The Plant History

The Plant and the Town History

Joint Stock Company "Chepetsky Mechanical Plant" is located in Glazov, which is situated in the center of Russia, in the north of Udmurt Republic, 1000. kilometers from Moscow in the trunk-railway Moscow – Vladivostok passing via Glazov.

The status of town was given to Glazov in 1780. At that time the town numbered nearly 300 local inhabitants. From January 1921 to July 1921 Glazov was the first capital of Udmurt Republic. By the middle of 1941 Glazov numbered nearly 17 thousands inhabitants. With the beginning of World War II the government started to build the cartridge Plant # 544 in Glazov. The production of gun cartridges was founded on base of equipment of Podolsk and Kountsevo plants. And along with equipment the specialists evacuated from these towns arrived in Glazov. By the end of 1942 the cartridge Plant has reached its planned production capacity.

In 1946 due to abrupt reduction of orders for cartridges the leading Plant in Glazov experienced setback in production. And at the end of 1946 the government issued a decree about establishment of uranium metal production on base of the former cartridge Plant # 544. This new Plant was named Chepetsky Mechanical Plant (at present CMP, JSC) and this Plant specified the future fate of Glazov. The large construction administration was arranged for establishment of the new production. The construction administration has got all necessary resources for construction at its disposal.

Alongside with construction of production workshops there was rapid house-building to provide good living conditions for the Plant employees. Socially significant objects were built as well. Commissioning of Heat Station-1 (at the beginning of 1949) supplied heat and light both to the town and the Plant. And nowadays the future of Glazov is directly connected with the Plant, which has given the second life to the former little and provincial town. At present about 70% of the town budget is completed due to deductions of JSC Chepetsky Mechanical Plant. More than 10 thousand people work at the Plant. According to the results of the latest public opinion poll up to 86% of the able-bodied citizens would like to work at CMP, JSC.

During the lifetime of Chepetsky Mechanical Plant dozens thousands of employees endowed to creation and development of the Plant, thousands rejoiced at achievements and were upset with temporary failures. Thanks to their work, the present Plant is the pride and the basis of Glazov, the leading enterprise in its field and one of the most stable plants in Russia. Among the employees there are the Heroes of the Soviet Union, the Heroes of Socialist Labor, the honored citizens of Udmurt Republic and Glazov. Many employees are awarded with various orders, medals, state and other awards. The Book of Honor of CMP, JSC contains more than 2000 names. The title of the "Honored Inventor of Russia"is awarded to 11 people, the "Honored Rationalizer of Russia" - to 21 people.

Production History

1945-1946

The history of Chepetsky Mechanical Plant is connected to the post-war period. Complicated international climate after World War II demanded the establishment of metal uranium production and production of other important defense materials. That was necessary for creation of the «nuclear» protection of the country and for the needs of future nuclear power engineering.

The place of construction of the new Plant had to possess necessary working area and management structure. It had to be located in the trunk-railway, on the bank of the river, close to the forest and peatery. It had to be distant from the State boundaries. Glazov met all the above mentioned conditions perfectly. That is why on base of the cartridge Plant # 544 belonging to the Ministry of Armament of the USSR the government established chemical-metallurgical enterprise – Chepetsky Mechanical Plant (CMP). It was named Chepetsky because of the name of the river Cheptsa, on the bank of which the Plant was constructed. The decree of assignment of the cartridge Plant to the First Central Directorate belonging to the Council of Ministers of the USSR was signed on December 19, 1946. This date is considered to be the birth date of the Plant.

1946-1948

The construction of the largest national Plant was completed in the shortest possible time. The Plant specialists developed and mastered the unique production processes with the help of many national scientific-research institutes and plants. As early as in November 1948 the specialists of uranium production have produced the first uranium tetra fluoride, from which after the rough and refining reduction smelting the specialists have cast the first uranium ingots.

1948-1956

At the same time there was arranged the construction of the largest in the USSR calcium production. In early 50-s the Ministry of Machine Building decided to start the large-scale production of metal calcium at CMP. In August 1956 calcium production reached its full productive capacity. Calcium production could meet the demands in calcium not only for CMP but for all the USSR nuclear industry as well. The increase of productive capacity resulted in expansion of list of calcium products, improvement of fabrication method and enhancement of production wastelessness.

1956-1990

Due to rapid development of nuclear engineering, in May 1957 the Plant started to build the workshop for metal zirconium production. In 1959 the Plant specialists produced the first zirconium alloy ingots. In November 1966 the Plant started to build the workshop for rolling-extrusion production to manufacture zirconium alloy products. In June 1973 zirconium tube production reached its full productive capacity. In 1978 the Plant specialists developed and introduced the first quality management system. Calcium products were highly appreciated by the foreign partners and in 1984 the Plant started industrial delivery of calcium abroad.

1990-1996

In 1990 CMP, JSC started to fulfill the conversion programs and looked for the new variants of the Plant development. At the time of formation of the market economy the Plant incurred definite losses. Total output has decreased, production of some kinds of the main defense products has stopped and as a result the profit was cut down. The management of the Plant undertook the emergency measures for decreasing of non-production and production costs and created the efficient Plant managing system. In 1992 the management of CMP decided to establish the system of quality management based on the TQM (Total Quality Management) principles, with the account of existing experience of quality systems. The international standards ISO 9000 were taken as the basis.

In 1995 the Plant obtained the possibility to sell the products at the world market. That caused the reconstruction and reorganization of production in order to provide products quality necessary to meet international standards.

Under the resolution of the State Committee of Udmurt Republic for Property dated March 28, 1996 the Plant was rearranged into the joint stock company "Chepetsky Mechanical Plant" with the stock capital 1 371 539 thousand roubles.