Production of crystal at Gus Crystal Factory, the home town of Gus-Crystal, Vladimir region, is to be resumed by the end of 2012, according to a spokesman for the regional administration. A comprehensive investment plan has been set up for the development of the plant with new infrastructure worth about 80M/Euros. The plant will manufacture crystal, foam glass and basalt fibres. The restructured production unit will have a modern furnace and an automatic production line, which will simultaneously produces up to 10 items of different colours. This new, high-efficiency furnace will have a production yield of about 50-60%, compared to the previous capacity of 1-2%. The second part of the restructuring project involves the production of blocks of foam glass insulation used int eh construction and oil and gas industry. Russia produces only 2% of this new thermal insulation material with 98% being imported from China and Belarus. The project, which will result in a production capacity of 80,000 cubic metres per year, involves the creation of granular glass crumbs, direct production of cellular glass and sawing into blocks. The third step regards the creation of basalt fibres with a capacity of 50,000/tpa. Over the last 10 years, Gus Crystal Factory has passed from one owner to another, undergoing four episodes of bankruptcy since 2000. the plant supplied its production to all regions of the world with 25% of production exported. The company was founded in 1756 by merchant A Maltsov and, in Soviet times, employed 7,500 people, reduced to around 1,000 staff in 2000, and in 2010, just 200.
