BAKU OIL FIELD MACHINE BUILDING WORKS SHIFTS TO API AND ISO 9001 STANDARDS

The Baku Oil Field Machine Building Works (BOFMBW), a subsidiary open stock company is a vivid history of the oil machine building in this country. As the first enterprise of the industry in Azerbaijan, the plant fabricated her first produce in 1880, when it was named Mechanical Workshops of Nobel Brothers.

The plant's putting into operation in the chief oil region of the world at that time was of tremendous significance. Just a few years later intensive work started at the plant in creating oil equipment, which could compete with the one imported most successfully, and met in large scale the needs of rapidly growing oil, oil producing and refining industry of both Azerbaijan and Russia.

Rapid growth of the oil output in Baku in the second half of the 19th century persistently required its provision with necessary equipment. In many oil regions various mechanical enterprises sprang out. Initially the repair of oil field equipment was organized in them, and later they began manufacturing various mechanisms and instruments.

The archive documents available testify that the Oil Production Society of Nobel Brothers bought in 1875 the kerosene plant of the Tiflis Society, which had mechanical workshops, blacksmith's, steam boiler. Soon a blacksmith's, foundry, mechanical, model etc workshops and sections were built on the tidied up sandy Caspian coast a little away from the basic building of the Society. Nearby the carpenters workshop there was a small sawmill was erected. All the production area was equipped by the most efficient equipment of the time. This new industrial complex got the name Mechanical Workshops of Nobel Brothers. In 1899 the Company had an income of 4 mln roubles, and in the next 1900 more than 6 mln roubles. By 1900 more than 460 men worked in the mechanical workshops. In majority they were highly qualified workers. They not only repaired the oil field equipment practically of any make, but also manufactured boilers, reservoirs, drill instruments and other sophisticated products requiring highly exact treatment.

After the Soviet power was established in Azerbaijan and the oil industry was nationalised in May 1920, the plants of the former Nobel Brothers Society with its mechanical workshops entered the structure of AzNeftKom's 1st Group pf Plants (later AzNeft), and now the AzNeftKimyaMas Open Stock Company (OSC).

In 1926-1928 the plant was fundamentally reconstructed. It grew from a repair enterprise into an oil machine building plant, which began to manufacture necessary facilities to meet the needs of the oil fields, oil refineries, and trusts drilling the oil wells.

During the years of first five-year plan (1929-1933) the plant got specialised in fabricating the equipment for oil refineries. Its major production was the returbends, steam pumps, cast iron frameworks, coke cleaning buoys and other equipment.

In 1933-1937 the plant employees did everything they could to get rid of importing expensive equipment, like the Wartington-Silicon pumps, air turbines and 2-outlet returbends. At the same time the plant organised the [production of cast iron condensator pipes and winches.

In 1941 the routine rhythm of the work was broken, the fascist Germany attacked the Soviet Union perfidiously without declaring war. The Patriotic War was underway. The plant re-organised the production process in the shortest possible period to produce war products. Wives, sisters and children replaced the workers that went to the front.

The plant managed to reorganise swiftly and in an organised way the production for the peaceful period after the war, resuming production of the traditional for the plant oil equipment and growing its production.

Before the collapse of the Soviet Union the plant used to export its production to 16 countries of the world. But after the collapse of the Soviet Union the commercial relations were broken and the production volume reduced sharply.

In order to organise new relations the plant had to start manufacturing new types of equipment. At present the plant is engaged in preparatory work to shift over to the manufacture of new equipment meeting the world standards. Japanese experts trained a number of the plant's employees for the purpose, which supplied them with necessary certificates. The experts of the plant's Technical Development Department are preparing the documentation jointly with Azerbaijan Institute of Oil Machinery to fabricate equipment meeting the standards of API (American Petroleum Institute) and the international ISO standard.

The plant has been equipped with up-to-date machinery for the fabrication of the new produce, storing-up department, blacksmith's workshop supplied with new type highly productive machinery, 40-ton capacity new press, equipment for hot and cold punching of the component parts.

The pant has started to build a new foundry workshop to fabricate cast steel half-finished blanks. The mechanical assembly workshop is being reconstructed, which is to manufacture the equipment on API and ISO standards.

The plant's Central Laboratory (CL) has again been re-equipped and has got everything necessary to control the measuring instruments, fabrication of the component parts (checking the hardness, the surface roughness, angular and linear size, ultra-sound control, etc.).

The plant has good prospects and potentialities to solve all the problems in conditions of market economy.