NEW COMPANY
IN A «NEW COUNTRY»
Development of the future Russian leader of polymer composite-materials market began with its registration on August 19 — day one of the August putsch and the beginning of the fall of the Soviet Union. Against the backdrop of the general recession of the domestic industry at that time, and after careful analysis of the situation, the management made a risky but wise decision — to organize its own production of polymer composite materials with a wide range of application properties. The company’s forefathers are M. Gorilovsky, A. Turevsky and N. Kornoukhov.
As a result of hard work of the whole team, in an environment of the country’s severe economic crisis, the first 240 tons of composites were manufactured on the leased equipment at the Kuskovsky plastics plant — and successfully sold afterward.
That year, POLYPLASTIC confidently carved out its niche on the Russian market of polymer materials: so began the company’s steady production increases that continue to this day. The company fostered close cooperation with numerous partners, such as industrial enterprises in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and the Baltics — many of them were only able to continue production as a result of POLYPLASTIC’s assistance.
CONSTRUCTION OF THE FIRST PRODUCTION SITE
The company acquired its own office at Academicheskaya Street. Construction of the first production building in Ochakovo began.
Diversification takes off: cooperation with large polymer plants.
Sales of polystyrene and polypropylene reached 40 000 tons per year.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMPANY’S OWN FORMULATIONS AND FIRST TRADEMARKS – ARMLEN AND ARMAMID
The company’s management strives to produce with the use of its own formulations based on in-house technological advancements and the creation of a proprietary line of brand-name polymer composite materials. The company’s first trademarks have been registered: ARMLEN® (composites based on polypropylene) and ARMAMID® (composites based on polyamide-6). The range of glass-filled and mineral-filled composites will amount to 12 brands by the end of the year.
Cooperation began with Russia’s largest car manufacturers — the Gorky and Volga automobile plants and other manufacturers of car components. Through expansion, the company helped many enterprises in the domestic automotive industry survive. A processing line, based on a two-worm extruder by ICMA with an output of 3000 tons/year, was commissioned.
In 1994, more than 1000 tons of finished product were shipped.
R&D CENTER – PART OF THE COMPANY
The R&D center, equipped with the most modern equipment for plastics research, is a standalone corporate structure which, throughout the enterprise’s history, has been providing premium quality — not only in terms of research on the properties of various materials and their quality control, but also in terms of the development of new brands — since the pursuit of innovation has always been one of the company’s distinctive features;
To overcome lingering post-crisis phenomena in a market where the barter-payment system prevailed, the company opened its own car showroom — it sold 200 cars in its first year of operation alone and went on to sell more than 10,000. The car showroom played an important role in the fate of composite production, having provided the company with certain advantages over its competitors.
Acquisition of the “AND Gaztrubplast” plant.
THE COMPANY’S FIFTH ANNIVERSARY
The second industrial complex in Ochakovo is constructed
Towards the company’s fifth anniversary, despite a difficult economic situation in the country, POLYPLASTIC was standing on its own two feet: during the year, 2500 tons of composite materials were produced.
POLYPLASTIC DOUBLES ITS OUTPUT
Intensive development of the company continues. The second industrial shop is commissioned. The processing line gained the two-worm ZSK-70 extruder, which made it possible to increase composite production output by 70%. Output gains reached more than 50%.
Materials intended not only for the automotive industry, but also for electrical equipment, railway transport and other industries, were actively promoted.
The high level of the composite production quality system is recognized with the GOST ISO9001 certificate.
Because of the financial crisis, the company was forced to significantly reduce production. However, owing to the prompt actions of the commercial service under the leadership of A. Menshov and the well-coordinated work of the team, the market crash was overcome with minimum losses. By the end of the year, the company had managed to restore its output.
THE 5000-TON THRESHOLD IS PASSED
5000 tons of composite materials are produced. The company’s production capacity ceased to meet rapidly-growing demand — for the first time ever, POLYPLASTIC had to make up for part of production using third-party capacities. The decision was made to replace the outdated extruder by ICMA with a more powerful and automated megacompounder by Werner&Pfleiderer.
MERGER WITH THE TEKHNOPOL COMPANY
A major event in terms of strengthening the enterprise’s positions on the engineering plastics market took place: merger with a former competitor — TEKHNOPOL CJSC. As a result, the newly-merged company acquired the strongest composite material R&D center in Russia under the leadership of research director M. Katsevman.
