Own business: production of sewing needles. LLC "Shareholders of Artinsky Plant" sees its mission in reliable, efficient and balanced provision of consumers with products of its own production

Today, injection syringes are usually imported from abroad. The resident of the special economic zone "Dubna" intends to solve the problem of import dependence. The Pascal Medical company sets itself an ambitious goal - to occupy up to 20% of the domestic market. Our correspondents visited the enterprise and got acquainted with the intricacies of the production process.

NOISE AROUND

The first desire upon entering the workshop is to cover your ears with your hands. The noise is not strong, but very noticeable, as if a dozen tractors are working at the same time. And here are the "tractors" themselves - several yellow cars in a row. These are the so-called injection molding machines that make plastic parts for syringes. You gradually get used to the noise. Shift workers may use ear plugs - this is not prohibited.

Much of the production is automated. The main ingredient - polypropylene - is brought from the warehouse in small batches and loaded into special installations that look like large boilers. There it melts and, if necessary, is painted. The coloring of the plastic bases of the needles is required by the standard to identify their sizes.

Raw materials are fed through pipes to 12 injection molding machines. Each of them produces plastic parts for syringes: needle bases, pistons and barrels of different sizes. If something goes wrong, the smart machine stops and notifies the operator with a signal. Manufactured products are subject to regular checks.

“The control of the most critical technological parameters is carried out every 10–15 minutes,” says Konstantin Tsurikov, a leading specialist in the research and development department of Pascal Medical. - Once every one or two hours, the products are taken to the laboratory for additional measurements and tests.

RESPONSIBLE PROCESS

The plastic bases enter the needle-picking machines, where the operator also manually loads metal needles, silicone and glue. On the conveyor, the parts are glued together, passing two video monitoring systems and several quality control stations along the way. The machine “resets” the marriage on its own. It will be reworked later.

The task of the last station is to make sure that all waste has been discarded and only high-quality products come out of the installation. The collected needles, along with other components, go to the next machine - for assembling syringes. At the same time, another machine paints the syringe barrels, after which they are automatically sent to the assembly line. There, the machine assembles the pistons, needles, cuffs and cylinders with a printed scale into a finished product, which subsequently passes the control.

At the final stage, the robot transfers a batch of finished syringes to the packaging line, where it puts them into blister boxes. As a result, a ready-made and packaged product enters the workshop along the conveyor belt, which the employees only have to put into boxes.

Alexander Fedorov, General Director of Pascal Medical:

– The syringe is not the most complex medical product, but it is the basis of most medical manipulations. The result of complex clinical studies and complex treatment programs often depends on its quality. Complications in the case of the wrong choice of product can be quite serious and nullify the result of the entire treatment process.

THREE ENTHUSIASTS

Pascal Medical signed an investment agreement with the government of the Moscow Region in 2016 as part of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

“Three years ago, three enthusiasts who responded to the import substitution task set by the country decided to invest in the construction of a complex for the production of medical devices,” says Alexander Fedorov, General Director of Pascal Medical.

According to him, the project has no competitors in Russia. First of all, this concerns the level of technological and laboratory equipment, as well as quality control.

Investments in the first place amounted to about 2 billion rubles. The official opening of the production took place in September 2017. Then the governor Andrey Vorobyov came to the plant. Trial batches were produced for several months, but the plant has been operating normally for half a year. A month ago, regular sales were established.

The design capacity of production is 450 million items per year. The company plans to take about 20% of the Russian syringe market. First of all, Pascal Medical is going to compete not with domestic, but with foreign manufacturers.

- The main share of the market today falls on cheap Chinese syringes. Russian manufacturers, on the other hand, often work on outdated equipment - in both cases, the quality suffers, explains Konstantin Tsurikov. – Therefore, our project is so relevant today – the manufacture of high-quality syringes at a competitive price.

Andrey Vorobyov, Governor of the Moscow Region:

- The Pascal Medical plant is a complete production facility, where needles are made of high-quality material and, accordingly, the syringes themselves. This is a serious competitive enterprise that has made a breakthrough in the Russian market.

