Rostov Tractor Plant as the Ascent to a New Orbit

The tractor plant construction project announced by Rostselmash owners early this year is taking shape. The site was selected in Rostov-on-Don and assessed. The construction of the plant will become one of the most ambitious Russian machine building projects in recent years. No similar plants have been built for several decades. 

Rostov-on-Don accommodates an uncompleted building of the Kopnitel (which means ‘stacker’) plant that was erected 30 years ago and is currently half-deserted on the outskirts of the city. About 14 ha of land and 62 thousand sq. m of production facilities have never seen new industrial machines. The facility has been long preserved, but now this unattractive building is awaiting a deep renovation. Rostselmash Group made the decision to build a special stand-alone tractor plant. This project will be implemented by the year 2023. According to different estimates, the clearance and the preparation of new production facilities may cost 2 to 3 bln roubles. At the end, the plant will obtain a new modern enterprise with a total production area of 42 thousand sq m. Once launched, the plant will manufacture 10 to 15 machines per shift on different assembly lines (now there is one assembly line for various series).

The own manufacture of tractors is a relatively new Rostselmash history. The company’s owners are known to have purchased the Buhler Versatile tractor plant in Canada in 2007. Rostselmash, the largest Russian and one of the world-largest manufacturers of combine harvesters, was interested in diversifying its production and selling a wide range of agricultural machinery. In 2009, the assembly of semi knocked-down Versatile tractors was launched already in Rostov-on-Don. In 2016, a separate manufacture of tractors was launched in one of Rostselmash shops.

The today’s Rostselmash tractor manufacture is deployed in several shops, including assembly shop (6000 sq. m), break-in and acceptance test shop (1500 sq. m), as well as component welding shop (3500 sq. m), the area for making the entire range of cut metal sheets and pipes at the Rostov Press-Cutting Works (RPCW included in Rostselmash Group) required for assembling RSM tractors, and axle machining and welding shop (500 sq m).

The design office that was established specially for developing the tractor line was set the task to prepare the base for manufacturing the Versatile2375 model using only domestic components. Based on the experience of operation of the first machines and the clients’ feedback, it was decided to introduce a number of ‘local’ innovations. Rostselmash designed the extended version of the same series (RSM 2400 articulated 4WD tractor) and started its serial manufacture in 2018.

The manufacture of tractors at Rostselmash fully complies with Governmental Decree No. 719 dated October 1, 2015 concerning the criteria for classifying industrial products as Russian ones, which allows the growers that purchase the RSM 2375 tractor to count on subsidies from the government. Tractors and self-propelled combine harvesters are considered to be domestic, if at least 14 process operations are localized in the country. With this respect, RSM 2375 has long been a Russian tractor. All its parts and components (other than the engine and so far the transmission) are being made at both Rostselmash, and different national plants all over the country.

The company’s production facilities allow a maximum annual output of 1000 tractors, which is comparable to that of many large Russian plants that were founded back in the Soviet period. Today over 2 thousand Rostselmash Series 2000 tractors are being used in the fields of Russia, the CIS states, as well as a number of European and even African countries; the sales are growing by 15-20% per year on average. We also designed a new model of the same series (RSM 2400) that has a higher performance and engine horsepower.

In 2019, Rostselmash launched a new line of tractors. This is Series 3000 (with an engine power of 442-583 h.p.). Today this segment is only occupied by foreign players, i.e. the Big Three representatives, namely: Case/New Holland, John Deere, CLAAS. Now Rostselmash is the only company in the CIS region that manufactures tractors with a high power beginning from 440 h.p.

The Rostselmash product strategy also implies mastering the manufacture of tracked tractors based on Series 3000, and implementing a completely new project of Series 1000 classic configuration machines (270-370 h.p.). These are 4WD machines for small farms that are being assembled from semi knocked-down kits at Rostselmash.

We also plan to launch the manufacture of new-generation conventional tractors (170-250 h.p.) that the Canadian company Buhler just started manufacturing in 2019. These machines are made both for the Japanese company KUBOTA, and under the own brand Versatile Nemesis. We also plan to move the manufacture of this model to a Russian site. The machine has a good export potential, for example, it is indispensable for small European farms. The tractor will be named RSM 1000, but the consumer will be able to choose the machinery from the wide horsepower range of engines.

Certainly, the existing shop areas will be insufficient for Series 1000 manufacturing facilities and also for the complete manufacturing cycle of other tractor series, therefore the construction of the tractor plant for Rostselmash that would meet the needs of growers for tractors in all segments is inevitable.