URALMASH DREAM PASSED AWAY



-          I had a wonderful dream…

-          Why “had”?

-          It wandered away!

Nowadays a recently profitable and perspective factory bears huge losses. The production level is winding down, mass layoffs are in process. There is a question occurred to ex-employees’ minds: - was it possible to avoid all of this? And my answer is: - it was.

Talking about the factory I would like to remind of its history first. Uralmash started his heavy engineering construction in 1933. Generally it specialized in production blast-furnace and steelmaking machinery, excavators and hydraulic presses. Then people had great planes and expectations about the manufactory. To achieve a high level of production quality Uralmash was provided with the most modern equipment from such known companies as Wagner, Krigar, Sheppar. There was a special educational institution arranged under the factory for preparing high-skilled professionals to operate the equipment.

A lot changed from that time. Nowadays Uralmash is a loss-making living out its final days manufactory. Technical equipment and adjacent structures are worn-out in service, production buildings came to critical condition.

Lack of manufactory modernization leads to the marketability loss, capacities reduction and total bankruptcy. According to accounting reports the factory activity losses in 2013 amounted to 3.05 bln. rub. Moreover the sum is constantly increasing.

To improve such critical condition and save Uralmash factory specialists worked out a strategy of industrial area development. The main idea of it was to turn the manufactory into a compact economic and effective production with equipment qualifying the modern standards. The strategy was to be achieved by means of financial recourses got from inefficient industrial area sale. For instance, about 90 hectares of such area are occupied by constructions built in 30s of the latest century, which now are inappropriate for manufacturing activity.

According to the strategy of Uralmash industrial area development it was planned to release the area of 1,5 million square meters for residential and 500 thousands square meters for commercial construction. A part of residential and commercial buildings sales-profit was planned to allocate for building such social objects as the Hockey Academy and Water Sports Palace. The strategy realization could be a solution not only for a number of the factory tasks, but for social ones as well. Among them is job creation and housing construction rate increasing within “Affordable Housing” national project.

Nevertheless, in spite of the obvious advantage, the leaders of Uralmash factory couldn’t arrive at a common view and make a positive decision about industrial area development strategy realization. A beautiful and realizable dream of Uralmash factory died. So, the employees have nothing left but wait for their turn to be fired. And we have nothing to do, but watch how a recently profitable manufactory with its powerful capacities is falling into decay.

INDUSTRIAL AREA DEVELOPMENT

While property market suffers from building land deficit, manufacture bears expenses for supporting ineffective spaces which lost their relevance. Industrial area occupies thousands of hectares. Most of them ended manufacturing long time ago and turned into chaotic dump site.

From the Soviet Union with its planned economy our country inherited one of the most powerful industrial capacities in the world. In the Russian Federation so called industrial area takes about 40 % of city territories, when in European cities it makes up less than 10%. Nevertheless it has to be admitted that the rate of industrial efficiency is much lower than in Europe. Let’s clear up the reasons of such predicament.

A big amount of manufacture financial recourses is allocated for maintaining of oversized and inefficient infrastructure. Large spaces of industrial area are occupied by additional buildings and constructions which require expenses on electricity, water supply and other necessary supporting. In modern world such way of management is totally illogical and irrational. Considering the abovesaid it is obvious that manufacture has an urgent need in modernization and transition to a new quality level from a point of manufacturing.

So, what is the way to transform a lossmaking business into a COMPACT ECONOMIC and EFFECTIVE manufacture? It is reasonable to improve manufacture infrastructure by releasing inefficient spaces of industrial area. Hereafter a part of released territory should be redeveloped and made available for house building, according to municipal town planning scheme, or arranged for sale. The financial resources received from sold non-core assets and saved on inefficient infrastructure support are to be means for development, technical modernization and transition of manufacture into a new quality level.

Thus, by rational use of industrial area manufacture can essentially increase its efficiency and marketability in the world market severe conditions. At the same time city residents will get additional housing spaces, facilities for social needs, roads and parking lots which can be located on former inefficient industrial areas.