Altai Tractor Plant

In October 1941, the Supreme Council of the National Economy of the USSR adopted a resolution on the construction of the Altai Tractor Plant in the city of Rubtsovsk , Altai Territory. The need to build a new tractor plant in the Siberian outback was caused by the outbreak of World War II, when the Germans were actively invading the east. In a hurry, the equipment was evacuated from KhTZ ( Kharkov Tractor Plant ), OZSM ( Odessa Agricultural Engineering Plant ). and STZ ( Stalingrad Tractor Plant ). In early 1942, the first set of equipment of the Kharkov Tractor Plant arrived in Rubtsovsk. The famous Altai caterpillar tractors were to be assembled on this equipment. The first caterpillar tractor ASKhTZ-NATI was released at a difficult time for the Motherland - on August 24, 1942, when the Stalingraders heroically defended the firstborn of Soviet tractor construction on the Volga.

Altai Tractor Plant became the only plant in the country where it was possible to purchase tracked tractors for the needs of the front and rear. Already in December 1943, the plant produced the first thousand caterpillar tractors.

In December 1944, the first prototype of the DT-54 caterpillar agricultural tractor was manufactured here, which later gained popularity among machine operators in our country and abroad. The new generation caterpillar tractor model was so successful that in 1949 the DT-54 caterpillar tractor began to produce the Stalingrad Tractor Plant. This caterpillar tractor served as the basis for the production of the most popular and massive caterpillar tractor in the USSR DT-75 . The DT-54 tracked tractor model with bulldozer equipment was also popular. The caterpillar bulldozer DT-54 was one of the first bulldozers in the country.

By the end of the forties, the Altai Tractor Plant surpassed the Kharkov Tractor Plant in terms of the number of tractors produced. This happened due to the in-line conveyor type production system introduced at the plant.

On July 1, 1946, the Altai Tractor Plant was named after M. I. Kalinin .

In 1956, a decision was made to organize the production of caterpillar skidders for the forest industry at the Altai Tractor Plant. At the beginning of 1957, ATZ released a transitional model of the skidding tractor TDT-55 (Diesel skidding tractor). The prototype of this skidder was the TDT-40 developed in 1954 at the Minsk Tractor Plant in collaboration with NATI. Subsequently, the TDT-40 skidder was produced by the Onega Tractor Plant . In September 1957, without stopping the production of an agricultural tractor, the first TDT-60 crawler tractor was assembled for forestry operations, on the radiator of which the familiar three letters "ATZ" stood out. It differed from TDT-55 with a forced engine developing a capacity of 60 liters. with. TDT-60 was a more powerful skidder than its predecessors TDT-40 and TDT-55.

The TDT-60 skidder had good cross-country ability and high traction characteristics. At the International Exhibition in Brussels, the TDT-60 crawler skidder was awarded the highest award - the 1st degree diploma and the Grand Prix gold prize.

On the basis of the TDT-60 skidder, various technological attachments were already installed. A crawler dumper is one example of such a development. Caterpillar dump trucks were in great demand during quarrying, as well as on construction sites in absolute off-road conditions.

With the development of the production of skidders, the Altai Tractor Plant has become one of the largest enterprises in the east of the country.

The designers of the Altai Tractor Plant continued to work on a more powerful skidder. On the basis of the TDT-60 serial tracked tractor, they produced the TDT-75 tracked skidder tractor, as well as the TST-80 tracked transport vehicle for off-road transportation of goods.

At the same time, a forest harvester VTM-4, created at the Altai Tractor Plant, stormed the taiga in a number of forestry enterprises of the country, and the first T-4A tractor came off the main assembly line of the plant. One of the most successful models is the T-4A tractor. This tractor was manufactured from 1970 to 1998. The release of the new tractor was a significant milestone in the life of the team. In addition to a powerful 130-horsepower engine, the T-4A tractor differed from its predecessor T-4 in more reliable units and better conveniences for the operation of machine operators. In 1972, the T-4A agricultural tractor and TT-4 skidder were presented at the International Exhibition in Poznan (Poland). No less popular tractor was the T-4AP - a tracked bulldozer based on the T-4A tractor. The T-4AP tractor is designed for construction and road works.

