OAO Semiluki refractory plant. Semiluk Refractory Plant. Masses and non-resistant mixtures

City-forming enterprise Refractory Plant

The city of Semiluki, actually a suburb of Voronezh, is a small local Tolyatti, a classic monotown.

The city-forming enterprise Semiluk Refractory Plant is one of the oldest Russian manufacturers of refractories. In 2011, the plant celebrates its 80th anniversary.

Built on the basis of the Latnensky deposit of refractory clays, one of the first-born industrialization of the 30s, the Semiluk fireclay plant, already in 1931 produced 30 thousand tons of fireclay refractories. Despite great difficulties and poor technical equipment, the plant expanded and increased the output of products manufactured in two workshops. During the Great Patriotic War, the enterprise was completely destroyed, but already in 1945 the country began to receive refractories necessary for the restoration of heavy industry. Later, with the development of metallurgical technologies and the intensification of metallurgical processes, in 1954 a workshop for the production of high-alumina refractories was launched, built according to the project of the All-Union Institute of Refractories.

During its 80-year history, the plant has repeatedly undergone organizational changes. So, in 1954, three industrial enterprises were merged: Semiluk and Latnensky fireclay plants, and the Voronezh mine administration. In 1993, this association again broke up into three joint-stock companies.

Changing economic conditions in Russia led to a drop in demand for the traditional products of the plant, required re-equipment of production, expansion of the range of products with a focus on the production of new modern types of refractories that meet the increasing requirements of consumers.

Until 2009, out of 24 thousand inhabitants of the city, about three thousand worked at the refractory plant. Unlike the Latnensky refractory plant operating at the same deposit, little has changed at POPs since Soviet times. The plant "historically" specializes in servicing the metallurgical industry, among its customers are Novolipetsk Metallurgical, Osokolsky Electrometallurgical, Magnitka, Sverstal and Mechel enterprises. In addition, during the "fat years" a number of other industries that needed such products, in particular, the sugar and glass industries, revived. Despite regular complaints that refractories do not receive their share from the growth of world prices for metals, Semilukskiye ogneupori did not live in poverty before the crisis: in the pre-crisis years, production stabilized at the level of 100 thousand tons, revenue - in the region of 1-1.2 billion rubles.

Until 2009, the management of SOZ also did not change from Soviet times: privatization took place under the control of the last Soviet director Vladimir Entin, who headed the Board of Directors of the JSC, and in 2000-2008 his son, Sergey Entin, remained the general director. At the same time, the shareholder structure was rather confused. Until recently, the main shareholders were CJSC Financial Company Ektoinvest (54.7% of shares) registered in St. Petersburg and CJSC Financial Company Titan-Invest (18.1%). At the same time, Principal Group and Co LLC, whose representatives were members of the Board of Directors, was the main buyer of the products. POPs is mentioned in the report of the regional Federal Tax Service to Governor Alexei Gordeev among the companies that, having their main assets in the Voronezh region, operate through trading houses registered in Moscow or St. Petersburg. “In the region, they would be large taxpayers and would be in the public eye,” the tax authorities explained, “in the capital, the scale of business is different, and such companies are simply “lost in the crowd.” The capital’s tax authorities simply don’t get around to checking them.” In the past, the then governor Vladimir Kulakov already spoke on this topic: “Dozens of trading houses have been created that buy this brick, resell it to another, third, and as a result, it comes to the metallurgical plant twice as much as it costs. As a result, imported ones are preferred over our refractories.”

In 2009, the Semiluksky district was more exposed to the financial crisis than others: the refractory plant did not actually work for several months. The level of production as a whole fell by 40%, wage arrears reached 40 million rubles. In May 2009, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. The plant stopped, wages were not paid. The people went on strike. In November 2009, the Government of the Voronezh Region acquired 75% plus one share in OAO Semiluk Refractory Plant and 100% in OOO Semiluk Ogneupory. This decision was made on October 27 at a meeting with the head of the region, Alexei Gordeev, with the participation of members of the regional government, owners of the enterprise, representatives of the tax service, the antimonopoly committee and Sberbank of the Russian Federation.

