ECONOMY The Minsk Times Thursday, October 11, 2012 5 BelAZ conquers Las Vegas Belarusian dump trucks arouse huge interest among mining companies

By Kirill Pirogov “It’s taken over two months for evening and, even, at night; it sur- the truck to reach its destination,” prised the Americans greatly. Th ey Th e international exhibition is an explains the General Director of could hardly believe that such com- Olympiad for all mining enterprises Western Technologies (specialising plicated work could be done under every four years, in American Las in the promotion of BelAZ trucks artifi cial lighting and that we com- Vegas. It gathers the largest produc- to North America), Dmitry Tikho- pleted it in time. Th ey even came ers of quarry machinery from around molov, who helped organise the Be- to take photos next to the truck,” the world, who demonstrate their lat- larusian stand at MINExpo. He notes muses Mr. Semenov. est developments, competing to be that the truck travelled for almost 45 Th e gigantic truck was driven known as strongest in this narrow days by sea from Klaipeda port and the last few kilometres of its route, but prestigious market. Th is year, the by train, needing 16 platforms to arousing huge interest among Las Belarusian 360 tonne BelAZ-75603 transport it in disassembled form. Vegas drivers and passers-by. It also took part, creating a real stir among Assembly at its destination was the caused a stir among professionals, such giants as Caterpillar, Komatsu most complicated task, since it’s easily rivalling other such mining and Liebherr. Every day, hundreds of tricky even in the home workshop vehicles at the exhibition. visitors visited its stand, allowing sev- — despite being routine. Assembly A network of dealers (already eral contracts to be concluded with in the ‘fi eld’ presents a massive chal- operational in America) has agreed global mining leaders. As ever, the lenge — especially taking into ac- Negotiations in Las Vegas to provide aft er-sales service for the most interesting facts failed to be pho- count the weight of a single wheel Zhodino trucks, explains the Gener- tographed or covered by offi cial press (more than that of a small truck). who helped with assembly. Con- Th e assembly of the giant truck al Director of the Belarusian Auto- releases. A joint group of Belarusian and ducted in the open air, under the took a team of eleven and two weeks, mobile Works, Piotr Parkhomchik. Th is was the fi rst time that BelAZ American designers — headed by hot sun, the task was even harder. with the last days seeing the lift ing of He notes that the recent MINExpo had demonstrated its impressive deputy chief designer Leonid Se- It’s really quite unpleasant to be out- a platform by two 150 tonne cranes, was a milestone for his company, dump truck in Vegas, since thousands menov — oversaw this complicated side when the temperature is over for placement on bridge stands saying, “Everyone was impressed by of kilometres separate Belarusian task in Las Vegas. He notes, “Part- 40 degrees and we had to assemble (each weighing over 100 tonnes). us transporting a 360 tonne dump Zhodino from the desert location. It ners from American Jas company the giant mechanisms with great ac- However, as Mr. Semenov admits, truck to the exhibition. From the would be a challenge to send a small provided the cranes without which curacy.” Mr. Semenov adds, “Taking painting was the most challenging fi rst day of opening, our stand at- passenger car so, naturally, delivery of it would have been impossible to into consideration these conditions, element, as the truck had lost its tracted the greatest number of spec- monster-size trucks is a unique chal- unload the BelAZ components. we decided to start as early in the lustre aft er the long sea journey; of tators. We conducted numerous lenge. Moreover, we were assisted by a day as possible. By 6am, our team course, a show like MINExpo relies talks with the largest companies, Every day, MAZ produces sev- group of highly qu a l i - was ready, achieving as much by on each truck looking impressive! who expressed interest in purchas- eral dozen dump trucks, each taking a fi ed mechanics lunchtime as is usually seen in “It’s a diffi cult job to paint a BelAZ ing Belarusian machinery. Th e exhi- whole month to assemble, since com- an eight hour work- truck but, in the USA, we faced the bition is organised every four years ponents are many and sourced from ing day.” additional diffi culty of local legisla- exclusively for professionals so I all over the globe before the fi nished tion. You can’t paint vehicles in the have no doubt that — even against article is sent to mine copper, coal or open air with the usual painting de- the existing competition — we’ll salt. Russia, Ukraine, Venezuela and vices since electrostatic paint conclude new contracts and fi nd Chile are among existing customers spraying is impossible at new buyers in South and Central for 50-100 tonne BelAZ trucks. such a temperature. So, America.” Th e 360 tonne exposition we had to paint the truck vehicle is, of course, in the even larger.

Such machines impress everyone Great presentation Opinions change, science remains

Belarus presents powerful MTZ representatives from Belarus. Some think that Belarus of Belarusian specialists. From 2004- EurAsEC Microelectronics of the 21st tractors to Ukraine Minsk Tractor Works was signifi cantly lags behind 2011, they introduced 184 newly Century inter-state programme. RUE Minsk Tractor Works, founded in 1946 and is now part the West in the sphere of competitive high-tech goods, raising Th e Scientifi c and Practical Mate- alongside Slavyanskaya Tekhnologi- of the Industry Ministry, produc- electronics. Belmicrosystems export supplies; currency earnings rials Research Centre of the National ya JSC and Lidagropromash JSC, ing over 60 models and modifi ca- Scientifi c and Technical Centre rose 4.5-fold. Meanwhile, 2010-2011 Academy of Sciences of Belarus and has demonstrated its powerful ‘Be- tions of tractors and machinery, in — a branch of Integral JSC has seen Integral’s sales volumes Integral JSC have claimed the 2012 larus 3522’ and ‘Belarus 3022DTs.1’ more than 100 versions, tailored to — aims to change this opinion. reach 40 percent of the total from the State Award for Science and Technol- tractors. Four of the tractors were suit various climatic conditions and Russian satellites and rocket car- last 8 years. ogy for developing and organising the sent to Ukraine to take part in a work purposes. Conveniently, the riers, positioning and navigation Th is work has a very important industrial manufacture of specialised major demonstration of their tech- latest models are compatible with systems, board radar stations and socio-political aspect, providing micro-electronic products with dual nical characteristics. Th e Ukrainian equipment made by various other weapon direction systems, as well as technological independence from and special purposes. Th ree special- Ministry for Agrarian Policy and brands. RUE MTZ’s machinery is aircraft and helicopter control pan- foreign manufacturers. It also rein- ists are sharing the honour, inlud- Food and heads of regional agro-in- suitable for use at forestries, com- els, strategic armaments, air defence, forces ties with Russia and enhances ing the Director of Integral’s Belmi- dustries watched the demonstration, munal works and mines; it employs anti-missile defence and counter- the competitiveness of our defence crosystems Scientifi c and Technical alongside Ukrainian farmers and around 30,000 workers. measure systems use developments technology while helping fulfi l the Centre, Sergey Shvedov.