The first smelt in blast furnace ¹ 1 went down in history as a count off point for many generations of workers of Zaporizhstal. This event took place on November 16, 1933. Blast furnace ¹ 1 has worked without major overhaul for 7 years, having smelted during this period more than two millions tons of pig-iron. This was a sensation in the world of metallurgy. Blast furnace ¹ 2 in the pre-war years was reequipped to smelt high alumina slag, a product for the production of aluminium, that yet was not in practice in domestic metallurgy. A significant event was the construction (in the shortest terms, only in two years!) of the most powerful furnace ¹ 3 with useful volume of 1300m3. Blast furnace ¹ 3 was blown in on May 1, 1938. Senior furnace attendant, Melnick, deputy chief of the shop, Belan, senior foreman, Kopytenko, foremen, Evdokimov and Podolyakin, took part in the preparation and commissioning of the furnace. One of the designers of the furnace, “Gipromez” engineer, Ramm, wrote, that the useful volume of blast furnace ¹ 3 exceeds the largest furnaces of the USA working at that time by 5-10 %. Besides, it was marked that in contrast to the first furnaces, blast furnace ¹ 3 is equipped with domestic equipment.   The collective of Zaporizhstal workers acted as the initiator of the All-Union Competition among the teams operating the most powerful furnaces. One of the best collectives was Afanasiy Galushka?s komsomol-youth team. A year after commissioning blast furnace ¹ 3 daily smelted 1975 tons, which exceeded the designed capacity of the unit. And as a matter of fact, the new world record was established.
During the war the blast furnace shop was destroyed by the retreating German troops.
On May 29, 1947, the restored blast furnace ¹ 3 started operating.
In July 1952 blast furnace ¹ 5 with volume 1410 m3 was put into operation. In 1958 blast furnace ¹ 4 was reconstructed with increase of its volume up to 1513 m3. The cost price of smelt pig-iron had been managed to be reduced essentially. It was then that foreman Tsipko received the title "Hero of Socialist Labour ". On June 18, 1958 natural gas was supplied to blast furnace ¹ 1 which allowed to save thousands of tons of coal. Success of the blast furnace shop collective was marked by the inter-factory all-union school of blast-furnace operators. The factory manager, L.D. Yupko, and the Chief of the Blast Furnace Shop, B.L. Tavrog, became winners of the Lenin Prize. Since 1959 Zaporizhstal blast-furnace operators began smelting ferromanganese. The same year blast furnace ¹ 2 with increase of its volume from 960 up to 1513 m3 was reconstructed. In April 1965, after major overhaul of blast furnace ¹ 4, its capacity increased almost one third.  In October 1971 blast furnace ¹ 3 with increase in volume from 1300m3 up to 1513 m3 was reconstructed. The same year senior furnace attendant, I.I. Smishko, became the Hero of Socialist Labour.
In 1978 the collective of blast furnace ¹ 2 becomes the winner of republican competitions. Besides, on September 26 the second furnace produced 100-million tons of pig-iron. The jubilee smelt was performed by the team headed by I.V. Kuzmenko. In 1988 blast furnace ¹ 5 was reconstructed with increase in volume up to 1513 m3 and the bellless charging device, aspiration and dust suppression units were installed. In May 2000 blast furnace ¹ 3 started operating after reconstruction, with a fully automated control system, with the only existing in Ukraine covered foundry casting yard and powerful aspiration installation.  
Today the blast furnace shop is working with high stability, low level of breakdowns and idle time. | 