The brand range was qualitatively expanded: the production of composite materials based on polyamide-66 (Technamid А®) and polybutylene terephthalate (Technoter®) began.
The commissioned megacompounder made it possible to produce and jointly sell more than 8,000 tons of composites.
TEN-YEAR MILESTONE PASSED
The output of polymer composite materials increased in approximately 55-fold and reached 13,290 tons. The company employs 200 workers and produces more than 200 brands of composite materials for various industries.
PRODUCTION LAUNCH OF POLYETHYLENE PIPES
Along with composite materials and the production of polyethylene pipes, a third area emerged for Polyplastic Group — polyethylene pipes for gas and water supply.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 15,000 tons of composite materials had been sold.
SITE COMMISSIONING IN TOGLIATTI
Together with KuybyshevAzot OJSC, a production of composite materials was launched — Volgaplast. This production facility, with an initial output of about 5000 tons/year, further expanded to 12,000 tons/year, and located in a region known for its mass consumption of composites, played a big role in the further development of the composite production area at Polyplastic Group.
By the end of the year, 18,000 tons of composite materials had been produced and sold.
A new shop for the production of composite materials with an output capacity of more than 8,000 tons, equipped with two extrusive lines by Berstorff, was commissioned. The constructed shop was at that time the most modern in Europe; it still produces a wide range of high-quality products.
Aim is taken at the diversification of areas of product application. Materials are used in railway transport, mechanical engineering, electrical equipment, household appliances and other industries.
Against the backdrop of a sharp increase in oil prices, the cost of basic raw materials increased. At the same time, a weak increase in prices for finished products was observed in view of intense competition. However, these difficulties were largely overcome due to an increase in the production of composite materials by 44% (more than 24,000 tons).
CONSOLIDATION OF THE ENTERPRISES UNDER A SINGLE BRAND - POLYPLASTIC GROUP
Formation of a uniform management structure, development of long-term expansion programs and capitalization of the group. Within the scope of these plans, the modernization and full replacement of composite-production equipment was achieved.
The company led the Russian market of structural thermoplastics — 40% of the total amount of supplies, a share that it continues to control to this day.
NEW PRODUCTION SITE IN SARATOV
The production of composite materials in Saratov was launched, which provided for explosive growth in product sales in 45%. The basis for such growth was formed by materials for large household appliances (the so-called white goods), successfully introduced under the import substitution program.
The milestone of the year was the participation of the POLYPLASTIC Group at the Kunststoffe international exhibition in Düsseldorf (K-2007), where the company acted for the first time as a large, competent participant on the European plastics market.
In 2007, more than 40 thousand tons of composite materials were sold for the first time.
LOCALIZATION STARTING POINT
By 2008, the brand range had been expanded to a degree that let the company rise to the global level: Polyplastic became a supplier for most international plastics processing companies in Russia.
Active measures were undertaken to localize the compositions utilised in the production auto parts for many foreign car manufacturers launching plants in Russia. Large-scale projects for the development of materials for the construction industry were launched.
After the outbreak of the global financial crisis, the company found itself among the lucky few with gross losses of only 22-23%;
GROWTH STRATEGY IN SPITE OF THE CRISIS
Recession and stagnation on the absolute majority of markets characterized the year. The Russian market only began to recover by fall, having somewhat made up for the declines suffered in the first half of the year. Within the scope of the anti-crisis program, it was decided to transfer a part of production capacities from Moscow to Saratov. The technology was developed and the first lots of high-filled superconcentrates were produced to replace their imported counterparts.
At the end of the year, the long-awaited relocation to the new office at BC Ochakovo took place, which was seen as marking the end of the acute phase of crisis and the revival of a growth strategy.
An efficient work demonstrated by all departments made it possible to surpass pre-crisis output levels. 42% growth in physical terms made it possible to exceed the best pre-crisis numbers by more than 15%.
Development of a promising new area began: the production of concentrates intended for packaging and pipe industry under the brand name of ARMOFLEN®.
THE COMPANY’S TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY
The company celebrates its 20-year anniversary as a leader of the Russian market of engineering plastics and boasts with a high R&D potential. It intends to carry out a lot of ambitious plans in the area of production and R&D involving polymer composite materials.
The range comprises more than 250 brands of materials for engineering and technical purposes for the automotive industry, machine-building industry, railroads, construction industry, household appliances, electrical equipment and electronics — practically all industries where plastics can be applied.
