About the production of fasteners in Russia. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

This introductory note contains a brief historical and overview information on this topic.

In the hardware workshop of Volgogradsky plant at Soviet time

Yesterday is what happened in the USSR. There were hardware plants – for example, Saratovsky plant, Nevsky, Volgogradsky plant. There were several hardware productions in the Ural region. There were Cherepovetsky and Orlovsky steel rolling plants. These plants made as fasteners as well other metal products mainly from wire. For the production of automotive fasteners in the 60s years, BelZAN plant was built in Bashkiria Republic in the city Belebey.
After the collapse of the USSR, the number of hardware plants in Russia decreased. One factory – Rechitsky – turned to be in Belarus. Now it successfully works and supplies its products to different countries.

Part of the plants was closed. Among the reasons for the closure of plants – the clotting of industrial production due to the orientation to the raw materials economy. At some large enterprises there were workshops focused on the production of fasteners for their own needs. Another reason for the closure of plants was the opening of borders for a wide range of imported products. It was difficult to compete with these products. Then the Russian sellers and buyers had to get acquainted with fasteners on the DIN. At present, the Russian trade companies are oriented to the fasteners made according to the German standards. And if we turn smoothly to the current situation, we have the following picture.

In Russia there are several large-scale industries where the most used fasteners are produced in large quantities. Among these productions are Severstal Metiz, MMK-Metiz, NLMK-Metiz. These enterprises have their own raw materials base within the group of companies to which they belong. BelZAN, this enterprise created during the Soviet years, continues to work, and today it produces fasteners for cars. In 2015, a new high-strength fastener plant was commissioned in the Ryazan Region. But today in Russia there are many new companies that produce special fasteners, which cannot be done with the help of cold forging. It is also necessary to note the contribution of foreign companies in the Russian production of fasteners. For example, on the territory of GAZ in Nizhny Novgorod there works a Russian-Swedish enterprise Bulten Rus. Earlier in St. Petersburg there was a Russian-Finnish enterprise in which Sormat invested. Subsequently, it was bought out by the Russian partners, and now the plant of nylon fastener – Europartner – is successfully operating on this basis.

Large-scale construction projects of recent times for the Olympics and the World Cup provided orders for major manufacturers of fasteners. Now these manufacturers have begun to master import-substituting products, the implementation of which largely occurs through the trading companies.

At the factory of high-strength fasteners Bervel, founded in 2015

Among the entrepreneurs of the new generation, there is noticeable interest not only to the subject of sales of fasteners, but also to the subject of its production. Separate trading companies, having sustainably functioning sales channels and tracking the consumer needs, are beginning to master the release of certain positions from the range of products they sell. If we pay attention to the plastic fasteners, it should be noted that now the Russian manufacturers in large quantities produce what is required by builders and installers – plastic dowels, which, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, were actively imported into Russia.

Improving the regulatory framework will contribute to the further development of the Russian production of fasteners. The newly created Russian Fixing Union considers this task as a priority. Now the members of the Fixing Union are supporting the development of the Russian regulatory documents – GOSTs – standards for anchoring.
Today, it is difficult to get statistics on the fastener market in Russia. Some data is given in the messages from the members of "Prommetiz" association, which brings together several major manufacturers of metal products. So at the conference, organized by this association in autumn of 2018, it was said that the capacity of the fastener market in Russia is estimated at more than 350 thousand tons. A significant proportion of fasteners (about 70%) are imported from abroad. It was also noted there that in the Russian market there is a growing demand for modern types of fastening systems, which are not produced by the Russian industry or which are produced in insufficient volumes.

To a certain extent, exhibitions on this topic serve as an indicator of the development of the fastener market. If we turn to them, we need to say that at the moment in Russia there are actually no fastener exhibitions. But they were. And I am sure that such exhibitions will reappear, only when?

Brief information about the author of this note Alexander Ostashov – Chief Editor of “Fasteners, Adhesives, Tools and…” Magazine. 21 years ago, he began publishing the first Russian magazine on fasteners. Currently, he is a member of the Supervisory Board of the Russian Fixing Union and also conducts the Russian News sections in several foreign editions. Alexander Ostashov is the initiator and co-organizer of a number of events for players of the Russian fastener market. Currently being published “Fasteners, Adhesives, Tools and…” Magazine is the basis of a media project. The main objectives of this project are to increase the competence of participants of the fastener market and integration of specialists from different regions and different industries interested in the development of the Russian fastener market.