QazTehna plant, opened in 2020 on the facilities of the former Karaganda Rubber Products PlantThe QazTehna plant, opened in 2020 on the premises of the former Karaganda Rubber Products Plant, demonstrates a steady growth of production indicators and acts as one of the anchor sites for the technological renewal of Kazakhstan’s machine building industry.
The enterprise was the first major project to be implemented in the industrial zone, giving impetus to the development of the city of Sarani, providing new jobs and improving infrastructure. This significant launch stimulated the opening of several other major projects in the industrial area, turning the region into an industrial cluster.
In June 2021, the company mastered small-unit production. The factory independently carries out the full cycle of production operations, including welding, painting, final assembly and testing. QazTehna’s total investment in production assets amounted to 14 billion. tenge.
The plant employs about 900 people on a permanent basis. The payroll exceeds 4 billion tenge per year and the average salary is 475 thousand tenge, which is 50% higher than the median level in the country.
The company produced a total of 1,576 vehicles in 2024, including 1,396 buses and 180 trucks. The plan for 2025 is 2,887 vehicles, including 1,560 buses and 1,327 commercial vehicles.
Today, the company is implementing a comprehensive strategy to deepen the technological cycle and localize production.
It is worth emphasizing that each stage of localization is prescribed in the terms of industrial assembly, where the manufacturer strictly regulates the work of the Kazakhstani enterprise.
“Localization is not just transferring production to Kazakhstan, it is the formation of its own engineering culture and technological school, where each link creates added value within the country,” notes Kairat Elamanov, President of the Union of Industrial Investors of Kazakhstan.
To deepen localization, the company needs to switch to new technological operations. In addition to the welding and painting already mastered, preparations are underway for stamping body parts, which brings the plant to a higher level of industrial integration. By the end of 2025, QazTehna will already have the first hydraulic stamping press in Kazakhstan, designed for the production of metal elements of bus bodies. It is installed in a new 10,000 m² building. Domestic 08KP galvanized steel produced by Qarmet Iron and Steel Works will be used to manufacture the parts. The total amount of investments, taking into account the second stage of implementation, will amount to more than 20 billion tenge.
In parallel, the plant is preparing to launch production of bus components – deep-drawing parts, plastic seats and handrails. These elements form the basis for systemic localization and reducing dependence on imported suppliers.
“The task of an enterprise is to move from deepening localization to creating its own production competencies. This is a transition from the import model to a sovereign industry, when technologies, personnel and partnership chains are born in the country,” the expert also emphasizes.
QazTehna is also expanding the participation of Kazakhstani companies in the production chain. Localization of superstructures for trucks: mounting plates, brackets, dump bodies and elements of special equipment is being set up jointly with Kurylysmet and Maker KLMZ. The use of domestic metal and the development of related industries makes it possible to meet the requirements of the Ministry of Industry and Construction to increase the share of local content ahead of schedule.
Being one of the most socially-oriented enterprises in the region, the plant actively fulfills its obligations, creating and providing highly skilled jobs, actually forming a new school of industrial standard in Kazakhstan – from CKD production to building supplier chains at the national level.
