Uralvagonzavod is a unique machine building plant, one of the largest in Russia and the world in terms of both production and premises. It turns out more than 200 types of products.
Construction began on the plant in 1931 as part of the Ural-Kuzbass iron and steel development. On October 11, 1936, the first heavy freight wagons rolled off its conveyor line. Uralvagonzavod produced over 35,000 wagons before the Great Patriotic War. This was double the total output of all the Soviet Union's wagon-building plants during the first and second Five-Year Plans.
At that time the plant was unmatched in the Soviet Union in terms of production volume, product range and technology, and it boasted extensive energy, metals and production facilities.
As the Great Patriotic War began, the State Defence Committee decided to merge Uralvagonzavod with 12 other enterprises that had been moved away from the western and central areas of the country, forming Ural Tank Plant No. 183. It took the new plant two months to begin producing war equipment. One in two T-34 tanks that fought on the Soviet-German front was produced by Ural Tank Plant No. 183. In total the plant turned out 25,000 combat vehicles during the war. This is more than the entire output of all Germany's factories. No other tank plant in the Soviet Union, or indeed in the world, matched this capacity. The T-34 tank was the best tank used in the Second World War.
In the period 1941-1945, the plant also produced body armour for 4,000 warplanes, large numbers of air bombs and projectiles for Katyusha multiple rocket launchers, and over 50,000 artillery shells.
The Soviet and Russian tank design school, which originated the T-34, grew and developed at Uralvagonzavod. All post-war models, from the T-44 to the T-62, incorporated the best fighting qualities of the T-34. The T-72, now the main fighting vehicle in many countries and the most common tank, combines firepower, armour and manoeuvrability. It too was developed and put into mass production at Uralvagonzavod.
A new Russian tank, the T-90 main battle tank, with its explosive reactive armour and an optoelectronic enemy fire suppression system, is not merely as good as the best tanks in other countries, but even more advanced in many ways.
Ural tank designers have even gone one better, producing an engineer vehicle that can be used not only for military, but also for civilian purposes: it can help deal with the aftermath of man-made accidents or natural disasters such as earthquakes.
Catering to domestic demand, Uralvagonzavod has developed and is mass producing road building and communal construction equipment: hydraulically-operated fully-slewing all-purpose excavators on wheeled and tracked mounts, excavators for utilities, and all-purpose compact loaders with mounted attachments. They are robust, mobile, efficient and offer good value for money.
Uralvagonzavod has also developed and is mass producing the RTM-160 all-purpose tractor-cultivator. The tractor has four power take-offs and makes it possible to apply advanced technology in farming.
Uralvagonzavod is Russia's largest producer of freight wagons, gondola cars, freight bogies and tank containers. It has to date produced over 900,000 units of rolling stock. If they were lined up back-to-back, they would stretch from Moscow to Vladivostok. In 2008, the plant accounted for 42% of the Russian and CIS market of freight gondola wagons. Its strategic partners are Russia's largest rail freight shipping companies: Russian Railways and First Freight Company.
Uralvagonzavod has likewise designed and produced equipment for launching artificial Earth satellites and manned orbiting craft. It has been part of the space effort for over fifty years.
It is also a centre for scientific research, including: the Ural Wagon Design Bureau, the Ural Transport Machine Building Bureau, the Ural Research and Technology Centre, the Materials Research and Test Centre, in addition to other R & D units. The technology supply chain involves the production of metals, wagons, tools and equipment to forge and stamp blanks, perform heat-treatment and machining operations, and the assembly and testing of finished products.
In 2007, following a presidential decree, Uralvagonzavod was put at the head of an integrated structure incorporating 16 industrial plants, research institutes and design bureaus from five Russian federal districts.
The corporation cooperates with leading Russian and international equipment manufacturers. Every year it invests between one and a half and two billion roubles of its own and borrowed capital in production upgrades.
In 2009, private rail freight shipping companies were the principal customers for rail equipment. During the same period Uralvagonzavod and Transneft set up a joint venture to transport oil through the Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean pipeline, and agreed to establish a joint venture with Kazakhstan Temir Zholy to build freight rolling stock. These projects provide the corporation with orders for gondola wagons and tank cars.
Work continues on the development of state-of-the-art rolling stock with increased carrying capacity and speed that is both cost effective and safe. In 2008, Uralvagonzavod became the first in Russia to develop and begin mass production of new gondola wagons, model 12-196-01, for Russian Railways, which have a 25 tonne axle load. Wagons with a 27 tonne axle load are in development, undergoing tests.
Oleg Sienko has been director of Uralvagonzavod since April 16, 2009.