Standard equipment replacement will not provide for the required accuracy and speed of metallurgical positional drive systems as the requirements are exceeding. The modernization of the electric drive system must be carried out in a complex manner, with sequential partial optimization of the power elements. The paper describes the criteria and methods for selecting power elements. Each process stage was optimized according to the minimum design time criterion. The elements were selected on the basis of empirically obtained data on the technological unit, namely, the KhPT-450 mill at ChTPZ PJSC. It was revealed that changing the gear ratio of the gearbox allows improving the quality of the subordinate regulation system setting, considering the flexibility of the mechanical part of the system. An increase in the ratio of the length of the active part of the rotor to its diameter makes it possible to increase the speed of the system, and, consequently, its ac-curacy. The equipment selection outcomes were tested on a prototype at the Scientific and Technical Center “Privodnaya Tekhnika”. As a result, it was possible to reduce the duration of the technological process nearly by half.