THANK YOU OPTIMIZATION

The plant uses equipment manufactured in Switzerland, Italy and Canada. Unfortunately, cars of this class are not yet made in Russia. Raw materials for syringes are also purchased abroad - so far it has not been possible to find a Russian supplier that meets the high requirements of the company.

Products manufactured in the Moscow Region are cheaper compared to foreign ones due to the optimization of the technological process, preferential terms for residents of the special economic zone, cheaper labor and logistics features.

Today, the company produces six types of products: syringes of different sizes with a volume of 1 to 20 ml. They can be used for injections, droppers, blood sampling and insulin injections.

NO BACTERIA

There are many residents of Dubna, Kimr and other nearby settlements among the employees of the Pascal plant. In total, about 200 people are employed here - both in production and in the office. Products are produced around the clock: work is carried out in four shifts of 12 hours, two after two. In addition to the production and packaging workshops, there are a warehouse, a workshop, and laboratories.

The control system at the enterprise is very strict. We had to change clothes several times and go through special "gateways". The same procedure applies to factory workers on a daily basis. Before each shift, they put on clean uniforms, which are washed, ironed and packed for them, change shoes twice and wash their hands the same number of times. Also, employees must wear gloves and hats so that not a single bacterium leaks out.

Two laboratories work around the clock at the plant: physical-chemical and microbiological, which are part of the structure of the quality control department.

– The company has organized control of raw materials, materials, “semi-finished products” and finished products, – assures the head of the company’s quality control department Tatiana Verina.

Anton Afanasiev, General Director of the SEZ TVT "Dubna":

– Pascal Medical is one of the largest factories in the country. It is equipped with the largest sterilization chamber in Russia and Europe. In addition to meeting all the requirements of national and international standards, a great advantage of our resident's products is the price affordable for the country's healthcare institutions.

EVERYTHING IS STERILE!

The plant in Dubna is a full cycle production. Here, not only products are manufactured, but also sterilized, making them 100% ready for use. When a batch is assembled, it is kept for a day in conditions of high humidity and temperature, and then sent for sterilization. Syringes are loaded into a special room with thick walls and tight metal doors. The boxes stay there for about 12 hours, during which time they are treated with gas, ethylene oxide. For about two more days, the degassing process continues, which the operator can observe on the computer monitor.

After that, the final stage of product sampling for the laboratory takes place, and the batch is sent to the warehouse, where it waits another two weeks for the results of the study and permission to sell. The syringes made in Dubna are supplied to Russian medical institutions and pharmacies. Pascal Medical plans to arrange exports, contracts for this are being signed now.

Denis Butsaev, Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Moscow Region - Minister of Investments and Innovations of the Moscow Region:

- A medical and technical cluster is currently being formed in the special economic zone "Dubna". The development of the production of domestic medical products and equipment is an important task for Russia, since today the country's medicine is 80% dependent on imports. It is very important to increase new capacities in this area.

PLANS

In the near future, the company will begin construction of the second stage of the plant. It is planned to both increase the productivity of the lines and expand the range of manufactured medical products.

In the future, Pascal Medical is going to make devices for the introduction of solutions and blood transfusion, as well as vacuum systems for taking blood and urine and syringes filled with saline for intravenous catheters, the production of which does not exist in Russia today.

BENEFITS FOR SEZ DUBNA RESIDENTS

8 years - exemption from income tax to the regional budget

10 years - exemption from property tax

5 years – exemption from land and transport taxes

0% - customs duty

Free connection to networks

Irina Fazliakhmetova

Sewing needles have always been a popular and sought after product among consumers. At the same time, these products are popular not only among professional seamstresses, but also among ordinary housewives. And this is absolutely not without reason, since almost every day something is torn, and buttons come off regularly.

Today, the market for sewing needles is filled with products from foreign manufacturers. Only a small part of the total volume of goods is produced by domestic manufacturers and only in a strictly limited assortment.

At the same time, eminent European manufacturers offer about 10 thousand different types of needles for domestic purposes and for professional production, of different thickness, size, head sharpening and many other variations. Opening your own business for the production of sewing needles, of course, can be doomed to success, but only if you study the market in detail and find your consumer.