In 2010, Alexander Demidov, who previously held the position of Director for Marketing, Sales and Material Support of the enterprise, was elected General Director of SOZ OJSC. E. Muzyleva was appointed Director for Economics, Finance and Investments, leading the restructuring of the enterprise, during which several divisions ceased to operate, the plant's personnel was reduced by five hundred people.

At the beginning of 2011, the government was forced to admit that the plant's management failed to cope with the task of bringing the plant to a breakeven level. In this regard, it was decided to strengthen control over the operation of the enterprise by the regional government, as well as to intensify work to attract a strategic investor.

On March 15, 2011, a meeting of the Board of Directors of JSC "Semiluk Refractory Plant" took place, at which a number of important decisions for the development of the enterprise were made. Members of the Board of Directors accepted the resignation of General Director Alexander Demidov and approved a new head of the plant - Sergey Cherevkov. The meeting also discussed the issue of transferring POPs to a strategic investor, Holdy Group LLC, which is managed by Pavel Goncharov, deputy of the Voronezh Regional Duma. The powers of members of the current board of directors were terminated ahead of schedule. A new composition has been elected. For the first time, the board of directors did not include employees of a refractory plant. As the chairman of the meeting, O.V. Tsutsaev, this was done in order to constantly monitor the work of the administration of the enterprise by the government of the region and to develop a strategy for the development of a joint-stock company.

The official site of the Semiluki refractory plant - SEMILUKI-REGNEUPORY.RF. The activities of the plant include: aluminosilicate products and products from refractory concrete, refractory graphite-chamotte products and large-block products from refractory concrete, low-cement thixotropic masses and refractory products for the glass industry, mortars. Our website contains: a catalog of products and their characteristics, contact information and communication on the forum. We supply the refractories market with high quality products:

JSC "Semiluk Refractory Plant"
Contacts:

Address: Lenina, 5a
396901 Voronezh region, Semiluki

Phone: +7 47372 9-30-05 , +7 47372 9-32-05
Fax: +7 47372 2–46–19 , +7 47372 9–36–60
Email: [email protected]

One of the most picturesque and large satellite cities of Voronezh is Semiluki, which got its name from the seventh bend of the Don River, on the banks of which a small settlement once arose. With the development of railway transport, the small semi-station of Semiluki, located next to the village of the same name, began to gradually grow, increasing the population and industrial potential.

The driving force behind Semiluk's development was the refractory business, which turned a small workers' settlement founded in 1929 into a beautiful modern city with proper infrastructure, qualified personnel, and extensive housing stock. Now the guests of the city no longer think that the foundations of Semiluk's well-being were laid by the refractory plant, which began to experience serious difficulties in the 2000s.

However, the indigenous people of Semiluki, who know the history of the city well, remember very well what contribution was made by their leading enterprise to the economic, social, cultural and sports life of the local community. The refractory plant became a city-forming plant for Semiluk in the pre-war and post-war years in the full sense of the word.

This fact is still reminded to all of us by the coat of arms of the city of Semiluki, which depicts a symbolic pyramid of bricks (see the image on the left), indicating the contribution of the refractory plant to the development of the local economy and infrastructure.

If we mentally moved to the 1960s or 1970s, we would see a picture familiar to that time - almost all social, cultural, sports and other facilities were marked "SOP" - Semiluk Refractory Plant. The abbreviation, familiar to local residents, was on the gates of the local stadium, the Palace of Culture of Refractory Workers, houses and clinics. Even the boats and lifebuoys on the local beaches were marked with POPs. Visually, residents and guests of the city were constantly reminded of the plant by trolleys moving along the overpasses, delivering raw materials for the production of refractories from the quarry.

Not a single major event in the city was complete without the support and participation of factory workers and the management of the refractory plant. And this is understandable, since it was the Semiluk Refractory Plant that was the city-forming enterprise, the main employer and the guarantor of the social stability of the local population.

And it all began in the post-revolutionary 1920s, when the country was just getting on its feet, to establish economic life after a devastating civil war. In 1926, the Supreme Council of the National Economy (VSNKh) decided to build a plant for the production of refractory and sand-lime bricks, as there was an acute shortage of building materials in the country and in the Voronezh region.

