The open joint-stock company Guryevsky Metallurgical Plant is the oldest enterprise in Kuzbass. The GMZ has become a locomotive for the development of industry in the Kemerovo region and southern Siberia as a whole. Today, the company produces rolled products, channels, angles, profiles, balls for various purposes.
Historical meaning
The most developed region of Siberia in industrial terms is the Kemerovo region. Southern Siberia has traditionally been known in Moscow as a local center for ironworks. The formation of the metallurgical industry in the region is associated with enterprises built in the 18th-19th centuries, one of which is the Guryev Metallurgical Plant.
GMZ is a city-forming enterprise. Originally, silver was smelted here, but in 1844 it was transformed into a center of ferrous metallurgy and continues to operate to this day. Production became the basis for the metallurgical giant of the 20th century - the Kuznetsk Metallurgical Plant (KMK).
Creature
The Guryev Metallurgical Plant (GMZ) was built in one season and launched in 1816 as a silver and copper smelter for the processing of Salair ore. Over a month and a half of work in four furnaces of the plant, about 50,000 pounds of ore were smelted, from which more than 10 pounds of enriched silver concentrate were obtained. In 1817, six more smelting furnaces were put into operation, and in 1818 more than 1 million pounds of ore were smelted at the plant, from which 200 pounds of silver were smelted.
Reprofiling
With the development of the region’s economy, the emergence of the gold industry in the Salair region and the development of coal deposits, the chief designer of the plant, P. M. Zalesov, proposed, in addition to silver-smelting devices, the construction of a blast furnace and ironmaking furnace. In 1826, the first blast furnace was launched, and soon an ironworks was built at the plant. Since that time, the Guryev Metallurgical Plant has changed its profile.
Gradually, ironmaking becomes the main one. At the beginning of 1840, the iron smelting department finally replaced the silver smelter, and in 1844 the enterprise began to function as a ferrous metallurgy plant. Products of Guryev’s metallurgists from damask steel were presented at the international exhibition of 1851, held in London, where they won silver medals.
Locomotive of the economy
The Guryev Metallurgical Plant stood at the origins of metallurgy and machine building in Western Siberia. In 1860, a mechanical factory (which became the first beyond the Urals) started operating within the walls of the enterprise. It consisted of five workshops: assembly, forging, boiler equipment, foundry, model. The newly formed factory specialized in the assembly of steam engines, tools and tools for mining. The Guryevsky plant was the only ferrous metallurgy production east of the Ob. He supplied products for agriculture and industry throughout the region.
Guryevsky Metallurgical Plant: Bankruptcy
After laying the Siberian Railway at the end of the 19th century, it became difficult for Guryevsky Plant products to compete with incoming metal from the Urals and foreign manufacturers. It was necessary to carry out reconstruction of capacities, but the authorities chose to stop production.
Iron smelting was stopped at the plant in 1907, and pig iron - in 1908. The company was mothballed and declared bankrupt. The Guryevsky plant in the spring of 1913 was transferred to the joint-stock company of the Kuzbass coal mines, which used the capacity as auxiliary. On the territory, mine boilers, pumps, steam engines were repaired, trolleys, winches for mines, steam engines, and tools were manufactured. In 1914, equipment was manufactured in the shops of the Guryevsky plant for the coke oven and chemical plant under construction in Kemerovo.
The beginning of the Soviet era
After the revolution, a radical reconstruction of the enterprise was carried out in the 1920s. In 1922 a blast furnace was put into operation, the first cast iron smelted on coal was obtained. Since 1924, open-hearth steel has been smelted, a year later the plant began to produce rolled products. Thus, GMZ became the first full-metallurgical production beyond the Urals.
In 1929, he produced 6,221 tons of cast iron, 8,629 tons of iron and steel bars, 7,940 tons of rolled metal, 7,464 tons of iron casting, 3,188 tons of refractories. The enterprise produced valuable and irreplaceable products for new industrial construction, operating enterprises throughout Siberia. First of all, these are rails, long products, angle and reinforcing iron, casting, bolts, etc. During the period from 1925 to 1940, the production of the main types of products significantly increased at the Guryev Metallurgical Plant: steel from 1168 to 35045 tons, rolled products from 1299 to 48643 tons, refractories from 3000 to 10156 tons, castings from 784 to 6605 tons.
Role in the development of metallurgy in Kuzbass
One of the most important achievements of the GMZ is its participation in the construction and initial development of the metallurgy giant, the Kuznetsk Metallurgical Plant. The Guryev Metallurgical Plant, whose activities from March 1929 to 1932 was completely devoted to Kuznetskstroy, was a support base for construction and initial development. A veteran of Siberian metallurgy provided the Kuznetsk Combine with the necessary qualified personnel, parts, and materials. In its workshops, equipment designed for KVM was tested.
Great Patriotic and post-war development
The metallurgical workers of the GMZ during the war mastered the rolling of shaped sections. The enterprise was the only supplier in the USSR of thin-walled complex rolled sections for the aircraft industry. After the end of the Second World War, the plant produced alloy steel and open-hearth steel, rolled products, spare parts for agricultural machinery, building bricks, various metal products, structures and equipment, which are so necessary for the restoration of the economy.
Production in the 60s became unprofitable due to unequal competition with KVM. In 1970, a large-scale process of reconstruction of technological facilities began. Thanks to the mechanization of the most labor-intensive operations, the administration was able to restore profitability and restore customer confidence.
New time
Since September 1993, GMZ is a joint stock company. Having become the first-born of the Siberian industry, Guryev Metallurgical Plant OJSC on the scale of Kuzbass has lost its former significance. However, for the residents of Guryevsk, the plant remains a city-forming enterprise, 1,500 people work on it. This is the fourth part of the townspeople employed in large business. The share of GMZ payments in tax revenues is more than 30% annually. In 2003, a new management company, CJSC IT Group Holding, came to the enterprise.
In the last decade, competition in the metallurgical market has increased many times. In 2008-2009 a large-scale equipment upgrade was carried out, production was modernized. In particular, the capacity of open-hearth furnace No. 1 was increased, due to which the productivity reached 110,000 tons of steel annually.
For modernization, borrowed money from lenders was attracted. However, it is not yet possible to settle debts. Despite stable operation, the plant has been on the verge of bankruptcy since 2013. In 2014, external management was introduced, and in 2016, the GMZ was declared insolvent. However, both creditors and employees of the enterprise are in favor of continuing the work of production important for the region.
Products
Today Guryev Metallurgical Plant OJSC (TIN 4204000253) produces the following types of metallurgical products:
- Steel balls of various types.
- Steel round high-quality hire.
- Round steel intended for drum mills.
- Steel square long products.
- The steel corner is equally equal.
- Steel channel.
- Asymmetrical half-bulb for shipbuilding.
- Special lightweight profile for conveyors.
- Special profile for braids.
- Profile for wagons.
GMZ (Guryev Metallurgical Plant): reviews
GMZ is the main enterprise in Guryev and the largest taxpayer in the region. Work in production is considered prestigious due to a good salary (for the region). Although financial problems prevail over the plant, the team is in favor of preserving the native enterprise. Thanks to the modernization carried out in recent years, working conditions have improved significantly.
Positive feedback is heard from the customers of the Guryevsky plant. Partners note the speed of execution of orders, decent quality and attractive prices for products. Dissatisfaction is expressed by creditors, who hoped to increase their investment. Meanwhile, they are in favor of continuing the work of the enterprise.