Let there be hi-tech

Horizont Holding Management Company is actively creating innovative production facilities on the territory of its spare areas

Last year, the Head of State set the task of bringing spare areas of Horizont Holding Management Company into circulation by creating new production facilities. The project started with the reconstruction of building No. 25 on Krasnaya Street. It was here that the company’s first TV rolled off the assembly line. Today, an adaptive production has been created here, which is able to tune in to the production of a wide range of products in the shortest possible time. And this is just the beginning, because the holding’s plans are very ambitious, they provide for the development of a whole smart quarter with medical, industrial and educational infrastructure.

Movement in the future

Horizont Holding Management Company has a rich 80-year history, which gives every right to call the area around Kuibyshev and Krasnaya streets a monument to the domestic radio-electronic industry. More than a year ago, the Head of State decided to use the spare areas of Horizont to create new industries. Today, this work is being actively carried out.
“In 2021, the revitalisation of the former factory premises for the NeoPark innovative production began through modernisation and reconstruction,” tells Director of ZAO Horizont-Belinvest-Developer Company Inna Kovaleva. The interlocutor also explained that the main blocks for the implementation of this idea are the creation of industrial and medical centres, a unique leisure and educational complex for people of all ages under the general name tech city,
“It is planned that the tech city will include an environment for career guidance for young people. For example, the direction of art-tech city is intended for creative children and adults. However, there will be art workshops and dance studios. The online tech city direction will have places for online conferences, education and training. In turn, we will create training centres in programming, robotics and related areas in the digital tech city. Workshops will be created on the basis of the industrial tech city to attract working specialties to the professions required by our enterprises.”
Inna Kovaleva also noted that the holding has already created the innovation and R&D centre, where they prepare and implement innovative products, smart city infrastructure facilities, which will be placed on the renovated areas of the holding, starting from the idea, visualisation, development, production and implementation in the environment.
“The department has already created the first project — a smart bench, which will soon become part of the urban infrastructure in the area next to the holding. It provides lighting, an information stand, it is possible to charge a smartphone here. It is anti-vandal, we can change the design to suit any taste,” shared Inna Kovaleva.

High opportunity centre

Building No. 25 on Krasnaya Street is the most notable object of NeoPark today. The interlocutor drew attention to the fact that at present, a complete technical modernisation of the areas for the production of avionics and on-board electronics has been carried out here. Promising areas have been prepared to accommodate a group for the development and testing of manufactured products, located in an innovative industrial centre.
We started our visit to the NeoPark building with an inspection of the electro-acoustic laboratory located on the first floor. It was created by Soviet engineers in order to test the sound quality of equipment. Today it has been modernised, which allows it to significantly expand its potential.
Inna Kovaleva explained, “This laboratory has unique capabilities. There were only two such in the Soviet Union — in St. Petersburg and Minsk. There is only one in the country today. It was originally designed for testing and tuning audio systems. Now it is reconstructed and used for a wide range of instruments. Western companies were interested in this laboratory after the collapse of the USSR, but we did not disclose our secrets.”
There is a very important room in the laboratory — a sound-measuring anechoic chamber. It is tightly locked with a thick door that moves on rails. When one enter this room, the sound abruptly disappears. A unique location that today is used to test most instruments with company and third-party audio systems. Next to the laboratory there is a section for mechanical processing of parts.
“This is a space equipped with modern machines that allows us to create any mechanical parts. We make the mechanical part for the company’s products. This part can be useful, for example, for a TV. We also make to order for Gomselmash harvesters and BELAZ dump trucks,” said the milling machine operator of the 6th category Oleg Platanny.

One of a kind adaptable production

There is a highly adaptable production workshop on the second floor of the NeoPark industrial centre

There is a highly adaptable production workshop on the second floor of the industrial centre. Now its huge area is divided into several spaces. Here is the experimental part, the assembly line of the in-line, easily reconfigurable production, the quality management service, the space where the installation part, adjustment and setting up, as well as the testing laboratory are located.
Vadim Golovnitsky, Acting Director of the Horizont Production Department, gave more details about the features of the workshop, “This is an innovative production, which was created on the basis of the Institute of Digital Television. We develop here both traditional products and prototypes of the holding. Among them are indication systems for MAZ and BELAZ. In addition, we are working on the creation of equipment for electronic queues and interactive whiteboards. We also make small items. Separately, it should be noted that here we produce equipment for avionics. We have very high entry into this market in terms of quality and manufacturability.”
Moreover, according to Vadim Golovnitsky, the workshop can both create prototypes and engage in mass production. In turn, Inna Kovaleva focused on the fact that in the future, robotic equipment may appear here on the second floor of the building, which will automatically assemble certain types of products.
In general, if we talk about the work on NeoPark, it should be noted that the modernisation of the premises has begun in order to expand the medical centre. The design of the educational centre of the social complex is also underway.
“Already at the beginning of 2023 we will be able to visit the Centre for Healing and Diagnostic Imaging for Health, relax on a smart bench and see how the innovative educational centre is being modernised,” summed up the interlocutor.
Horizont expects that the construction of the tech city will be completed according to the plan — by 2025.

By Ilya Kryzhevich
Photos by Aleksandr Gorbash