Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk, Russia - Five soccer players made of stainless steel are now greeting visitors to the Central Stadium in Yekaterinburg, one of the sites of the Soccer World Cup in 2018. The group of 4-meter-tall sculptures in the stadium's entrance was designed by the Regional Center of Sheet Processing (CJSC), in cooperation with the German-Russian laser center, Ural Laser Innovation Technology Center (LITC).
The soccer player statues were made using laser cutting and laser welding with modern laser technology from one of the industrial partners, Trumpf, based in Ditzigen.
The Ural LITC is one of five Russian centers for testing, consulting, and training that were set up within the framework of a project sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), under the project leadership of the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH). The main goal of the centers is to help and support regional companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, in using and setting up laser-based production processes.
All this can take place based on consulting for all questions dealing with industrial laser applications, process testing for concrete products, and training and education of specialists and students.
The Soccer World Cup monument shows that the German-Russian laser centers are becoming more established and that cooperation with regional companies is successful.
LZH carries out research and development in the field of laser technology and is supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Transport of the State of Lower Saxony (Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Arbeit und Verkehr).