Phenomenon of state owned factories: the company BELAZ

The Republic of Belarus (former BSSR: Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic) is a country that emerged from the Soviet Union. As in all countries of the former Soviet Union (officially USSR: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), all enterprises in the BSSR were state-owned. After the collapse of the USSR, many small and large private enterprises emerged in Belarus. Despite this, we still have large state-owned enterprises that supply their products to many countries of the world.

The most developed industrial sectors in Belarus are food and beverage production, machine building, light industry, woodworking, petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals.

The Belarusian industry is represented by such major state-owned companies as OJSC Belaruskali, OJSC Mozyr Oil Refinery, OJSC Naftan, OJSC Belarusian Automobile Plant (BELAZ), OJSC Minsk Tractor Works (MTZ), OJSC Minsk Automobile Plant (MAZ), OJSC Belarusian Steel Works (BMZ), RUE Belmedpreparaty and many others.

We would like to acquaint our readers with some of the country’s most important state-owned enterprises that are all not really well-known in the West. In this article we will shed light on one the biggest state-owned enterprises, the company BELAZ.

JSC “Belarusian Automobile Plant” (BELAZ) is a manufacturer of heavy machinery, located in Zhodino, Minsk region. The company produces up to 30% of the world’s dump trucks. Its construction began in 1948 as a peat engineering plant, and in 1950 the plant manufactured its first product, a sprinkler truck. A year later, the factory was named Dormash, a plant for the construction of road and land reclamation machines. In 1958, the enterprise was renamed to Belarus Automobile Plant, and manufactured its first 25-tonne dump truck MAZ-525. In 1977 the enterprise produced BELAZ-7519 dump truck with payload capacity of 110 tons. The plant was constantly working on increasing the tonnage of dump trucks. Such famous dump trucks were produced as the BELAZ-75211 with a payload capacity of 170 tons, and BELAZ-75600, a basic dump truck of a payload capacity of 320-360 tons.

At the biggest dump truck of BELAZ | Photo: Svetlana Abehtikova

In 2013, the world’s first dump truck with a payload capacity of 450 tons, the BELAZ-75710, was created. This dump truck is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest two-axle dump truck with a nominal lifting capacity of 450 metric tons. Fuel consumption is 1,300 liters per 100 kilometers. Its length is 20.6 meters, with a width of 9.87 meters and a height of 8.26 meters. The diameter of a wheel is 4 meters. Its size is impressive, even in photos.

BELAZ produces not only dump trucks, but also loaders, bulldozers, machines for servicing mining and transportation works, machines for metallurgical plants, machines for underground work, railway freight cars, garage equipment, special clothing and much more.

BELAZ sells its products in more than 80 countries around the world. Mostly mining dump trucks with a payload capacity of 220-240 tons, 110-130 tons and 55-60 tons are sold.

What is particularly interesting for us is that BELAZ invites tourists to visit. You can come to this world of giants, visit the factory museum, take a guided tour of the huge factory grounds, visit the super-heavy machinery exhibition site, and take a ride on a dynamic dump truck simulator. And, of course, those who like an extreme experience can even take a drive in the cab of a dump truck with a driver on a specially created polygon. An unforgettable experience.

Join us on a tour through Belarus and a visit to BELAZ.