	HOLDING COMPANY "AVTOKRAZ"	NEWS
June 19 Vehicles became more modern and complicated (Special Technique Magazine, Edition No. 3, 2007) Part I. Revitalization of production on the modern technological level ____ At the end of March 2007 the journalists from CIS countries were shown the renewed production capacities of HC AvtoKrAZ as well as facilities of KrAZ trucks in the new testing and exhibition area of the automobile plant. ____ The same day, firstly in the history of AvtoKrAZ, there was the golden symbol-prizing ceremony taken place. The well-deserved workers of the enterprise, production veterans, namely Mr. Grigory Gez, Production Engineer and Mr. Vasily Lyuty, Locksmith, were awarded with this golden symbol of the Kremenchugskiy Automobile Plant. ____ One more memorable event was a presentation of the book written by Mr. Leonid Gogolev, Mr. Vladislav Levsky and Mr. Sergey Sazonov titled as "KrAZ. Plant. People". This book was dedicated to the coming 60th anniversary of the plant. Now all admirers of the in many ways legendary products and glorious history of the enterprise were handled the succinct historical and technical monograph. It can be certainly considered as a teaching aid for young people who are only going to flow into the row of plant workers. ____ DEMAND IS NOT STILL SUPPLIED IN FULL MEASURE ____ They who have not visited the Kremenchugsky Automobile Plant for several years could hardly recognize it nowadays. No former depressed silence of desolation anymore. Building of plant administration and plant blocks are fresh painted in a white color and shine with an extreme cleanness in spring sunbeams. In workshops one can see busily running people. And the measured noise of working benches and robot welder drivers, crash of presses and screech of nut drivers can be heard in each of these show "warrens. ____ Guests were immediately shown press, welding, cabin and frame productions, and, it goes without saying, the mother conveyor. Automatic jig-borers with microplasma cutting, "Amada" sheet bending press, longitudinal beams process center, supplied by Frenchmen already in 1990, and modernized automatic half axles production line demonstrated their operational facilities in the clean workshops. Rear axles were moving in another line, being assembled from coming half axles, housings, wheel hubs, brake drums and gear casings. According to the information provided by workers of the plant axles are 80% the product of AvtoKrAZ. Rests of their prime cost make general mechanical rubber goods and roller bearings supplied by subcontractors. ____ Extension of the plant production facilities has been carried out for last years in many ways because of the implementation of automatic lines, delivered to the plant already 12-15 years ago for a further expanding of old design truck production. At the present day these lines are reconstructed and adjusted thanks to the setting of new program blocks for products manufacturing, i.e. pass transmission and other more improved units and aggregates. In addition to it there were flexible technological lines made together with business partners from Kharkov, which allow performing a changeover from one type of the manufactured products to the other one. Namely in such lines one carries out exhaust pipes welding, welding of dump platforms and processing of drum centers. ____ Robotic automation of cab welding has already excused workers from this hard and above all, detrimental to health working activity in 1989. Cabs, painted in bright colors, delight the eyes. They all have being equipped by sensitive women hands. ____ At the frame assembly women make less a half of brigade. It means the load is affecting. Mother conveyor shows a full "patriarchy". It is not the distaff to fix engine, heater and cabin to a frame and then to actuate them all, running up slowly. And that is for 4200 times during a year. Namely this quantity of trucks are planned to be produced this year. Only 1200 units of them will remain in Ukraine. However even nowadays the demand on approximate 50 trucks/a month is not still supplied. And the data planned are expected to be likely much more higher. (In 2005 there have been 3600 trucks sold where 650 KrAZ units, i.e. 18, 6%, have been left in the country of manufacturing. In 2006 there have been 4008 units sold, where 1141 trucks or 28, 47%, i.e. one-third, have been preferred by local customers). ____ And it is really the interesting question why we are speaking only about 4200 vehicles, if in the past, before collapse of the big country, the plant has produced minimum 30 thousands of trucks? The truth is that while plant workshops were staying idle, vehicles became another design, more complicated and improved. Many former admirers of KrAZ trucks successfully use the products of other brands - new models of heavy trucks manufactured by MAZ and KAMAZ as well as the used vehicles of western manufacturers. And at once all giant production facilities of AvtoKrAZ have appeared to be cumbrous, non liquid assets intended for production of old style trucks, namely those vehicles which have being purchased today only in the countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America and which the