One of the oldest and most famous Kazakh factories, the plant named after S. M. Kirov, began producing computer equipment under its ZIKComputers brand. It was in Petropavlovsk that the first Kazakh laptop and netbook were officially assembled.
What happened?
The plant dates back to 1928. And it began in a small radio installation workshop, where talented and enthusiastic engineers gathered.
In Soviet times, the company produced radio receivers “Pobeda”, “Record”, “Kazakhstan”, radio control unit “Ishim” and other interesting electrical appliances. The products sold out with a bang. Housewives remember their famous electric waffle irons with a great waffle recipe in the instructions. Not just waffles - table decoration!
But this is only the visible part of the product line of the S. M. Kirov plant. Famous throughout the USSR, “ZiK” is a dual-use production facility, the foundation of the defense industry. What was produced here in Soviet times and what is produced in this direction now is a big state secret.
Only one thing can be said for sure: the engineering and personnel school here, as well as the quality requirements, are the highest. 726 specialists work at the plant around the clock, in several shifts. Just recently, the plant began a new, equally grandiose undertaking - the production of computer equipment under its own brand.
What's under the brand?
The idea belongs to the Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development Beibut Atamkulov. In 2018, he visited our plant and, apparently out of curiosity, asked if we could produce computer equipment at our base,” says Deputy General Director of JSC Plant named after. S. M. Kirov" Kairat Alibekov. – The idea seemed very interesting to us. We were surprised that we didn’t think of it ourselves. We weighed all the pros and cons. The company has personnel and production lines. It was only necessary to decide on technology. The choice fell on the Great Wall company with 30 years of experience in the production of electronics, computer equipment and server equipment. In 2019, we worked out an agreement with partners and started work in June.
The agreement provides for long-term cooperation on large-scale assembly with subsequent phased localization of computer and server equipment based on existing industrial lines for the production of printed circuit boards and an assembly line. We also decided on the name of the brand of domestic computer equipment: ZIKComputers.
In November 2019, ZiK employees, under the guidance of foreign partners, successfully completed training in assembling computer equipment based on 50 test versions of modern laptops.
We did not encounter any particular difficulties in mastering computer assembly technology. Our specialists are professionals. Personal computers turned out very well. Employees have been working on the first computers assembled at our plant for two years now,” said the plant’s leading software engineer Ruslan Mursalimov. – The 3.6 GHz quad-core Intel core i3 9100 processor handles everyday tasks perfectly. When working in office and other applications - they fly! The 1 TB hard drive capacity is enough to store documents, media and other files. Good amount of RAM...
The plant has an agreement with Microsoft Corporation. This means that every product released under the ZIK brand is equipped with a licensed Windows 10 Pro operating system and is no different from its foreign counterparts. Except for the price, which is nicer than that of well-known brands.
Components for the manufacture of computer equipment are currently supplied by partners. It is worth noting that the S. M. Kirov plant is already ready to switch to its own production of boards for power supplies and interface modules. The team planned to start producing domestic components back in 2020, but, unfortunately, due to the closure of borders, the certification of Kazakhstani production lines had to be postponed indefinitely.
The construction of a new workshop with an area of more than 6 thousand square meters is being studied. m to expand the production of domestic parts as part of localization. The leadership of ZiK is rejoicing - new jobs will appear for promising young IT specialists in Petropavlovsk.
How did the state help?
With the support of the state, modernization was carried out in 2018–2020 - equipment was received for the production of multilayer printed circuit boards of the fifth accuracy class and SMD mounting. This allowed the company to create a powerful base for the development of the electronics industry, including the production of ZIKComputers. The amount of support is more than 2 billion tenge.
As a result of modernization, the productivity of assembly line specialists increased to 50 personal computers per hour and up to 1,000 per day when working three shifts. The production capacity of the ZIKComputers line is 100,000 units of computer equipment per year.
Initially, we had some difficulties in determining the nomenclature and choosing the technical characteristics of computer equipment,” admitted ZiK Deputy Director Kairat Alibekov. – We observed the government procurement market and found out the needs.
Who bought the first batch?
When a state of emergency was declared in Kazakhstan and many cities began to go into quarantine, there was an urgent need for computer equipment for distance learning. And we realized that we need to start developing in this direction,” says Almat Shakenov, head of the marketing and international cooperation department. – We were little known on the Kazakh market, so we held a series of video meetings with the Ministry of Education. They talked about the possibilities, discussed the needs and technical characteristics of computer equipment. The production of our first personal computers, tablets and laptops ZIK was launched in this direction.
The first industrial batch of ZIKComputers was assembled for the education departments of our country. It is worth noting that the characteristics of ZIKComputers are twice as high as the technical requirements set by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan. For example, the size of the monitor – 23.8 inches – was selected in accordance with the recommendations of doctors and children’s vision specialists.
More than 48 thousand ZIK computers, tablets and laptops have already been delivered to the order of the North Kazakhstan, Pavlodar, Akmola and Kostanay regions.
What are users saying?
Children from large and low-income families, as well as teachers from regional centers of the North Kazakhstan region, became the first owners of computers of a new domestic brand. 2,000 first ZIK computers after many technical checks and tests, the management and staff of the plant named after. They decided to send S. M. Kirov to them. Computers are provided for long-term lease free of charge. This means that the plant will also provide service maintenance at its own expense for three years.
Petropavlovsk computers were one of the first to be brought to us,” says Ksenia Kovalerova, biology and chemistry teacher at school No. 13 of Petropavlovsk. – It was surprising and pleasant. The computers are working fine. I haven't heard any complaints that there was anything wrong with them. I work for them myself when necessary: I print documents, prepare presentations. I like everything.
We have computers in the computer room. They work without failure. Recently our children were tested on them. VOUD was successful, they did not let us down. Tablets also work fine and cope with their tasks. You can't really play games on them, but that's a good thing. Children are less distracted, says Elena Blednykh, a primary school teacher at the Penkovskaya secondary school in the Kyzylzhar district of the North Kazakhstan region. – There are enough resources for high-quality work in class and completing homework.
The company's team received good reviews for its products, strengthened its position and began entering the country's retail consumer market. Kazakhstanis were offered seven positions of domestically produced ZIK computers. They are already sold by Kaspi.kz and ForteMarket. In the near future they will be available in all Kazpost branches.
By the end of the year, the line will include improved laptops based on the 11th generation Intel Core i5 processor and the 10th generation Intel Core i3 processor.
