Zaporizhzhya Automobile Plant
Hello from the past
The production of any automobile begins with the “tailoring of the suit”, and therefore item number one in my program of visiting the plant in Zaporozhye was the stamping workshop. Once on the premises of the enterprise, I tried to see at least some details from the past, but apart from the tall yellow cranes, multi-colored containers and thick pipes, nothing was noticed: was the past left in the past? And only moving deeper into the plant, I saw neat gray buildings, which had not yet had time to be transformed by brilliant modernity. From the dark windows came the clang and rattle, and the imagination immediately drew in black and white pictures of old Soviet films, where the main characters had to invent something or at least overfulfil the plan in order to become an example for others.
The first thing that caught my eye when I entered the stamping shop was the huge yellow-green press, in which in large white letters it was printed: "USSR", "ZiL", "Moscow". I rejoiced - this is what I so wanted to see! These giants, probably, have been living here for half a century already, and every Zaporozhets who left the assembly line of the plant remembers their stamps. A livelier story is hard to come up with.
Zaporizhzhya Automobile Plant
New shift
Upon retirement, these silent harsh giants nostalgically follow the new shift. They listen to the rhythm of modern industrial music performed by strangers who come here. Automatic cutting lines, press automatic machines and other equipment - all are marked with foreign names: “Hitachi Zosen”, “Erfurt”, “Equal” … To the sound of thunder, clean sheets of metal transform into doors, then into the hood, or into the wings of a new car. The iron "outfit" is sewn in three workshops - large, medium and small stamping - and then sent to the welding workshop. Here, flexible and nimble guest workers from Italy, Germany and the USA, under the close supervision of young Ukrainians in blue uniforms, playfully connect the individual parts that make up different cars - Lanos, Fortsa, Chance and Vida ".
There is also a body geometry laboratory at the factory, where the measuring device scans the surface of the car with light touches, and then displays its three-dimensional image on the screen, on which you can make sure that the “suit” is sewn to measure.
Painting at the factory today is fully automated: nine large robots are on duty here, five of which apply color, and four - varnish. I specifically timed: the complete painting of one body takes about a minute and a half.
Zaporizhzhya Automobile Plant
Wherever I look, I see a lady
How long, briefly, I ended up in the assembly shop - and could not believe my eyes: women were predominantly on the entire line! Multi-colored bodies slowly moved along production lines on overhead and floor conveyors, and beauties, like bees, flew around them: buzzing with tools, they literally turned an iron case into a car before our eyes.
While I admired what I saw, a cheerful mustached uncle jumped into a brand new Vidu - and drove past me to the running-in stand. In the tightness chamber, the newborn ZAZ was bathed in trickles of water, then he passed a brake test, adjusted the wheels and headlights. And when he was about to go to the test track, I asked for passengers.
Vida calmly moved a couple of speed bumps, was shocked at the artificial bumps - and went back to the workshop, where other girls had already met her. They inspected the car for scratches and chips, and then wrote down the verdict in the report card: "the track has passed." As a passenger, I also had no complaints about the car: it passed its modest test with dignity.
Zaporizhzhya Automobile Plant
New is well forgotten old
Expanding the model range, Zaporizhzhya plant did not reinvent the wheel. Having bought a license for Chevrolet Lanos at one time, he showed the world his own ZAZ-Chance. A similar story happened with Aveo, which has turned into Vida and is now ready to enter the Russian market. The basic version - one and a half liters on the "arm" - will cost from 289, 000 rubles.
And there is nothing shameful in extending the life of an elderly model, making it more accessible, more popular. History, as we know, is cyclical: you have not forgotten that the very first Zaporozhets was also created in the image and likeness of the FIAT-600?