Ministry of Defense agrees to use, to say more clearly, to store in case of them to be involved in combat activities or used in any other emergency circumstances ____ In this case the reconstruction of production is closely connected here with its technological rearmament and renovation carried out practically for the whole model range last year. We have agreed the following data as orienting points of production: in the midterm perspective it makes 7 - 8 thousands trucks a year and the long term perspective is up to 10 thousands vehicles where at about 2,5 thousands truck units are planned to be sold in the territory of Ukraine. ____ Besides after objective estimating of situation the plant came to the conclusion that output of some types of production was forever lost for it. Other manufacturers left the enterprise far behind. In particular it refers to the manufacture of long-haul fifth wheel tractors. Therefore all forces and activities were decided to be focused on improvement of technical specifications of such types of vehicles which have a good perspective in the traditional sales markets. ____ FOR ROADS WITH MINIMAL PAVING ____ Among achievements of the recent year the plant management stressed the bringing up to the maintenance the KrAZ 6140 TE fifth-wheel tractor (400 h.p.; 6x6; 11,6 tones) intended for transportation of long oversize cargo by semi trailer with a full mass up to 70 tones on unpaved roads and on rods with minimal paving. Moreover rear wheels of fifth-wheel tractor can be of single or double-tire variants that remarkably change the consumer properties of a truck. And such heavy loads on wheels are possible thanks to applying the special tire models produced by the Michelin French Company. Though the plant studies the variants of using cheaper development of Belarusian tire manufacturers, i.e. "Bel-95" tires as well as other acceptable tire models without changing the hub size and configuration, applying to the business partners from Russia. ____ It is to be mentioned the bolster of Georg Fisher with 100 mm pin can bear the load up to 20 tones and it has three degrees of freedom. Using it the KrAZ 6140TE can tow practically any semi trailer, including heavy weight semi trailers manufactured in Cheliabinks, which are very popular in West Siberia. ____ Manufacturers from Kremenchug also have bright perspectives as to the using the KrAZ 7140N6 (400 h.p.; 8x6: 12 tones) with load carrying capacity up to 25,3 tones in the oil and gas complex. This truck is considered to be a severe rival for the similar BAZ, MZKT and KZKT vehicles. And there is the Certificate of Conformity already obtained for the present model, possessing such towing capacity, load carrying capacity and cross country ability, which correspond almost in a full volume to the automobile chassis with wheel arrangement of 8x8. It is enough to say that the KrAZ 7140N6 is able to storm slopes of 29 degrees (up to 58%). And the question is not only in power device but in some reduction of weight for a structure because it appears to be no need to distribute towing power on front axle. ____ Besides this four-axle truck is designed for dump equipping. Herewith the operation of the mentioned vehicle is expected to be more effective than the operation of the all-wheel drive three-axle dump truck. ____ And then chassis with wheel arrangement of 8x8, 10x8 (KrAZ 8140N8; load carrying capacity - 32 tones), 10x10 and 12x8 will leave the plant territory. It means there will be the full-scale penetration in the zone of interests of Minsky and Kurgansky Wheel Truck Tractor Plants as well as of Bryansky Automobile Plant. And these super KrAZ vehicles will be primarily intended for fitting with special equipment which is extremely requested by the oil and gas industry and by other spheres of national economy in many countries. ____ While designing a dump truck on the KrAZ 7140N6 chassis, the designers of the plant came to the conclusion that the mentioned vehicle should be equipped with rear driven axle. It is required to have the hard mechanical linking with steering. Though the flexible hydraulic linking, which has already being used in Western Europe, could simplify the steering system. And the reliability of modern hydraulic drive is much higher than it was earlier, in the days of designing the above mentioned standards. ____ The plant states the KrAZ 7133N4 (8x4) truck with dump platform of 14, 16 and 20 m3 in volume faced the absolute success in building areas, especially by transporting blocks of the broken up constructions, different kinds of garbage, which are the subject to reprocessing, as well as in agriculture, for instance, at carriage of beet-roots from fields. The 20-cubic platform named as "beet-root carrier" was also installed on the three-axle model of KrAZ. And it is well known why. The four-axle dump truck with wheel arrangement of 8x4 and double tire for rear wheels possesses one of the most economic relation of costs for transportation of cargo unit, i.e. such maximal values of "tonne-kilometer". Also the production of such vehicle doesn't imply a sudden increase of prime cost. ____ New direction for AvtoKrAZ is considered to be the commissioning of dump trucks with