Zavod Arsenal is done.

[rbiemer]

Just got an email from Gevorg Vartanyan--owner of Arax--which reads in part:
"It is pity to inform that after 245 year the ARSENAL factory (Zavod
ARSENAL in Russian) is lost. After many judicial proceedings now we
have the Special Construction Department (SKTB in Russian) instead of
ARSENAL factory. The factory management, including the director of
factory, are totally changed. The workers are discharges, all
manufacturing is stopped, the factory storehouse is empty."
He has bought what ever was left and has cameras and parts for several more years of production/repairs.
Rob

 

[Bill58]

Rob:

Judicial proceedings? What the h.... does that mean? I wonder (because in Russia)?

Bill

 

[rbiemer]

Rob:

Judicial proceedings? What the h.... does that mean? I wonder (because in Russia)?

Bill

Bankruptcy, maybe? Or maybe there was some court over sight in the transition to private ownership?
Rob

 

[peter_n]

This is not good news, the Zavod ARSENAL was one of the oldest factories in Ukraine and at one time employed thousands. I particularly feel for the employees who have lost their jobs. We have friends from Ukraine and the country is not doing well either politically or economically. It is possible they will lose their co-host status for the Euro 2012 football tournament as infrastructure improvements and stadium rehab are behind schedule. That would be a huge blow to the whole country.

I was reading the Princelle book over the weekend and went back to the page on this Kyiv factory (p. 206). He writes at the end: "With the fall of the Soviet Empire the ARSENAL factory had a chance to become a first class enterprise in the world of photography. It seems that another path was chosen." Well in part it was forced on them after the Russian military and space programs cut the orders for optics and related products, and civil production was never going to cover the expenses related to all those military workers, never mind the upkeep of the buildings they owned which were huge. Really sad, but it sounds like Gevorg has at least managed to buy the remaining parts. Maybe he'll take on some of the employees too, I'm sure their skill levels are really high.

 

[relistan]

Wow, that's really sad! I was really hoping they'd manage to survive, but I guess it's not surprising given the economic conditions. It sounds like the SKTB does not intend to continue production and this is a total bankruptcy rather than restructuring?

Karl

 

[Armoured]

I know nothing of this whole story, but some press stories and pictures of workers protesting:
http://h.ua/story/236150/
http://stolitsa.glavred.info/archive/2009/11/03/140045-14.html
http://korrespondent.net/kyiv/1014478

Of course, it occupies a lot of territory in downtown Kiev and there is some suspicion that various parties want the land. I can't find anything more recent than these November 4 articles.

 

[johannielscom]

Maybe the business will/can continue elsewhere in Ukrain? The name is old and well established, there are skilled workers at hand and parts and machines...

Bit like the Polaroid project, where former employees decided to buy the factory and re-start production...?

Maybe they will start to produce those prototype m-mount Kaleinar lenses that have been on the internet for a while!? That would be nice...

 

[relistan]

Thank you Armoured for the links as I had been unable to find any until now. In reading them (painfully) through Babelfish I gather that Arsenal was somehow under the administration of the Ukrainian space program and that it was the director of that program which ordered its closure. Workers had tried to meet with the director but had been refused. Additionally, the workers allege that Chinese investors had been interested in the plant but that they were essentially ignored by the government overseers. The assumption is that all this is driven by corrupt officials wishing to hand out the prime property on which the Arsenal plant sits to developers to line their pockets. Sounds very unlikely to me that any new production will ever happen. Personally, I just ordered a Kiev 88CM new yesterday.

Cheers,
Karl

 

[ChrisPlatt]

Interesting to see all those old Soviet flags at the protests...

Chris

 

[John©]

When I lived in Moscow I made a trip over to Kiev to visit the factory and was fortunate enough to speak to several of the employees.
Even then they were looking towards closure, it was mainly an old workforce and a small one, only just sustained by the order book at the time.
The big threat, as has already been surmised, was the acquisition of the land for a housing development.
Reading between the lines I imagine this is what is behind this announcement, prime land on a metro station.

It will be sad as, not only do we loose the manufacturing, but also the building and museum, a building that still bears the scars of the revolution fought in and around it, bullet damage that was left as a memorial to those who died...

 

[Phantomas]

I've read on some Russian news site that "Ukrainian Space Agency decided to close it". What?! Space agency? Ukrainian Space agency?!

 

[peter_n]

I'm sure they were bureaucrats who acted as middlemen between the factory and in the Soviet era all of the state-controlled organizations & bureaus and post-FSU the Roskosmos space agency.

 

[ChrisPlatt]

I wonder who is receiving the proceeds from the selloff of all the old state enterprises.
Obviously it's not the workers. Is it being pocketed by the bureaucrats or other private individuals?
If so, it's no wonder the protestors are nostalgic for the old Soviet system.

Chris

 

[Armoured]

The historical building should remain

The historical building should remain

It will be sad as, not only do we loose the manufacturing, but also the building and museum, a building that still bears the scars of the revolution fought in and around it, bullet damage that was left as a memorial to those who died...

I'm not certain which building you're referring to, but the Arsenal itself - the ancient one - will surely remain. I suspect this is one of the reasons the factory has ended up in someone's sights. One of the oligarchs and the president want to put an art gallery in there (and frankly, that would be a better use for that building).

 

[peter_n]

It would actually, that is a beautiful building at least from the outside.

 

[Armoured]

Inside too!

Inside too!

It would actually, that is a beautiful building at least from the outside.

I was actually in the building for a fancy reception last year (long story); it is beautiful. Would have hung out longer but terrible wine was all they had! I only realised this was the same Arsenal they made the cameras in after the war quite a bit later.

 

[Pherdinand]

it's a mess there. My gf's father "works" there still (AR coating design stuff, or at least that's what he did while he still had some work). A week ago the workers were told that it will be closed and they better resign but not too many are willing to. In the meanwhile, yesterday it was asked from him, where his "work plan for 2010" is.
It's a lot of politics behind, involving indeed the land that is under the factory buildings.
And the small people get screwed, as usually.

 

[Armoured]

Just the excuse I need...

Just the excuse I need...

...to pick one up locally. Maybe prices will go up eventually but I found a kit for less than $200 - including a Mir wide-angle. A bit of a chance, but why not give it a chance?

I'm still hoping to visit Kiev and see if their factory store is working.

 

[rbiemer]

I don't think I'll get a chance to visit Kiev anytime soon but I might be giving Arax some more business; I had quit shooting 120 film last year and sold off my Arax tweaked K-60 and the assorted other stuff.
Just recently, however, some one here enticed me back to 6 x 6 and I have been looking at the K-88😀

I really was happy with the camera (and lenses) I got from Arax and in the months before I bought the gear, I had lots of emails with Mr. Vartanyan. He was always helpful and polite. A class guy, I think.

So a "starter" 88 CM kit and another Arsat 30mm is probably on the horizon for me.

Rob

 

[ErnestoJL]

SAD.
Absolutely sad.

Ernesto