Room rental.

For the manufacture of sewing needles, you must select the appropriate room. Area - not less than 40 m2, ceiling height - 3.5 m, mains voltage - 380 watts. There are no special requirements for the premises. It is better to choose a room with all communications (light, water, sewerage, heating) for the comfortable manufacture of needles. It is better to choose a place for production in the industrial zone and outside the city. It is important to have a convenient entrance for both trucks and cars. The average rental price for this type of space can be around $350.

Equipment.

For the manufacture of sewing needles, it is necessary to purchase a special automatic line with the possibility of program control. It consists of the following equipment:

1. Rollers for runners - $ 4 thousand;

2. Press for trimming products - $3.2 thousand;

3. Needle straightening press - $6,000;

4. Machine notching - $ 12 thousand;

5. Tool-grinding machine - $9,000;

6. Milling machine - $ 4.5 thousand;

7. Grinding machine - $ 8 thousand;

8. Polishing and brush machines - $10 thousand;

9. Correct machine - $ 8.3 thousand.

In total, about $65,000 must be spent on the purchase of such a line.

You can, of course, buy cheaper equipment from Chinese manufacturers, but such machines and presses will produce needles that are less accurate and durable. And the production of high quality products is the first step on the road to success.

Staff.

In order to organize the normal operation of a manufacturing enterprise for the manufacture of sewing needles, it is necessary to invite staff for the following vacancies: needle roller, machine gunner, tumbler of needle-platinum machines, sharpener of needle-platinum products, sewing needle presser, production controller, calibrator, polisher, typesetter, reducer, sorter, leveler, equipment adjuster, accountant, loader. At the dawn of business development, you can become a buyer of materials, an advertising manager and a production manager on your own, if you have enough experience and energy. Otherwise, one of these vacancies will have to invite an employee to the staff additionally. In total, it is necessary to allocate about $5,000 per month for the remuneration of workers.

Materials for the manufacture of sewing needles.

High-quality sewing needles are made from unalloyed steel wire. This material is distinguished by its special strength, resistance to mechanical damage, moisture resistance, abrasion resistance and at the same time has a number of advantages, such as flexibility and plasticity. Such steel does not contain in its composition such impurities as manganese, chromium and others. That is why well-known manufacturers choose this material for the manufacture of sewing needles for industrial equipment and domestic purposes. The cost of such wire is about $50 per kg. In total, for the operation of the enterprise, about 70 kg of such wire is needed for a month of uninterrupted production for a small plant.

The main target audience of the business in this area are large manufacturing enterprises, wholesale buyers. But, it is important to understand that ordinary citizens can become end users. That is why, when creating a marketing plan, it is important to focus on both. First of all, every young production must have its own website.

On this resource, it is important to place complete information about your products, focusing on quality, ease of order delivery, domestic manufacturer and a number of other advantages. You can also create advertisements on radio and television. You can take part in social events or organize them yourself in order to be able to present your products to the public. Outdoor advertising can also be one of the steps to the success of selling the products offered. In total, about $ 300 should be allocated for marketing activities, especially at the dawn of business development.

Basic costs.

When calculating a financial plan, you need to focus on the following main expenses:

1. Room rental - $350;

2. Equipment - 65 thousand $;

3. Personnel - 5 thousand $;

6. Additional expenses for starting a business - $100.

In total, it is necessary to allocate about $75,000 to open a business for the production of sewing needles.

It is because of such a large starting amount and the fullness of the market with well-known manufacturers that most domestic businessmen order the needle manufacturing procedure in China. But, in the end, they get products of lower quality and, accordingly, less competitive.

Profit and payback period.

Depending on the assortment of sewing needles produced, a small enterprise can offer consumers about 8,000 needles per month. The average market value of one set of needles is about $2.5. In total, the monthly profit from production is about $20,000. At the same time, about $ 9 thousand is the net profit of the enterprise. But this is in the case of 100% sales of products. But this does not always happen because of the fullness of the market and high competition. In practice, it is possible to fully recoup the business of this area in 1.5-2 years.