three-way tipping body and two-way tipping trailer. Starting from manufacturing the KrAZ 6424S4+A201S2 unit (15,3+15,3/11 + 11 m3) with such tipping specifications, the plant has been gradually implementing the side tipping for more and more numbers of other models of its trucks. In fact this truck train can be profitably used not only in agricultural complex but also by transporting mining and non mining materials, different dam dumping, damping of highway grounds and others. Namely therefore the KrAZ 65055, basic model of the AvtoKrAZ mother's conveyor was provided with two modifications with side tipping: complete set 066 with three-way tipping (15,5 m3; load carrying capacity - 18 tones) and 065 with two-way tipping (13,5 m3; load carrying capacity - 16 tones). And the last variant is intended for those, who are going to use the present dump truck together with dump trailer as the complete unit. ____ It is to be pointed that the base for such dump bodies is also the KrAZ 65032 (6x6) all wheel drive truck, which is considered to be the extremely popular model in mining and extracting industries. The vehicles of such kind are successfully operated in mining-and-processing integrated works of Dneprodzerzhinsk, Inguletsk, Poltava and others. The interest expressed by consumers to side tipping resulted in development of corresponding body production of bodies from 9 up to 16 m3 for three-axle vehicles and 12 m3 - for four-axle trucks. ____ The important milestone for the plant is considered to be the beginning of cooperation with the Schmidt German Company in the sphere of designing the KrAZ 6510DM (6x4) combined road truck. It, in a fully equipped state, is intended as for snow removing from roads, so as for covering the paving with hard or liquid chemical substance preventing from road snow ice layer. Dismounting of the present additional construction takes less than one hour. After that a combined road vehicle turned into simple dump truck intended for transportation of bulk and loose loads. More than 50 units of such combined road vehicles, which had showed their advantages in maintenance last winter, were manufactured and delivered to the Ukrainian region road institutions. The next step of further cooperation with this company will be the installation of complexes for patching of roads and highways on KrAZ trucks. It is found that the patching of paved roads also takes place in the streets of western countries, though the scale of it is not so large as in CIS countries. ____ (To be continued) ____ VLADIMIR VDOVENKO
© HC "AvtoKrAZ" In case of information use reference on www.autokraz.com.ua is obligatory

HOLDING COMPANY "AVTOKRAZ"

NEWS

June 19

Vehicles became more modern and complicated (Special Technique Magazine, Edition No. 3, 2007)

Part I. Revitalization of production on the modern technological level
____ At the end of March 2007 the journalists from CIS countries were shown the renewed production capacities of HC AvtoKrAZ as well as facilities of KrAZ trucks in the new testing and exhibition area of the automobile plant.
____ The same day, firstly in the history of AvtoKrAZ, there was the golden symbol-prizing ceremony taken place. The well-deserved workers of the enterprise, production veterans, namely Mr. Grigory Gez, Production Engineer and Mr. Vasily Lyuty, Locksmith, were awarded with this golden symbol of the Kremenchugskiy Automobile Plant.
____ One more memorable event was a presentation of the book written by Mr. Leonid Gogolev, Mr. Vladislav Levsky and Mr. Sergey Sazonov titled as "KrAZ. Plant. People". This book was dedicated to the coming 60th anniversary of the plant. Now all admirers of the in many ways legendary products and glorious history of the enterprise were handled the succinct historical and technical monograph. It can be certainly considered as a teaching aid for young people who are only going to flow into the row of plant workers.

____ DEMAND IS NOT STILL SUPPLIED IN FULL MEASURE
____ They who have not visited the Kremenchugsky Automobile Plant for several years could hardly recognize it nowadays. No former depressed silence of desolation anymore. Building of plant administration and plant blocks are fresh painted in a white color and shine with an extreme cleanness in spring sunbeams. In workshops one can see busily running people. And the measured noise of working benches and robot welder drivers, crash of presses and screech of nut drivers can be heard in each of these show "warrens.
____ Guests were immediately shown press, welding, cabin and frame productions, and, it goes without saying, the mother conveyor. Automatic jig-borers with microplasma cutting, "Amada" sheet bending press, longitudinal beams process center, supplied by Frenchmen already in 1990, and modernized automatic half axles production line demonstrated their operational facilities in the clean workshops. Rear axles were moving in another line, being assembled from coming half axles, housings, wheel hubs, brake drums and gear casings. According to the information provided by workers of the plant axles are 80% the product of AvtoKrAZ. Rests of their prime cost make general mechanical rubber goods and roller bearings supplied by subcontractors.
