uncompromised licensed systems. Microsoft solutions and in-house developments based on the Microsoft technology stack are recognized as priority technologies in this area.
Metinvest Group and the Kamyanske City Council have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in the field of socio-economic development. This year, the company will invest UAH 70 million in the implementation of projects that are important to the community.
According to a press release, the funds will be used to renovate hospitals No. 9 and No. 7, the emergency hospital, and the primary health care center No. 3. In addition, the community will receive five new trams. This will allow for the renewal of the tram fleet and make travel around the city more comfortable.
Metinvest, as part of Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front, is focused on helping our indomitable military. At the same time, the Group continues to care for the peaceful residents of the cities where its enterprises operate. Our ongoing cooperation with the mayor of Kamensk has already become a good tradition, as evidenced by numerous successfully implemented initiatives. This year, we are expanding the horizons of our cooperation by initiating even more joint projects aimed at developing urban infrastructure, supporting social programs, and improving the quality of life of the community,” said Alexander Mironenko, Chief Operating Officer of the Group.
Mayor of Kamenskoye Andrey Belousov emphasized the importance of such cooperation between business and local authorities in wartime.
Last year, Metinvest invested UAH 50 million in modernizing the medical infrastructure of Kamensk.
The Kametstal plant, part of the Metinvest mining and metallurgical group (Kamensk, Dnipropetrovsk region), has begun work on upgrading its main steelmaking equipment at one of its key facilities, converter No. 1, as part of this year’s capital repair program.
According to a press release on Monday, this year the company’s primary focus is on upgrading its power equipment, primarily the converter’s gas extraction system, where a significant portion of the equipment will be replaced with new equipment, including bellows and auxiliary caissons. The stator and rotor of the electric motor of the smoke gas blower of the gas extraction system will also be replaced.
Repairs to the converter housing have already been completed. One of the important stages of the overhaul is the complete replacement of the converter’s refractory lining. The old refractories have already been dismantled.
According to Andriy Zuev, Deputy Head of Engineering at Kametstal’s converter shop, the comprehensive tasks of all converter shop departments, as well as the Central Repair and Maintenance Department and the Central Repair Department, include not only the renovation of key equipment of the first converter, but also a thorough overhaul and repair of all infrastructure facilities of the unit: oxygen supply machines, vertical feeders for bulk materials, circulation pump units, special rolling stock – slag cars, steel cars, etc.
“Each of these facilities is undergoing mechanical, energy, and electrical repairs, which will ensure the reliable and efficient operation of converter No. 1 after the completion of the overhaul,” he said.
Kametstal is part of the Metinvest Group.
In January-March 2025, Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group, including its associates and joint ventures, increased its payments to the budgets of all levels in Ukraine by 4% compared to the same period in 2024, to UAH 4.4 billion.
According to the company’s press release on Thursday, the top three largest payments were subsoil use fees (UAH 1.2 billion), a single social contribution (UAH 846 million), and personal income tax (UAH 751 million).
In addition, in January-March 2025, Metinvest’s Ukrainian enterprises paid UAH 365 million in income tax and UAH 166 million in environmental tax. At the same time, land payments increased by 9% year-on-year to UAH 339 million, and military duty more than tripled to UAH 214 million.
“When every hryvnia is important for the front and the rear, responsible business becomes a real pillar of the country. Taxes are not just numbers, but real resources for the army, healthcare and social programs. Stable deductions, assistance to the Armed Forces, steel production for the front line, and humanitarian projects are our contribution to the country’s resilience. We will continue to work to support the state now and build its future together,” said Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of the group.
As reported earlier, in 2024, Metinvest paid UAH 19.8 billion in taxes and fees to the budgets of all levels in Ukraine.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies. Its businesses are located in Ukraine, in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro regions, as well as in the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The main shareholders of the holding are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%). Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Company has promptly adapted its production processes to the war conditions, making railways and ports in Romania and Poland the main transportation channels, Metinvest Group CEO Yuriy Ryzhenkov said as quoted by a corporate publication.
He added that after the opening of the sea corridor from Odesa ports, the company began to use this opportunity as well.