Sales of products and business development.

The main consumers of sewing needles are:

1. Wholesale companies (intermediaries);

2. Stores of sewing accessories;

3. Factories-manufacturers of garments;

4. Factories-manufacturers of yarn and non-woven materials.

For business development, you can start offering consumers products of a similar direction in order to find your niche in the business: fish hooks, knitting needles, knitting hooks, buttons, pins, various accessories for sewing equipment. At the same time, it is possible to gradually expand the range of offered types of sewing needles.

The oldest human invention is the needle. It is, perhaps, older than the wheel. Primitive clothes made of thick, poorly dressed skins were sewn with animal veins, thin plant vines, or veins of palm leaves.

With the passage of time, people learned to dress the skins more finely, and they needed a finer needle. They learned how to extract metal and began to make needles from bronze. Since the 12th century, the method of wire drawing has become known in Europe.

Needle - this is the thing that has always and at all times been in any house, that of the poor, that of the king. During the numerous wars that our planet is so rich in, each soldier always had his own needle.

Own industrial production of needles in Russia began with the light hand of Peter 1. In 1717, he issued a decree on the construction of two needle factories in the villages of Stolbtsy and Kolentsy on the Pron River (modern Ryazan region).

They were built by the merchant brothers Romins and their colleague Sidor Tomilin.

Since then, the steel needle has firmly entered the life of the poor, becoming a real symbol of hard work.

There was even such a saying - "The village stands like a needle and a harrow".

With the advent of sewing machines, there was a need for machine needles.

Machine needles do not lag behind ordinary needles and are also divided not only by thickness, but also by purpose. There are ordinary universal needles, and there are also special needles for sewing denim, knitwear and leather. Their tip is sharpened in a special way for this.

A needle is an indispensable thing in every home and everyone knows it. .

Needle production appeared in the R.P. Artie during WWII. This production was evacuated from the Podolsk plant named after. Kalinin, together with the workers of the enterprise, in the amount of 200 people, to the Artinsky plant, which was engaged in the production of braids.

From the beginning of 1942, the plan for the production of needles was consistently fulfilled and exceeded. Needles were produced for the sewing, shoe, knitwear, parachute industries, they sewed tunics and boots for soldiers, covers for Katyushas and tanks.

In 2011, the needle production was separated from Artinsky Zavod OJSC. The owner of this production was the Limited Liability Company “Shareholders of the Artinsky Plant”. This commercial transaction was concluded on March 17, 2011.

At present, Shareholders of the Artinsky Plant LLC is the only enterprise in the country that produces industrial and household sewing needles for the garment industry.

The company is located in r.p. Arti, Sverdlovsk Region, 180 km from Yekaterinburg and 60 km from the Republic of Bashkortostan.

In 2011 needle production turned 80 years old.

Main line of business - this is the production and sale of sewing needles for sewing production, (awl, hooks, knitting needles, sets for felting).

The special advantages of the needles produced by Shareholders of the Artinsky Plant LLC are that they are made from English wire and are used in extensive sewing programs. For almost every sewing requirement (material, stitch type) we have the right needle.

One of the important conditions for the delivery of our needles is a reasonable price-quality ratio.

Production of sewing needles

Sewing needles are produced in the so-called needle-platinum production. There are the following types of needle products: household needles, industrial needles, shoe needles, carpet and knitting needles. In addition, needles are divided into hand sewing (ordinary, darning, embroidery, for the blind, furrier, saddlery, etc.), machine (with a thickening at one end, which is called a flask). The range of large enterprises can include several thousand different types of needles of various thicknesses, tip shapes and surface coatings. Of greatest interest to manufacturers are machine needles, which are an important part of sewing machines, used to pierce the material, pass the thread through it and form a loop that is captured by the nose of the hook or looper. The machine needle has a more complex design compared to a conventional household needle. It consists of a flask, a blade and a point. On the blade of such a needle, long and short grooves (grooves) are cut and there is an eyelet into which the thread is threaded during operation.