The Kommuna newspaper of January 20, 1929, in the article “Acute shortage of bricks,” wrote that all factories in the Voronezh region could produce only 120 million bricks per year, while at least 225 million pieces were required. At the same time, it was indicated that part of the bricks produced would go to a private trader, and some regions (for example, Moscow, which offered the Ostrogozhsky District a large cash advance, on the condition that all the bricks go to the capital) tried to buy bricks in the Central Chernobyl region. This circumstance exacerbated the shortage of bricks, even though three new factories with a total capacity of 16 million bricks per year will be built in Semiluki, Rossosh and Borisoglebsk districts.

There was a special need for special types of bricks that could withstand significant temperatures and resist chemical influences, since the plans of the first five-year plans provided for the large-scale construction of metallurgy, chemistry and petrochemistry enterprises. And this is not to mention the needs of conventional industrial and civil construction.

In those years, they built quickly, despite the shortage of construction equipment and special mechanisms. We remember how in the early 1930s. was built in 13 months, and - in 14 months. And this is from the first peg to the finished product. Such incredible speed was achieved due to clear leadership, shock work and enthusiasm of people who built a new life.

A similar situation prevailed during the construction of the Semiluk refractory plant. Already in 1927, power plants, a pumping station, and a factory laboratory began work. At the same time, a supply of refractory clay began to form. It was not an easy process, since one cannot simply arrange a quarry on the territory of the plant, from which clay is withdrawn. We needed inexpensive and not interfering with the local economy ways to deliver raw materials from nearby workings. In addition, it was necessary to master a fairly thin brick production technology that would meet high quality requirements.

By 1930, the number of POP builders had grown to 450 people who built workshops, installed equipment, and carried out installation and commissioning work. At the same time, new contingents of workers, technicians and engineers arrived in Semiluki, who, together with their families, were accommodated in newly built houses. Together with the housing stock, schools, shops, kindergartens and other infrastructure were built.

In 1931, the Semiluk Refractory Plant produced the first products. In subsequent years, new capacities were put into operation, which significantly increased the output. And if in 1933 33 thousand tons were produced, then in 1934 - almost twice as much.

In 1932, it was possible to complete the construction of the main production building - workshop No. 1, designed by architects in the spirit of that time - in the style of constructivism (see photo above). The plant's products went mainly to the Novolipetsk Metallurgical Plant. In 1933, the second and third workshops of the enterprise were put into operation. Since 1939, the production of refractories has become profitable, significant investments have been made in the social sphere. In 1940, the production of multi-chamotte blast-furnace stock was mastered in the third workshop.

The dynamic development of the plant was stopped by the Great Patriotic War. In 1942, a decision was made to evacuate the plant and refractory specialists. And only with the liberation of the Voronezh Territory from the Nazis in 1943 did its workers return to the Semiluksky plant again.

Despite the difficulties of the war and post-war period, the plant was quickly restored and launched. Already by 1947, the production of finished products amounted to almost 130 thousand tons, that is, it reached pre-war volumes.

In 1948, the volume of output exceeded the pre-war level, and the enterprise was recognized as the best refractory plant in the USSR. In 1954, workshop No. 4 was put into operation. It became one of the first in the world practice, where production was carried out on the basis of technical alumina.

In the mid-1950s, the Voronezh Ore Administration, Latnensky and Semiluk fireclay plants were merged into a single production complex - the Semiluk Refractory Plant. This association gave a new impetus to the development of POPs, which not only increased production, but also entered foreign markets, selling refractory products abroad.

In 1969, POP for the first time in the USSR mastered the production of high-alumina ramming mixes. In May 1973, workshop No. 6 of corundum lightweight was launched. The plant's products were produced with the Quality Mark. In the 80s, the plant's products were successfully exported to India, Bulgaria, Finland and Cuba.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the Semiluk Refractory Plant actively helped not only the city authorities, but also the agricultural enterprises of the Voronezh region. In those years it was accepted for successful factories take patronage not only over schools, kindergartens and cultural facilities, but also over agricultural enterprises, collective farms and state farms.