Ryzhenkov emphasized that despite the challenges of the war, Metinvest has the status of the largest exporter. Thus, in 2024, the total volume of exports and sales of iron ore raw materials amounted to more than 12 million tons.
“We have fully returned to our operational efficiency improvement program. For example, we have reconfigured business processes to use our own raw materials. And by most indicators – namely technical, technological and production – we have returned to the best results of 2020-2021. We have significantly reduced production costs, and despite the fall in prices in 2024, our results for the first half of the year exceeded those of the first half of 2023,” Ryzhenkov stated.
Today, the company’s assets in Kryvyi Rih, Zaporizhzhia and Kamianske continue to operate. In 2024, the group’s production increased in several categories: iron ore by 42%, pig iron by 3%, and steel by 4%.
At the same time, it is emphasized that Metinvest remains a socially responsible business. Over the three years of the war, the company has allocated more than UAH 8.4 billion to help Ukraine, of which UAH 4.4 billion went to support the defenders of Ukraine under the Steel Front project. The main areas of focus include providing the army with equipment, ammunition and machinery, developing tactical medicine and creating defense lines.
In addition to military needs, Metinvest is involved in supporting humanitarian missions, helping hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians affected by the war. About 516,000 civilians have already received support under the Saving Lives initiative. With more than 50,000 active employees, the company ensures decent working conditions and takes care of its employees and their families, providing financial, psychological and other assistance as needed. The company employs more than 1,000 veterans, and it also implements programs for their adaptation to civilian life.
It is noted that last year Metinvest paid almost UAH 20 billion in taxes, making it one of the largest taxpayers in the country.
A separate emphasis is placed on the prospect of post-war recovery. The CEO outlined the company’s main ambition as turning it into one of the world’s leaders in green steel production that meets modern environmental standards. The first step towards this goal is the construction of a green steel plant in Italy. The project will serve as an example for the future modernization of Zaporizhstal and Kametstal.
“We have an $8 billion strategy for the green modernization of Ukrainian enterprises for 7-10 years. We are ready to launch this strategy as soon as the war is over and Ukraine receives security guarantees,” Ryzhenkov said.
Despite the war, Metinvest continues to invest in Ukrainian facilities: in 2024, the total investment reached $670 million. In 2025, the company also plans to invest billions of dollars in the development of production facilities in Kryvyi Rih, Kamianske and Zaporizhzhia.
At the same time, the group is actively preparing for Ukraine’s large-scale recovery after the war. The Group plans to participate in large infrastructure and industrial projects that will not only help rebuild destroyed housing and social infrastructure but also ensure their modernization.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies. Its enterprises are located in Ukraine – in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro regions, as well as in Europe and the United States.
The main shareholders of the holding are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage it. Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group supplies steel products and cooperates with Italian shipbuilder T. Mariotti and steel construction manufacturer Cimolai. Mariotti and steel construction manufacturer Cimolai.
According to Metinvest, two twin ships – polar class expedition ships Seabourn Venture and Seabourn Pursuit – were built from Metinvest Trametal (Italy) steel for Seabourn Cruise Line.
It is specified that 10 thousand tons of Metinvest Trametal hot-rolled sheet were used for construction of Seabourn Venture and Seabourn Pursuit.
Seabourn Venture and Seabourn Pursuit are compact cruise ships with reinforced hull, which allows them to make voyages to the Arctic and Antarctic in the fall and summer seasons. They are equipped with modern equipment and technology, and each ship has two submarines on board. The ships are 172 meters long and 24 meters wide. They can accommodate 260 passengers and 120 crew members in 132 cabins.
Each ship has 10 decks, 8 of which are with passenger access.
It is also noted that the companies T. Mariotti and Cimolai have been cooperating with Metinvest for a long time.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of mining and metallurgical enterprises. The group’s enterprises are located primarily in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Dnipropetrovsk regions. The group has three rolling mills in Western Europe – Ferriera Valsider (Verona) and Metinvest Trametal (San Giorgio di Nogaro) in Italy and Spartan in the UK, as well as Promet Steel in Bulgaria.
The main shareholders of the holding are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage it. Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