The shape distinguishes between straight and curved needles. Straight needles are used in lockstitch and chainstitch sewing machines, in semi-automatic machines, overcasting and other machines, and curved needles are used mainly in blind stitch machines. Quality sewing needles are made from unalloyed steel wire. Such steel, of which the wire consists, does not have extraneous additives (manganese, chromium, etc.).

In order to be sure of the quality of the finished product, large manufacturers without fail carry out mechanical, microscopic and chemical studies of raw materials. First of all, the strength of the wire that is used to make the needles must meet the established standard. If it is too high, then in the process of reducing the bulb, milling a long groove or punching an eye, cracks may form on the surface of the needle. Companies that produce "budget" products exercise control only at the intermediate and last stages of production (and even selective), which cannot guarantee the high quality of the finished product.

At first glance, the process of making needles seems extremely simple. But in fact, all operations from the moment when the coil of wire is unwound, cut and aligned, to the stage of packing the finished needles and preparing them for shipment, take about three months. In total, the production process consists of over thirty main stages, not counting the constant quality checks of blanks and finished products. Let's take a look at these operations. First, the wire supplied from the factory is cut with a straightening cutting machine into pieces of the required length, provided for by the standards for the manufacture of hand or sewing needles. Then each of the individual segments is rounded on both sides.

The next step is reduction. During this operation, part of the piece of wire is cold drawn and beveled into a cone. It is at this stage that the length of the body, the shape of the cone and the thickness (that is, the diameter) of the future needle are determined and set, depending on its purpose. The following procedures are punching and punching. Blanks for needles are sent to special machines, where, with the help of matrices, they are shaped into an eye, rounded off and short grooves are applied on the body. Modern equipment allows you to combine punching with punching. Previously, all these operations were carried out separately. At this stage, a “short” groove is created, and at the next, which is called milling, a “long” one. The long groove should be the same depth and width as the thickness of the thread being used. When punching a needle on the equipment, burrs remain on both sides of the eye, which must be cut and sanded. At the stage of pre-treatment of the point, the tip of the needle is given the necessary shape - knife-like or sharp. Then hardening and tempering is carried out. For the hardening of the needles, so-called direct-flow hardening furnaces with control apparatus are used, which ensure particularly precise processing. The extra temper gives the needles the necessary flexibility and strength. After that, the needle point is processed again. At this stage, by sharpening, it is given its final shape.

One of the most difficult and important stages of production is the manufacture of the eye of the needle and chemical cleaning. If cheaper, low-alloy steel is used to make the needles, then the finished needle can rust over time. Therefore, often the eye of the needle is additionally coated with precious metals (gold, silver, etc.). Chemical cleaning is the polishing of those surfaces that are in direct contact with the thread (groove, eyelet) and with the fabric. For a long time in production, each needle was polished by hand. Of course, this process was too long, laborious and therefore costly. Currently, the so-called chemical cleaning is used, as a result of which all burrs are carefully removed, and the surface of the needle is carefully polished. To do this, the needles are dipped into baths, which undergo special treatment before and after this procedure. Modern stripping systems allow processing about 100 thousand needles per hour, thanks to which it was possible to optimize this stage, reduce the cost of the finished product and improve its quality.

The last two operations are chrome plating and polishing. In the first case, the surface of the needle is covered with a hard chromium layer, and in the second case, the entire surface of the needle is treated to remove dust, debris and water. At each stage of production, the blanks and the final product are constantly checked and controlled.

Parts that do not meet the requirements and parameters (body length, thickness and diameter of the flask, shape and location of the ear) are rejected and sent for processing.

Finished needles are packed in boxes or in blister packs with the appropriate marking. The number, which is present in the product name, indicates the thickness of the finished needle in hundredths of a millimeter or fractions of an inch. Accordingly, the larger the value of this figure (diameter), the thicker the needle itself will be. Some manufacturers indicate two values ​​​​at once on the packaging of their products - this is the diameter of the needle in two units of measurement at once (inches and millimeters). The Organ-Singer marking is considered the most popular numbering system.

