65 YEARS OF SERVING NEW TECHNOLOGIES 

      The fortunes of remarkable factories as well as the fortunes of remarkable people are not simple.
      The history of RELTEC goes back to the machine factory of “Glavkhleb” trust evacuated from Kiev in 1941. During the World War II bread as the product of the defence industry was of no less importance than arms. And increasingly more and more bread production was required for the constantly increasing demands of the army at war. Thus, according to the decision taken by the Defence Council of the country, a Machine Plant designed to  build up the potentialities of bread production was evacuated to Ekaterinburg, former Sverdlovsk. Since then, the history of the plant has been associated with constant promoting new production, re-equipping and updating old and outdated technologies.

      In 1958 the factory was renamed the Sverdlovsk Food Production Mechanical Engineering Plant. Its production was used to re-equip and expand factories in order to cope with the post-war collapse. The plant was famous for its production far beyond the borders of the Ural region.
      The technical and technological level of development of the plant was high enough at that time. So in 1962 due to the rise of the country’s scientific and technical potential, space exploration, building new plants and factories, the plant became directly subordinate to the Research Design Institute of Mechanical Engineering. Since that time, the plant has been closely connected with the branch (sectoral) science, which determined it as a plant of complex, high technology production.
      In 1966 according to the decision of the Government of the country, the plant got the status of the Pilot Plant of the All Russia Research Design Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Mechanical Engineering in the Urals. The Pilot Plant was engaged in practically all the projects concerning new technologies and creating new industries in the Urals.
      In the context of restructuring the Ministry of Heavy Industry in 1976, the plant was renamed the Pilot Plant of the Central Research Institute of Heavy Engineering. Since then, it has become the leading enterprise in the field of development and manufacture of nonstandard equipment for the enterprises of heavy industry. The production with the brand name of the plant is well-known at the Uralmash (the Urals Plant of Heavy Engineering), Electrosteel, KMS in Kaluga and at a great number of other enterprises of heavy engineering.
       In 1986 due to the further expansion of the production program and scientific research, the plant was renamed the Pilot Plant of the Central Research Institute of Metallurgy and Materials (CRIMM).
      But the perestroika initiated in 1986 drastically changed the whole course of the plant’s existence. Having begun in 1986 the positive changes in restructuring the production and management structures had a negative effect on the seemingly inviolable relation between the plant and the CRIMM. The division was caused by arrogance of the former directors of the plant and the institute, when the “hands-plant” and the “head-institute” decided to live their own separate lives. As a result, the unique, high technology production was no longer technically and technologically supported. It resulted in a severe decrease of production output as the plant had lost its customers. And the country’s general recession of 1991 finished the process. Budget debts and the debts to suppliers snowballed. And in 1995 the Pilot Plant of the CRIMM, as a state plant-debtor, was declared bankrupt.
      That was probably what a lot of other Urals enterprises turned out to be. The desruption of these plants is evident now.
      The fact is sad enough just because these enterprises are not liable to reconstruction as the speed at which the time flies and the science develops is too high.

      But fortunately, the Pilot Plant did not experienced that failure.
      In 1995 the plant was bought on the basis of commercial investment tender, and since then, the plant has started its second life. On the basis of the scientific production enterprises “UPI-RESONANCE” and “ELTERM”, the Russian Electrical Technological Company (RELTEC) was organized by a team of young specialists, for the most part, the science workers of the Ural State University and the Central Research Institute of Metallurgy and Metals. The company was created with the purpose of combining the efforts in the field of developing and manufacturing the electro-technological equipment using high frequency and medium frequency currents. The new directors were quite aware of the fact that revival of the plant should be based on absolutely new, unique production. That’s why the task was set to head for installing new, highly competitive equipment meeting the western and world standards. Introducing super-advanced products to be manufactured by the plant, such as induction furnaces of medium frequency for the metallurgical plants in the Urals, enabled the volume of sales to be sharply increased which, in its turn, resulted in pre-requisites for the plant restoring.
       The restoring process had to be started from the scratch. During the time of the forced production hold-up, the water supply systems and sewer systems were let freeze; the electric and power equipment left much to be desired; there was no telephone communication; the main technological equipment was damaged or stolen; production facilities and buildings were in a breakdown condition. None of the 70 motor-vehicles could move.
      To crown it all, there were great budget debts and the debts to suppliers which had to be paid by the “heirs”; as well as a six-month long delay in salary payment to the employees, and no circulating assets or capital assets.
Following the proverb “Where there’s a will, there’s a way”, the plant shops were awakening to life.
      The plant’s marketing department was organized. A great assistance in searching new customers and markets was provided to the plant RELTEC by an international noncommercial company “INTERELECTRO”.
In 1996 RELTEC won the tender for the best investment program and got the maximum possible credit from the fund rendering assistance to the enterprises of small and big business in the sphere of science and technology.
      The circulating assets received were invested into the production updating and financing the most promising scientific-and-technological developments.

      Within a very short period of time, the plant increased the volume of products sold as well as the range of the products. 
      At present, the basis for the production program is composed of:

• 0.5 kg – 10 T induction melting furnaces of medium and high frequency;
• 0.5 – 250 kg vacuum induction furnaces;
• semiconductor frequency converters with the power up to 1.5 MW and the frequency up to 440 kHz;
• unique ultrasonic plants of surface and through heat treatment of metals;
• ultrasonic technological equipment for cleaning, degassing, welding, etc..

      For the last 5 years, machine tool stock has been renovated and updated, new technological equipment has been purchased and installed, as, for example, a powder painting complex.
Nowadays, the Plant of the Electrical Technological Company is the leading one in this field. This is actually the only Russian plant producing this type of equipment and supplying it on a turnkey basis. In the last five years, the production with the brand name RELTEC has become famous not only in Russia but abroad as well. The production sells well in Germany, Israel, Spain, Turkey and Mongolia. As to the well-established club of its customers, both in Russia and CIS, it can be an excellent advertisement to the quality of the production manufactured by the plant.
      In 1998 the plant was granted a license to use the ROSSTANDARD mark and the Certificate of Conformance granted by the State System of Standardization. In the same year, the plant was awarded the Silver medal of EXPOCENTER for its outstanding achievements in the field of development and manufacture of modern technological equipment. In 1999 according to the audit results of the Institute of the Industrial Development, INFORMELECTRO,RELTEC was included into the number of 100 leading enterprises in the field of electrical engineering, and the information about the plant was published in the catalogue “Leaders of Electrical Engineering in Russia”
      In 1999 the plant started the work to improve the system of ensuring the quality of the output products according to the standards of ISO 9002.In cooperation with KEMA, the world leader in the field of certification it is planned to have this work completed in the year 2000.
The process of the plant revival is hardly ever able to avoid problems caused by the necessity to catch up with the western competitors. There are also current assets deficit problems, and those dealing with qualified staff shortage as a result of the years of the production setback. It is also necessary to put into operation new sites and expand the production.
RELTEC is sure to become the leader of the reformed industry in Russia. Our children and grandchildren will be proud of the production output of the Ural plants and enterprises in the way it was so proud of in the time of Demidov.