The year was another period of intense and productive work for our team, which made a big contribution to the further development of the company. Total output and, respectively, product sales grew considerably: from 60 in 2011 to 71.5 thousand tons in 2012. New extrusion lines for mineral-filled compositions were commissioned at the Saratov pipe plant. Sales geography expanded, in particular to Uzbekistan.
The company received international recognition — the status of a strategic supplier for the world's largest producer of household appliances — the INDEZIT company.
The company’s management made the decision to expand its production and marketing capacities in 2013 by virtue of the acquisition of the asset complex of one of Russia’s largest enterprises in composites materials production — FARM-PLAST LLC, located in Togliatti in close proximity to AVTOVAZ OJSC and its suppliers — the crucial consumers of polymer materials in the Volga Federal Region. Upon acquisition of this asset complex, the company significantly increased its share of the market for composite materials for engineering and technical purposes.
At the beginning of the year, the company received a top award in the area of composite materials and design — the JEC Awards — in the category of “Consumer Goods” for its new reinforced thermoplastic composite for washing-machine drums on par with Owens Corning (France) and the Indesit Company. At the end of the year, the POLYPLASTIC Company received the “Polymers of Russia 2014” award in the category of “Car Industry” in the “Exterior and Underhood Space” nomination. The awards received in 2014 are another demonstration of the company’s high performance in the automotive and white goods industries.
DESIRE FOR IMPORT SUBSTITUTION
Our company spent the year 2015 under the auspices of import substitution. A new high-volume production line for the compounding of polymer composite materials has been launched at the R&P POLYPLASTIC site in Engels. Our company signed an agreement with the Ministry of economic development and investments on the implementation of the invest project “Creation of a compatible production environment of composite thermoplastic materials. A new and successful strategy for business diversification on the energy markets has been developed. On May 12, 2015, our company joined the List of enterprises having significant impact on trade and industry in the Russian Federation.
QUARTER OF A CENTURY WITH THE COUNTRY
In 2016, our company celebrated its 25th Birthday. This event was celebrated under the “Quarter of a century with the country” banner. At the celebration, our longstanding strategic partners joined us. A pilot production line was launched at our Science and Technology Centre in Moscow. Two extrusion lines were passed over to the Centre to take up processes of manufacturing new materials. Delegation of our company took part in the K-2016 International Exhibition in Dusseldorf for the 8th time. A landmark event for our company was the production of the millionth ton of compound materials. This event was celebrated at our production plant in Togliatti with our major consumer – AVTOVAZ.
During the year, R&P POLYPLASTIC has been actively developing supplies both in Russia and abroad. In particular, within the framework of the Export Rush program, the first delivery was made to Gorenje plant in Slovenia. The company has actively participated in international exhibitions and conferences. Specialists of R&P POLYPLASTIC visited Interplastica, the Russian Automobile Forum, Cabex cable fair, Rosplast show and Fakuma international exhibition in Germany. Summarizing the year, sales of Polyplastic composite division increased by 9%.
2018 was marked by the development of export sales. One of the main events was participation of the Research and Production Enterprise POLYPLASTIC in the first international Compounding World Expo 2018 - the largest event for equipment suppliers, consumers and compounders from around the world. A number of agreements have been signed with well-known international distribution companies. In particular, Polytrade Global took over the promotion of the products of R&P POLYPLASTIC in Germany. For the first time in the company's history, more than 80 thousand tons of products were delivered to consumers.
In 2019, the specialists of R&P POLYPLASTIC actively worked on the development of new directions. At Cabex exhibition, in which the company participated for the first time with its own booth, the latest material grades for cable production were presented, namely Armlen PP-9MEX and Armlen PO MD 65-1FREX. The development of export sales continued. Polystylex company started to distribute the products of the Research and Production Enterprise "POLYPLASTIC" in the Baltic states. Representatives of Polyplastic composite division took part in Plastpol exhibition in Poland. Moreover, the company participated with its own booth at the largest international polymer exhibition K-Show in Germany.
In 2020, the development and implementation of nanocomposite polymer materials using carbon nanomaterials began. Successful tests of a car wing made of an electrically conductive polymer painted by an electrostatic method were performed. This development of R&P POLYPLASTIC is a breakthrough not only for the Russian, but also for the world market. Polyplastic Trading House also managed to achieve substantial success. Serial deliveries of materials for the production of the bumper group to the molder of the South Korean automotive corporation Hyundai – Mobis have started.