Here is what the regional newspaper “Kommuna” wrote in the article “Refractors for collective farms” on November 2, 1969: “The team of the largest enterprise in the region - a refractory plant - strengthens business ties with agricultural workers. How the memory of the patronage of refractories rises in the collective farm "Lebyazhye" of the Ramonsky district of the building of a pig farm,

Makarov Ivan Vladimirovich, POP driver, Hero of the Socialist. Labor

a warehouse for mineral fertilizers, in the agricultural artel "Zavety Ilyich" - a cowshed and other utility rooms. In the collective farms named after Chapaev and Kalinin in the Semiluksky district, refractory workers laid the foundation for the construction of specialized pig-breeding and sheep-breeding complexes, and built several buildings on the territory of these special farms. The enterprise helps the collective farms in the sowing, ploughing, sends its people there to speed up the harvest.

In the 1970s-1980s, the Semiluk Refractory Plant continued to be the main donor of social facilities and an activator of the development of housing infrastructure. However, already in these years of maximum influence of the enterprise on all social and economic processes, some painful problems begin to emerge, which in the future will make themselves felt.

The management of the enterprise, following the instructions of the local party body, is forced to direct more and more efforts and funds to the development of the city and the improvement of the well-being of citizens. Construction of new facilities (stadium, pioneer camp, housing stock, etc.), maintenance and overhaul of premises, sponsorship of schools, clinics, etc. takes up significant resources that should have been spent on the modernization of production. Forced savings lead to insufficient safety measures and industrial sanitation. Air pollution at the enterprise and in some hazardous workshops often leads to an occupational disease - silicosis, that is, the deposition of silicate dust in the lungs of workers. As a joke, the employees of the enterprise began to decipher the abbreviation POP as "Silicon Refractory Plant".

There were not enough funds for the radical modernization of technologies and equipment. The increase in volumes began to be carried out through extensive development, by increasing the number of low-paid workers. Later, by the beginning of the 1990s, Vietnamese will appear here, who will work in those jobs where local workers will refuse to enter.

Thus, by the beginning of the 1990s, the refractory plant came up with a mass of serious structural and social problems that required their prompt solution. However, the privatization of the enterprise that followed in 1993, which became a joint-stock company, did not solve the problems, and on the contrary, added.

The debts of the enterprise gradually increased, late payment of salaries to employees became commonplace. In 1996, due to the deteriorating financial situation of the plant, the kindergartens "Romashka" and "Dolphin" were transferred to the balance of local authorities. A year later, a sports and recreation complex and 24 apartments in a new factory building were also transferred to the city.

During the time that has passed since the incorporation of the Semiluk Refractory Plant, the company has changed many leaders and top managers. The difficult macroeconomic situation, debts, the disintegration of single production and insufficient government assistance - all this played a negative role. Semiluk's refractory business found itself in a highly unstable and dependent position.

However, already now, at the beginning of 2013, there are reasons to look to the future with some optimism. The new management of the enterprise is gradually restructuring debts, modernizing production, finding new suppliers and markets. Most likely, in the next few years we will be able to talk about the revival of Semiluk's refractory business on a new technological and personnel basis.

Sources:

1. Semiluki. Business card.
2. Refractory workers - collective farms. — Commune. - 1969. - 2 Nov.

06.02.2014, 13:29:14
Fire resistance, or how the history of the Semiluk refractory plant could end

Semiluk Refractory Plant (SOP) has been stubbornly unlucky for a long time. By 2009, the enterprise was on the verge of bankruptcy - the SOP filed a corresponding claim in arbitration. The debts of SOPs at that time amounted to 267 million rubles, of which 187 million rubles were overdue. The regional government asked the management of the enterprise to withdraw the claim, promising to support the plant. The claim was withdrawn. But in the fall of the same year, the Federal Tax Service filed its own bankruptcy lawsuit for debts of 49 million rubles. Then the regional authorities, perhaps for the first time, took unprecedented support measures, which will later be used to save regional enterprises. The former owner, LLC Principal Group and Co, actually gave this asset to the region free of charge, just to get rid of the troubled enterprise. Thus, POPs was "nationalized" with a state share of 75%.

It was assumed that the regional authorities, having resolved the current problems and distributed the company's debts, would attract serious investors. To solve current issues, the region attracted a loan from Sberbank. Meanwhile, even with the guarantees of the regional authorities, there was no queue among those wishing to purchase POPs. Yes, Russian Refractories showed interest in the enterprise. But the interest ended. As it turned out later - and for the better, since they themselves had to be saved from collapse.

