Last week Sergey Stepashin, Chairman of the Clearing House, visited KAMAZ Inc. to participate in ceremony of launching into production of a new EMAG piston line.

Starting the new line, Sergey Stepashin underlined that KAMAZ Inc. was setting a good example of proper investment in Russia. He said that the new equipment, ranking among the most advanced in Europe, would stimulate production development and bring it to a new higher level.

“KAMAZ is the best manufacturer not only in Russia, but in Europe too. Sometimes they ask if KAMAZ can be competitive on the world market. It surely can. The management of this company is doing its best to prove that”, - said Sergey Stepashin.

This piston line is both unique and universal. It costs USD8 million. In general, total amount of the Japanese investment into equipment of the Engine plant was USD120 million. The line was specially designed and manufactured for KAMAZ Inc. If to consider its level of equipment sophistication and flexibility the line became the first in Europe and was second to none back at that time. Later, similar lines were manufactured for other countries too. The piston line is quite compact: its 14 units occupy only 300 m?. It will output 60 000 various diameter piston sets per year ranging from 90mm to 150mm. The line will help to reduce labour content ten times as compared with the old one and will significantly cut production cost. Its capacity is 120 pistons per hour, which completely covers the needs of the main production. Only 7 maintenance workers will service the line. It took 3 months to compete the line’s installation and another 6 months to test it and put into operation.

“Introduction of the new line, which will supply components only for building new generation of KAMAZ engines, is providing us with opportunity to rank the first among the world engine manufacturers”, said the Chief Engineer of KAMAZ-Diesel Inc.

“The new equipment, delivered to KAMAZ Inc under Japanese credit line, will significantly improve quality of all the basic engine units”, said Irek Gumerov, Deputy

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