Nowa Huta Metallurgical Combine

(full name, V. I. Lenin Nowa Huta Metallurgical Combine), the largest metallurgical enterprise in Poland, with a complete production cycle. The combine produces cast iron, steel, rolled stock, and coke. It is located in the Nowa Huta area, within the city limits of Kraków. Construction began in 1950, and production began in 1954. During the latter year the combine was named in honor of V. I. Lenin. The USSR provided a great deal of assistance in design and construction, in the provision of high-performance equipment for the combine’s shops, and in training specialists for its operation.

As of 1973, the Nowa Huta combine had three sintering plants, a by-product coke shop with 13 coke furnace batteries, a blast-furnace shop with six blast furnaces, an open-hearth shop, a converter shop, an electrical steel-smelting shop, rolling-mill shops, and an electrical tube-welding shop. In 1973 more than 6 million tons of steel were smelted; this was more than 40 percent of the country’s total steel production. Products with the Nowa Huta trademark are exported to many countries. The establishment of the Nowa Huta combine was of great importance for Poland’s industrial development.