In this situation, the emergence of HoldyGroup, a deputy of the Voronezh Regional Duma, Pavel Goncharov, looked like a success for the plant and the regional authorities. The company provided a business plan, from which it turned out that in a couple of years the enterprise should break even and save the regional government from at least one “hemorrhoids”.

“The first six months were very difficult. There was no turnover. The factory did not have raw materials. And there are no raw materials, which means that there is nothing to produce products from. Accordingly, there is nothing to sell, nothing to make a profit on. And if there is no cash receipts, there is nothing to pay wages. “That's it, the circle is closing,” recalled Natalya Nistratova, the director of logistics at POPs, at that time. - After all, they would be glad to buy raw materials for production, but there was nothing to buy ... And besides, they also had to pay off old debts, so to speak, to rehabilitate themselves in the eyes of suppliers. For example, when I arrived, we had a debt of 2.1 million rubles to one supplier for alumina and another 1.6 million rubles for raw materials. The materials were used a long time ago, but the debts remained. They had to be given away immediately. Thank God, our leadership managed to turn this flywheel. It can be said to start the plant on a new one. The loan that the region gave us played a decisive role.”

It would seem that the process has begun: the enterprise has started working, several workshops have even switched to work in two shifts. SOZ was planning a large-scale reconstruction, new investment projects, and it seemed that everything was going to be the way it would be.

However, according to experts, it was immediately clear that there were an abundance of workers at POPs - as they recruited in the free Soviet era, so many remained. In 2011, this load was not so critical for the enterprise, which was considered a city-forming company for a single-industry town. People received bonuses from this status. Investors can now look into the eyes of the regional authorities honestly: no matter how much the business demanded, as agreed, there were no cuts during all this time.

But now Semiluki is no longer considered a single-industry town. The health care facility has ceased to be the sole breadwinner of the district budget. Much more successful enterprises appeared here - the aluminum plant of the AVA company, the Kedr furniture enterprise. Therefore, there is no need to wait for any benefits from this side of the refractory. The share of wages in the cost of production at the plant is 32%, and the market average does not exceed 18%.

Meanwhile, another problem arose from where they were not expected. The raw materials supplied by the Voronezh Mining Administration frankly deteriorated. Market participants claim that this happened because the mining department did not invest in the enterprise and the Latnensky quarry of refractory clays simply dried up. Moreover, the mining department, despite the requests of the regional authorities, was selling low-quality clay to its neighbors in the Semiluk region more and more expensively. In particular, the plant calculates: the price of clay as of September 2011 is 647 rubles per ton, the price of clay today is 983 rubles per ton, and from January 2014 the price is expected to increase by another 15% - the final rise in price from the level of September 2011 - almost doubled.

Among other things, a failure occurred with the demand for refractory products. The decline in metallurgy (the main consumers of POPs products) has been going on for many years. Nine plants of the united company "RUSAL" are mothballed (suspended their work). A tangible drop in production was also noted at other plants in the industry. A sharp decline in sales is noted by all competitors of POPs. For this reason, for example, the Sukholozhsk refractory plant (Sverdlovsk region) in 2014 went on a massive layoff of workers. Ukrainian colleagues of POPs are generally on the verge of stopping production. Neighboring Latnensky, we recall, has already suspended its work.

The results of the activities of POPs for the past year have not yet been summed up. But the results of the nine months of 2013 are sad: the enterprise's loss amounted to 43.671 million rubles compared to 342 thousand rubles of net profit, which was recorded for the same period of the previous year. The company's revenue also decreased by 95.251 million rubles, to 604.691 million rubles. Cost of sales, on the contrary, increased by more than 50 million rubles, to 526 million rubles. Meanwhile, since September 2011, taxes in the amount of 106 million rubles have been transferred to the regional budget, and 341 million rubles to the budgets of all levels, that is, the funds contributed by the regional government have already returned to the budget.

Unlike Latnensky, SOZ still has a head start - the participation of regional authorities in the fate of the enterprise. No matter how sad the situation on the alcohol market was, it was the intervention of the regional authorities, the acquisition of control over the Buturlinovsky distillery, that helped the plant avoid disappearance - at the moment it is the only operating liquor enterprise in the region. The participation of regional authorities has more than once proved to be a saving straw for an enterprise that, for one reason or another, found itself in a difficult financial situation. Let's say the region's loan guarantees helped Evdakovsky MZhK resolve the issue without taking it to the extreme.