____ Extension of the plant production facilities has been carried out for last years in many ways because of the implementation of automatic lines, delivered to the plant already 12-15 years ago for a further expanding of old design truck production. At the present day these lines are reconstructed and adjusted thanks to the setting of new program blocks for products manufacturing, i.e. pass transmission and other more improved units and aggregates. In addition to it there were flexible technological lines made together with business partners from Kharkov, which allow performing a changeover from one type of the manufactured products to the other one. Namely in such lines one carries out exhaust pipes welding, welding of dump platforms and processing of drum centers.
____ Robotic automation of cab welding has already excused workers from this hard and above all, detrimental to health working activity in 1989. Cabs, painted in bright colors, delight the eyes. They all have being equipped by sensitive women hands.
____ At the frame assembly women make less a half of brigade. It means the load is affecting. Mother conveyor shows a full "patriarchy". It is not the distaff to fix engine, heater and cabin to a frame and then to actuate them all, running up slowly. And that is for 4200 times during a year. Namely this quantity of trucks are planned to be produced this year. Only 1200 units of them will remain in Ukraine. However even nowadays the demand on approximate 50 trucks/a month is not still supplied. And the data planned are expected to be likely much more higher. (In 2005 there have been 3600 trucks sold where 650 KrAZ units, i.e. 18, 6%, have been left in the country of manufacturing. In 2006 there have been 4008 units sold, where 1141 trucks or 28, 47%, i.e. one-third, have been preferred by local customers).
____ And it is really the interesting question why we are speaking only about 4200 vehicles, if in the past, before collapse of the big country, the plant has produced minimum 30 thousands of trucks? The truth is that while plant workshops were staying idle, vehicles became another design, more complicated and improved. Many former admirers of KrAZ trucks successfully use the products of other brands - new models of heavy trucks manufactured by MAZ and KAMAZ as well as the used vehicles of western manufacturers. And at once all giant production facilities of AvtoKrAZ have appeared to be cumbrous, non liquid assets intended for production of old style trucks, namely those vehicles which have being purchased today only in the countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America and which the Ministry of Defense agrees to use, to say more clearly, to store in case of them to be involved in combat activities or used in any other emergency circumstances
____ In this case the reconstruction of production is closely connected here with its technological rearmament and renovation carried out practically for the whole model range last year. We have agreed the following data as orienting points of production: in the midterm perspective it makes 7 - 8 thousands trucks a year and the long term perspective is up to 10 thousands vehicles where at about 2,5 thousands truck units are planned to be sold in the territory of Ukraine.
____ Besides after objective estimating of situation the plant came to the conclusion that output of some types of production was forever lost for it. Other manufacturers left the enterprise far behind. In particular it refers to the manufacture of long-haul fifth wheel tractors. Therefore all forces and activities were decided to be focused on improvement of technical specifications of such types of vehicles which have a good perspective in the traditional sales markets.

____ FOR ROADS WITH MINIMAL PAVING
____ Among achievements of the recent year the plant management stressed the bringing up to the maintenance the KrAZ 6140 TE fifth-wheel tractor (400 h.p.; 6x6; 11,6 tones) intended for transportation of long oversize cargo by semi trailer with a full mass up to 70 tones on unpaved roads and on rods with minimal paving. Moreover rear wheels of fifth-wheel tractor can be of single or double-tire variants that remarkably change the consumer properties of a truck. And such heavy loads on wheels are possible thanks to applying the special tire models produced by the Michelin French Company. Though the plant studies the variants of using cheaper development of Belarusian tire manufacturers, i.e. "Bel-95" tires as well as other acceptable tire models without changing the hub size and configuration, applying to the business partners from Russia.
____ It is to be mentioned the bolster of Georg Fisher with 100 mm pin can bear the load up to 20 tones and it has three degrees of freedom. Using it the KrAZ 6140TE can tow practically any semi trailer, including heavy weight semi trailers manufactured in Cheliabinks, which are very popular in West Siberia.
