KRAZ

Kremenchug Automobile Plant (KrAZ) (ukr. Kremenchuk Automobile Plant) is a Soviet and Ukrainian manufacturer of civil and special-purpose trucks and a supplier of spare parts for them, as well as trailers and semi-trailers.

Currently, the plant is the property of the Public Joint Stock Company "AvtoKrAZ", which was created on its basis, and in turn is the industrial wing of the financial and industrial group "Finance and Credit".

Story

1945-1958

After the end of the Great Patriotic War, in May 1945, a team of Glavmoststroy specialists arrived in Kremenchug to determine the site for the construction of departmental facilities. After the completion of the work, the People's Commissariat of Railways of the USSR issued Order No. 831 / Ts of August 31, 1945 on the construction in Kremenchug of a mechanical plant, a plant of bridge structures and a rolling base of Glavmoststroy (which were later merged into one enterprise - the Kremenchug Bridge Plant).

In 1946, the first brick was laid in the foundation of the bridge plant. Over the next 8 years, the plant manufactured about 600 bridges with a total length of about 27 km, installed on the rivers Dnieper, Moscow, Dniester, Volga, Daugava and others.

In the summer of 1956, the Kremenchug Bridge Plant was reorganized into the Kremenchug Combine Plant and began producing corn harvesters and other agricultural machines. In the two years of its existence, it has produced 14,061 KU-2A corn harvesters, 5,285 beet loaders, 4,150 beet break trucks, 50 beet pilers, 329 corn cob cleaners, 874 road rollers, and 24,612 tractor wheels.

1959-1991

KrAZ-219

On April 17, 1958, by the Decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR, a decision was made to establish a plant for the manufacture of heavy vehicles on the basis of a combine plant operating in Kremenchug. To organize automobile production, 318 specialists from other automobile plants of the USSR were sent to the plant, another 130 workers of the plant were sent for internships at automobile plants, and over two thousand workers were trained at the plant. The production of heavy trucks based on the YaAZ-210 was transferred from the Yaroslavl Automobile Plant. In 1959, the production of components and parts for automotive vehicles began, in March 1959 the plant began to manufacture frames.

On April 10, 1959, the production of the first two KrAZ-222 dump trucks was completed; by the end of 1959, the plant mastered mass production of KrAZ-214, KrAZ-219 and KrAZ-222. In addition, by November 7, 1960, two experimental KrAZ-214s with a body tipping on both sides were manufactured.

In 1960, I. M. Prikhodko became the director of the plant, in 1960-1961. simultaneously with the expansion of production, complex mechanization and automation of production processes was accelerated (until August 1961, 89 modular machines, 62 automatic machines and 70 high-speed clamping devices were installed and put into operation).

In 1961, the plant exported more than 500 cars to 26 countries, including Argentina, Afghanistan, Bulgaria, China, India, Vietnam and others.

In 1961-1964. more than 80 advanced technological processes were introduced at the plant (including the finishing of parts by plastic deformation and electrochemical metal processing) [8]. In 1962, the SKB-2 design bureau for the design of military equipment was created at the plant (in the same year, the SKB-2 cabover 8-ton truck KrAZ-253B and the KrAZ-259B truck tractor unified with it were created, but they remained prototypes ).

In 1963, the plant replaced the electrical equipment on manufactured vehicles (12-volt electrical equipment was replaced by 24-volt). In 1965, the plant began production of the KrAZ-257 flatbed truck, in 1966 - the 12-ton KrAZ-256B dump truck and the modernized KrAZ-258 truck tractor [12].

KrAZ-255 - airfield tractor

On December 30, 1968, the plant produced the 100,000th car. In 1970, the production capacity of the plant was increased: on January 7, 1970, a new workshop with an area of ​​21.5 thousand m² was put into operation.

On January 22, 1971, the plant was awarded the Order of Lenin (for the early implementation of the 8th five-year plan and the successful development of new models of trucks). In 1972, the plant mass-produced six models of trucks (KrAZ-255B, KrAZ-255V, KrAZ-255L, KrAZ-256B, KrAZ-257B, KrAZ-258).

In the mid-1970s, all cars manufactured by the plant were equipped with a new two-wire brake system. In 1975, the plant completed the implementation of an integrated product quality management system, after which the resource of manufactured cars increased.

On January 15, 1976, by order No. 17 of the USSR Ministry of the Automotive Industry, the AvtoKrAZ production association was created (which included the Kremenchug Automobile Plant and five more specialized plants) .

On May 11, 1976, M. G. Pogostinsky was appointed General Director of the Kremenchug Association for the Production of Heavy Vehicles (AvtoKrAZ).

As a result of the use of computers for calculating the design of manufactured vehicles, the development of new technologies for metal welding and the introduction of progressive methods into production, by 1978 a single set of cab frame was introduced (on the basis of which all versions of their execution were made), the range of parts produced was reduced.