A little over two years, when the Semiluk Refractory Plant was under the control of HoldiGroup, unfortunately, did not turn the old Soviet plant into an ultra-modern enterprise. But if HoldiGroup had not taken on this project, then who would now argue that the plant would have survived? Who would raise the plant from the ashes? Who would deal with the settlement of debts, payment of tax debts, search for sales markets - that necessary operational work that was abandoned before the arrival of HoldyGroup and without which the normal operation of the enterprise is unthinkable? What other investor would keep "extra" mouths just to prevent social tension in the area? And, finally, who considered it his duty even in this critical situation to make attempts to get out of it for the benefit of the region, the region and the POP itself?

Before leaving his post as CEO of POPs, Pavel Goncharov proposed his own way out of the crisis. First, based on the available stable volumes of work, free up extra production buildings, concentrating all the activities of the POPs in the seventh shop. “Shop No. 7, a shop for unshaped materials, a section for vibrocast products will work. We reserve the largest workshop for the enterprise, conserve the remaining areas, due to which we can increase production at any time with small investments, ”explains Goncharov. This will allow the company to start operating, bringing monthly profit from 3 to 5 million rubles starting from March-April 2014. Thus, 25 out of 40 hectares of area are released. According to Goncharov's plans, it is appropriate to use it as an industrial park under the auspices of the regional authorities: there is all the infrastructure - come in and work. The creation of an industrial park will make it possible to employ the very 200 people with whom the POP was forced to leave.

Everyone understands that the company is now in dire need of funds, and one of the options for obtaining them may be to attract a loan. This will release the state guarantee, restructure loans from Sberbank of the Russian Federation and move on to work in optimal conditions. Or it is possible to increase the authorized capital of OOO Semilukskiye Ogneupory with a decrease in the share of HoldiGroup and an increase in the share of the Government of the Voronezh Region in the amount of 150 million rubles.

It seems that in a situation where almost all enterprises in the refractory industry are on the verge of closure, only state participation can help them get out - by attracting residents to the industrial park, providing credit resources under the guarantees of the region, etc. Unlike its competitors, POPs, where the share of the region already exists (about 50%), still have the possibility of overcoming the crisis. You just need to understand that the time of the giants has passed. It's time to create a group of modern mobile production facilities on the basis of POPs.

Semiluk Refractory Plant is one of the oldest Russian refractories manufacturing enterprises. Built on the basis of the Latnensky deposit of refractory clays, one of the first-born industrialization of the 30s, the Semiluk fireclay plant, already in 1931 produced 30 thousand tons of fireclay refractories. During its history, the plant has repeatedly undergone organizational changes. At present, the enterprise has 5 main workshops for the production of refractory materials for general purposes and 2 specialized sections producing a wide range of fireclay, mortars, refractory aggregates. The main consumers of refractories are enterprises of the metallurgical, machine-building, chemical and other industries - more than 4,000 enterprises. The range of manufactured refractory products includes 52 items, molded products are produced in more than 1500 standard sizes. These are fireclay and high-alumina refractories with Al2O3 content from 42% to 95%, including complex and especially complex shaped products, slide gate plates, lightweight corundum, steel casting products, mortars, fillers, ramming and pouring masses. The plant is the only Russian manufacturer of such products as mullite products for blast furnace bottoms, heat-resistant mullite-corundum products, plugs for steel pouring, products for carbon black reactors and anode firing furnaces. The range of manufactured refractory materials includes: molded products, traditional aluminosilicate and high-alumina products of various formats. long and large-sized, complex and especially complex shaped products for continuous casting of steel, products from refractory low-cement and cementless concrete, corundum lightweight products, carbon-containing products for lining steel-pouring ladles; unshaped refractory materials, ramming and shotcrete masses, aggregates, mortars, dry concrete mixtures, low-cement and cementless thixotropic and self-flowing masses. The raw material base of our products includes a wide range of materials - from traditional aluminosilicate chamotte to fused corundum and tabular alumina.