OREANDA-NEWS. November 06, 2014. GAZ group, a member of Russian Machines holding, which consolidates machine building assets of Basic Element group, and Bulten, Swedish manufacturer of fasteners, have declared opening of a joint venture Bulten-Rus organized at the production facilities of Gorky Automobile Plant.

The new enterprise, established for production of vehicle fasteners corresponding to the world quality standards, has become the first Bulten production site in Russia.

In accordance with the cooperation agreement between GAZ Group and Bulten company, signed in 2012, Bulten-Rus LLC will perform activities on development and manufacture of fasteners for automotive industry of Russia and CIS countries. In particular, the JV plans to supply its products to foreign automakers, which localize their production in Russia.

For implementing this project GAZ renders its production competencies and infrastructure. Bulten company, when supplying fasteners to global automobile companies and being interested in expanding its business in Russia, is in charge of the products development, introduction of new technologies and distribution. The total amount of investments contributed by GAZ and Bulten in creation of the new production made up 12 mln. Euro.  

Within the framework of the activities on organizing this enterprise, 12.5 thousand square meters of production areas have been reconditioned and new equipment of Italian, Japanese and Chinese manufacturers have been installed there to provide all stages of the complete fasteners production cycle – cold heading, thread rolling and heat treatment. The annual production capacity of Bulten-Rus LLC will be as much as 6-8 thousand tons depending on the range of products, the starting capacity is 4 thousand tons.

President of GAZ Group Mr. Vadim Sorokin: ”Establishin of the high-tech JV with Bulten is an important step in implementing the strategy of Russian automobile industry in terms of localization of autocomponents production and import substitution. Bulten-Rus will continue our projects aimed at creating up-to-date world-class component productions within GAZ perimeters. The JV products will be used for the new family of GAZ commercial vehicle NEXT, as well as supplied to other automakers working in Russia”.

President and CEO of Bulten Mr. Tommy Andersson: “Bulten is a company with long experience in fastener manufacturing, founded in 1873. Bulten’s capability to produce and develop high quality fasteners has made Bulten a major player in the Automotive market. Bulten has production units in Sweden, Germany, Poland and China. Bulten RUS will be the Group’s fifth unit and will bring production of quality fasteners to the CIS market. Bulten and GAZ have in a very cost effective way created a modern production facility together and I do believe that we will be successful in Russia”.