____ Manufacturers from Kremenchug also have bright perspectives as to the using the KrAZ 7140N6 (400 h.p.; 8x6: 12 tones) with load carrying capacity up to 25,3 tones in the oil and gas complex. This truck is considered to be a severe rival for the similar BAZ, MZKT and KZKT vehicles. And there is the Certificate of Conformity already obtained for the present model, possessing such towing capacity, load carrying capacity and cross country ability, which correspond almost in a full volume to the automobile chassis with wheel arrangement of 8x8. It is enough to say that the KrAZ 7140N6 is able to storm slopes of 29 degrees (up to 58%). And the question is not only in power device but in some reduction of weight for a structure because it appears to be no need to distribute towing power on front axle.
____ Besides this four-axle truck is designed for dump equipping. Herewith the operation of the mentioned vehicle is expected to be more effective than the operation of the all-wheel drive three-axle dump truck.
____ And then chassis with wheel arrangement of 8x8, 10x8 (KrAZ 8140N8; load carrying capacity - 32 tones), 10x10 and 12x8 will leave the plant territory. It means there will be the full-scale penetration in the zone of interests of Minsky and Kurgansky Wheel Truck Tractor Plants as well as of Bryansky Automobile Plant. And these super KrAZ vehicles will be primarily intended for fitting with special equipment which is extremely requested by the oil and gas industry and by other spheres of national economy in many countries.
____ While designing a dump truck on the KrAZ 7140N6 chassis, the designers of the plant came to the conclusion that the mentioned vehicle should be equipped with rear driven axle. It is required to have the hard mechanical linking with steering. Though the flexible hydraulic linking, which has already being used in Western Europe, could simplify the steering system. And the reliability of modern hydraulic drive is much higher than it was earlier, in the days of designing the above mentioned standards.
____ The plant states the KrAZ 7133N4 (8x4) truck with dump platform of 14, 16 and 20 m3 in volume faced the absolute success in building areas, especially by transporting blocks of the broken up constructions, different kinds of garbage, which are the subject to reprocessing, as well as in agriculture, for instance, at carriage of beet-roots from fields. The 20-cubic platform named as "beet-root carrier" was also installed on the three-axle model of KrAZ. And it is well known why. The four-axle dump truck with wheel arrangement of 8x4 and double tire for rear wheels possesses one of the most economic relation of costs for transportation of cargo unit, i.e. such maximal values of "tonne-kilometer". Also the production of such vehicle doesn't imply a sudden increase of prime cost.
____ New direction for AvtoKrAZ is considered to be the commissioning of dump trucks with three-way tipping body and two-way tipping trailer. Starting from manufacturing the KrAZ 6424S4+A201S2 unit (15,3+15,3/11 + 11 m3) with such tipping specifications, the plant has been gradually implementing the side tipping for more and more numbers of other models of its trucks. In fact this truck train can be profitably used not only in agricultural complex but also by transporting mining and non mining materials, different dam dumping, damping of highway grounds and others. Namely therefore the KrAZ 65055, basic model of the AvtoKrAZ mother's conveyor was provided with two modifications with side tipping: complete set 066 with three-way tipping (15,5 m3; load carrying capacity - 18 tones) and 065 with two-way tipping (13,5 m3; load carrying capacity - 16 tones). And the last variant is intended for those, who are going to use the present dump truck together with dump trailer as the complete unit.
____ It is to be pointed that the base for such dump bodies is also the KrAZ 65032 (6x6) all wheel drive truck, which is considered to be the extremely popular model in mining and extracting industries. The vehicles of such kind are successfully operated in mining-and-processing integrated works of Dneprodzerzhinsk, Inguletsk, Poltava and others. The interest expressed by consumers to side tipping resulted in development of corresponding body production of bodies from 9 up to 16 m3 for three-axle vehicles and 12 m3 - for four-axle trucks.
____ The important milestone for the plant is considered to be the beginning of cooperation with the Schmidt German Company in the sphere of designing the KrAZ 6510DM (6x4) combined road truck. It, in a fully equipped state, is intended as for snow removing from roads, so as for covering the paving with hard or liquid chemical substance preventing from road snow ice layer. Dismounting of the present additional construction takes less than one hour. After that a combined road vehicle turned into simple dump truck intended for transportation of bulk and loose loads. More than 50 units of such combined road vehicles, which had showed their advantages in maintenance last winter, were manufactured and delivered to the Ukrainian region road institutions. The next step of further cooperation with this company will be the installation of complexes for patching of roads and highways on KrAZ trucks. It is found that the patching of paved roads also takes place in the streets of western countries, though the scale of it is not so large as in CIS countries.

____ (To be continued)
____ VLADIMIR VDOVENKO