Purpose and Structure.

The Automotive Spring Workshop makes automotive springs for cars and trucks.

The Automotive Spring Workshop makes automotive springs for cars and trucks. 

The first commercial spring was produced by ASW in 1973, and, at the same time, the workshop commissioning record was signed.  Over the said period, considerable experience has been gained in the production process, engineering, and bringing new types of products under production, and a high-level quality of the springs produced has been reached, which is confirmed by the majority of the consumers.  Presently, this is the largest spring production operation in Russia and CIS. 

OAO CMW’s spring production has a higher level of technological process mechanization and automation compared to other enterprises (CKPZ, GAZ, and others). 

The necessary process parameters are set by automated systems and are virtually independent of the attending personnel.  OAO CWS’s spring production is the only operation in CIS where the production process, i.e. the heat treatment process, is fully automated, ensuring sustained performance and a long spring service life. 

Structure of Production

The automotive spring workshop is intended for manufacturing plate springs for transport vehicles. 

The workshop includes 2 buildings accommodating the following basic sections:

• press forging section;
• heat treatment and assembly section;
• painting section and finished product storage.

Press Forging Section.

This section performs blanking operations to prepare spring plates for heat treatment and spring assembly.  For this purpose, there are 16 chopping and finishing lines for chopping, hole punching, end bending, edge shaping, etc.

The rolled spring strips arrive at the metal storage from the 370 mill, where they are stored depending on length, cross-section, and grade.  The strip fed to the chopping line by manual single-piece feeding is forwarded to the roller bed and onward as far as the chopping press abutment.  After the press operation, the length of strip (spring plate) is laid into a specialized container.

Depending on the spring types manufactured, a portion of the plate blanks undergoes finishing operations.  Following that, the blanks are fed to the heat treatment and assembly section.  During production, the press forging section generates metal cutoff pieces as a result of both chopping and finishing operations.  This waste is used in the factory's production operations.

Heat Treatment and Assembly Section.

This is the main section of the automotive spring workshop, since it is here that the automotive springs undergo heat treatment and assembly. 

The section has 11 heat treatment lines including a quench furnace, a bending and quenching unit, a tempering furnace, as well as a shotblast unit. 

The blanks laid manually onto special pads are automatically fed to the furnace to be heated for 10-30 minutes (depending on the plate cross-section) to a temperature of 880-950°C.  Further on, the spring plates are automatically forwarded to the bending die parting plane mounted on the bending and quenching drum (BQD).  As BQD turns, the die closes and the heated plate is submerged into an oil bath in the position curved to the required radius.  Following a turnover in the oil bath, the curved and quenched plate is conveyed to the tempering furnace.  After tempering, the plate is water-cooled and then fed to the shotblast unit for face-hardening of the spring plate’s dished part.  The hardened spring plates are forwarded for assembly.  Prior to final assembly, additional operations (clamp and plate riveting, bushing pressing-in) are performed. 

During production, the main types of waste generated at this section are scale and I-20 used oil.  These wastes are used in the factory's production operations (the scale is used for sinter production and the used oil is added oil fuel). 

Finished Product Storage.

The spring packages surrendered to the finished product storage are painted with special paint (MS-17) by immersing in a paint tank followed by drying and stacking separately by spring types.  The springs are shipped to the consumers in the Ministry of Railways cars and open box cars and by motor transport.

Production Facilities

In 1968, according to the USSR Automotive Industry Development Master Plan, the Chusovoy Metallurgical Works started building a workshop to manufacture automotive springs for the ZiL auto maker with a designed output of 150 kt/a of automotive springs.

Product Range

• GAZ – 18 spring types including one few-plate spring (FPS); 
• Moskvich – 6 spring types; 
• UAZ – 7 spring types, including two FPSs; 
• RAF -1 spring type; 
• KamAZ – 24 spring types, including 6 promising ones which are unique in Russia and CIS countries made using the bulk surface hardening technique and 3 FPSs; 
• ZiL – 16 spring types; 
• URAL – 12 spring types;
• MAZ - 10 spring types;
• KrAZ - 6 spring types;
• PAZ - 3 spring types;
• LAZ - 2 spring types;
• LIAZ - 1 spring type;
• for trolley-bus suspension – 2 spring types;
• for motor transport vehicle trailer suspension – 14 spring types; 
• products for the Ministry of Railways – such as spring/rail connectors, inserted washers for reinforced-concrete ties, plates for R-33 railroad rails.