Sometimes, in addition to the usual numbers in the marking of sewing needles, letters are also used that determine the scope of each individual needle (types of fabric for which it is intended). So, for example, there are universal needles of various sizes with a slightly rounded tip. They are used to work with simple fabrics of various densities. There are heavyweight needles that are sharper than normal needles, allowing them to be used for sewing thick textile materials. Needles designed for sewing elastic fabrics (knitwear, synthetics) have a special edge that eliminates or at least reduces the risk of skipping stitches when the material is stretched. Microtex needles differ from regular needles in that they are thinner and sharper. They are used for precise piercing of thin and densely woven microfiber textiles (taffeta, silk, synthetics). Embroidery needles have a narrower eye and a slightly rounded (blunt) point, as well as a special notch that helps prevent damage to the material or threads during operation. They are used to work with special embroidery threads (mulina).

Leather needles have a special cutting edge. In this case, the cut is made at an angle of 45 degrees to the direction of the seam, resulting in a decorative seam with stitches with a certain slope. A needle with a rounded point does not pass through the fibers through, but gently pushes the threads of the fabric apart without damaging the material itself. They are suitable for working with thick knitwear, knitted materials, jersey. Finally, there are quilting needles with a special bevel, reduced eye and rounded point. They allow you to avoid skipped stitches and avoid the appearance of ugly puncture marks on the fabric.

Of course, this classification and labeling is not a single generally accepted standard. Many manufacturers use them, but large companies that have their own developments in this area can introduce their own classifications that differ from the most common ones.

In addition to conventional steel needles, so-called Teflon needles are produced, which are processed with various titanium compounds. Depending on the specific type of processing of such needles, the finished product acquires a high coefficient of resistance to melting of synthetic fibers on the surface of the needle, wear resistance, and a low coefficient of friction. As a result, the service life of such a needle is increased, and the temperature of its heating during operation and thread breakage are reduced. The Teflon layer is highly durable. It begins to break down only at a temperature of about 400 degrees Celsius. Such needles are used mainly for working with fabrics that have undergone special processing (impregnation, dyeing, etc.).

In our country, the range of sewing games is quite limited. As a rule, Russian enterprises produce sewing needles from No. 1 to No. 12 of various lengths and diameters. So, the smallest needle reaches a length of 35 mm and has a diameter of 0.6 mm, and the largest needle is 80 mm long and 1.8 mm in diameter.

To work in the production of needle-platinum products, the following specialists will be required: machine gunners, needle rollers, tumblers of needle-platinum drums, needle pressers, sharpeners of needle-platinum products, controllers, typesetters, calibrators, equipment adjusters, polishers, needle reducers, straighteners and needle sorters - platinum products. It will not be easy to find good employees, especially if your production opens in the regions, so get ready for the fact that most of the employees will have to be trained on their own in the process of work.

For the production of needle-platinum products, automatic lines and automatic machines with program control are used. In addition to hand and machine needles, such enterprises also produce fishhooks, knitting needles, crochet hooks, pins, thimbles, buttons, clothes hooks, components and accessories for textile spinning, twisting, winding and rewinding machines, technical needles for textile looms and others. products. According to various sources, the minimum starting capital for opening such a production ranges from 5 to 10 million rubles. It is difficult to name the exact amount, since it largely depends on the volume of future production, its location, the number of employees, and the equipment used. The payback period depends on the quality of products, the availability of a sales market, marketing campaigns and other factors and ranges from 1.5 years. The main problem that the manufacturer of household and industrial sewing needles will face is the need to compete with the largest manufacturers, many of which have a long history and an excellent reputation. High-quality sewing needles are produced and imported to our country from Europe (Germany, Great Britain, France), Japan, China. Most domestic companies prefer not to produce needles themselves, but place orders for their manufacture at Chinese factories. They simply package the finished product in their own packaging and sell it under their own brand.

Needle factories sell their products to wholesale companies and directly to sewing supplies stores, wholesale companies and shops that sell fishing supplies, knitwear and hosiery factories, nonwovens and yarn factories.