2015 is a difficult time for the Russian economy, but there are enterprises and entrepreneurs who are focused on success, believe in the stable and progressive movement of the country's economy, and put a lot of effort and money into business recovery from recession. One of these is LLC "Wagon–wheel Workshop", which invested a billion rubles during this year in the development of its field of activity on the territory of the Starooskolsky city district.

On NOVEMBER 2, on the birthday of the company, the opening of a new production complex VKM-2, designed for the repair of wheel sets of locomotives, locomotives and wagons of increased carrying capacity, took place in LLC "Wagon-wheel Workshop", located at the railway station Boiler. The opening was attended by A.V. Gnedykh, head of the administration of the Starooskolsky district, S.A. Gushchin, one of the founders of the Rail Garant group of companies, which includes LLC "VKM", partners of the company. 

For eight years of its existence in the territory of the district, the Wagon-Wheel Workshop has come a long way: from providing services for the formation and repair of wheel sets for freight cars to a high-tech enterprise that also carries out current and planned repairs of freight cars, disposal of freight cars excluded from the inventory fleet. About 50 thousand wheelsets are formed and repaired per year. In the near future, the formation of wheelsets for high-speed passenger trains of the Swallow type is planned, there are opportunities for the conversion of railway rolling stock from roller bearings to cassette bearings. A project is being discussed to create a service center for maintenance of bearings and innovative rolling stock of the Tikhvin Carriage Building Plant on the basis of the VCM. Welcoming the guests, the director of LLC "VKM" K.V. Ivanov showed a new administrative building with an excellent internal design, emphasizing the specifics of the enterprise's production. 

The head of the administration, Alexander Gnedykh, did not ignore the new steam-powered boiler house, fully automated, saving up to 75 thousand rubles per month. It is designed to supply heat and energy to the new VKM-2 and ABK complex, as well as to renovated and modernized staff rooms: showers, changing rooms, dining room. The first pile for the new VKM-2 complex was hammered on June 26, 2014, according to tradition, a gold coin provided by Sberbank, a long-time and good partner of the enterprise, was laid under it. 

Now the complex is already working in full, it ships products, it involves modern pressing, turning equipment, washing and painting installations, wheel boring machines. There is a full production cycle: wheel pairs are received, disassembly, washing, defecation, repair, assembly, output control is underway. The technology is used to lubricate the bearings immediately before installation so that the oil film protects them from the first minutes of operation.

The current situation in the economy forces us to think more broadly, to introduce not only mass production, but also to master high-tech, specialized products," says Director Konstantin Ivanov.

- We are considering many development options, one of them is to enter the market for the formation of wheel sets of rolling stock used at various industrial enterprises of the country, currently monopolized by JSC "Russian Railways". We would like to use a nearby bearing plant as a service center in order to work out this type of service as much as possible. The task is to use the site more intensively for cutting old freight cars and their disposal in order to warm up the demand for new cars, which use cassette bearings, allowing to operate without repair rolling stock with a mileage of up to 500 thousand kilometers, instead of old cars with roller bearings and only 160 thousand kilometers of maintenance-free movement. The guests watched the work of the domestic installation of vibration diagnostics of axle boxes, which allows storing all the verification data up to the time and the name of the specialist, and printing them on official letterhead, participated in the signing of the first contract for VKM-2 products with Maxima Logistics. 

N.A. Falin, General Director of Maxima Logistics LLC, noted: - We plan to buy wheel sets for wagons with increased load capacity. I see that the specialists of LLC "VKM" have done a very large, high-quality work on the creation of a new production, people have invested in the complex VKM-2 not only money, but also soul, strength, time. I know that they have a lot of ideas, to develop the company further – I wish you success, we will help with our orders. 

Igor Evgenyevich Tyagunov, Deputy General Director of the Rail Garant Group of Companies from Moscow, attended the opening:

To date, we are the real suppliers of wheelset volumes for LLC "VKM", since we serve 50 thousand wagons throughout the country. Our companies are strategic partners, the new VKM-2 complex will help our fruitful cooperation," he said.

One of the founders of the Rail Garant group of companies Sergey Gushchin believes: - We are gradually moving from the formation of one production to another, creating jobs for the district, paying taxes. We are grateful to the district administration for their comprehensive support. In today's conditions, the company has time to prepare for the rise of the Russian economy. We are a customer-oriented company and it is necessary to create such service centers so that the consumer of our services has only two concerns: to hand over the car for repair and pay for the work of the service. The next strategic task of the VKM is the construction of a rolling mill for the production of wheels. We could be guaranteed to sell scrap metal to OEMK, and receive wheel blanks from Ural Steel, since these enterprises are part of the same holding. We assume that the amount of cast billet produced could make up 10% of the total production of metallurgists from Novotroitsk – these are quite large volumes. G

the lava of the district administration Alexander Viktorovich Gnedykh supports the development of LLC "VKM": - We will try to attract the attention of Andrey Alekseevich Ugarov, Director of Production at Metalloinvest Management Company, to your proposals, since we are interested in the formation of new factories on our territory, the emergence of high-tech jobs, and the receipt of new taxes to the district budget. Employees of LLC "VKM" are already negotiating the supply of equipment for the rolling mill with German and Austrian companies, while necessarily taking into account the interests of Russian companies. Thus, large parts of the mill will be purchased in Voronezh, part of the metal structures - from Belgorodenergomash. Managers of the "Wagon-Wheel Workshop" are looking for engineers and technicians to work at new production facilities. At the moment, there are agreements with specialized Novosibirsk, Rostov higher educational institutions and the Samara Training Center on retraining and advanced training of workers of the VCM - masters, car receivers, flaw detectors who will work at the new production.

Well, the labor collective celebrated the birthday of LLC "Wagon-wheel Workshop" the day after the opening of VKM-2 at tables covered with sweets, cookies and delicious hot tea. And this week, managers and technologists went on business trips to negotiate the implementation of new projects on Oskol land. 

Dmitry Zarubin http://www.oskolnews.ru/