In 1974, the company was renamed the Altai Tractor Plant production association. In the 70s-80s, the Altai Tractor Plant was one of the largest industrial enterprises in the USSR. In 1984, not only in the region, but also in the country, they started talking about a new generation tractor - the fifth-class caterpillar agricultural tractor T-250 , which was created at the ATZ, passed successful tests with the Challenger-65 tractor of the American company Caterpillar and was recommended for production.

In the beginning of the 90s, due to objective economic reasons, the demand for manufactured tractors fell sharply. State tractor plants were privatized and transferred to private hands. These were difficult times for the entire industry, sales fell sharply. Not everyone could buy a skidding or agricultural tractor. Nevertheless, tremendous work has been done to expand the scope of application of tracked tractors. The production of many units and parts on their premises has begun (previously they were procured on the side).

In 1990, the engineers of the Altai Tractor Plant modified the TT-4 forest skidder. The new model is called TT-4M (modernized). TT-4 has undergone a number of changes, from the engine to the external layout of the operator’s cab.

The construction of the plant was started in January 1942 on the basis of the equipment of the Kharkov Tractor Plant evacuated during the Great Patriotic War (the evacuation itself began in October 1941, and the first workshops began to be assembled in December) ^[2] . In August of the same year, the first ATZ-NATI tractor was produced, and in December 1943 the plant produced the first thousand tractors ^[2] .

Production at the Altai Tractor Plant was initially organized on the basis of a flow system and conveyors . By the end of the first post-war five-year plan, the plant surpassed the number of KhTZ tractors produced ^[1] . From [1952]] and until 1979 the plant produced the DT-54 tractor ^[3] .

In 1967, the plant was awarded the Order of Lenin ^[2] .

The city of the same name appeared ATZ.

A branch of the Altai State Technical University named after I.I. Polzunova .

The plant was one of the largest centers of agricultural engineering in Western Siberia and quite large within the entire Soviet Union in the 70s and 80s.

After the collapse of the USSR, the plant began to reduce production, and in 2007 the slow bankruptcy of the plant actually began. In May 2010, due to the plant shutdown, low productivity and difficult financial situation at the plant, layoffs and delayed salaries began. They began a monthly hunger strike, which received sympathy among many other workers and residents of the Altai Territory.

In 2011, the plant went through the process of final bankruptcy. The last property of the company liquidated due to bankruptcy was sold in November 2011, and the factory archives went to the Rubtsovsk Museum of Local Lore. Currently ruined.

In 2013, Altai Tractor Plant LLC was created on the basis of the pilot production of the Altai Tractor Plant ^[4] . According to the owners, the production capacities of the LLC allow producing up to 500 tractors annually ^[5] .

In 2014, at the initiative of a group of former co-founders, together with the department, they create the newly formed structure of legal entities "ALTAI TRACTOR BUILDING ASSOCIATION" (ATO) - Altai Tractor LLC, Altai Tractor Plant LLC, AltaiAgroSnab LLC. From the first year, a new A-130 energy-saturated tractor was put into production and the serial production of T-402-01 and TT-4M tractors with a total volume of 30 units per year was resumed.

In July 2015, at the Siberian Agropark exhibition, the enterprise presented the Altai-130 universal tracked tractor of 3 traction class with a bulldozer mounted ^[6] .

In 2016, the ATO resumed production of a powerful energy-saturated tractor T-404 with torsion bar suspension of the 5th traction class.

Currently, the production of the association is concentrated at three production sites in the city of Rubtsovsk, one of which is still located on the legendary Traktornaya Street in the territory of the former ATZ.

At the beginning of 2018, Altai Tractor Plant LLC is a small company with an authorized capital of 20,000 rubles and zero financial statements for 2015 and 2016 ^[7] .

•   Wikimedia Commons has media related to Altai Tractor Plant products
• Website of Altai Tractor Production Association OJSC (Alttrak)