First plant opened at the state site of the “Kulibin SEZ” in Dzerzhinsk

The official opening of the first full‑cycle metal‑cutting tool production facility of AXIS LLC (part of the Instrument Group of Companies) took place on the territory of the “Kulibin” special economic zone (SEZ) in Dzerzhinsk. This is the first plant built at the state site of the “Kulibin” SEZ.

The opening ceremony was attended by Anton Alikhanov, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, Gleb Nikitin, Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, and Evgeny Lyulin, Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of the region.

“The products manufactured at the enterprise are designed for equipping modern machine tools and machining centers. Their applications span a wide range of industries – aviation and shipbuilding, the automotive sector, power and railway engineering, metallurgy, the defense industry, radio electronics and the rocket and space sector,” said Anton Alikhanov, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.

The plant will produce carbide rods, indexable inserts, milling cutters, drills, reamers and tool inserts. The project includes the construction of production buildings, with total investment volume exceeding 3.5 billion rubles and over 400 jobs to be created. An amount of 1.389 billion rubles was allocated for the implementation of the first phase.

“Today marks a truly historic moment – the first plant at the state site of our special economic zone has commenced operations. The “Kulibin” SEZ is actively developing and currently has 58 resident companies. We expect several more enterprises to be launched here this year,” Gleb Nikitin emphasized.

“With the launch of the new enterprise, the region has gained another high‑tech production facility. The products manufactured here are listed in the register of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, are part of the import substitution plans, and comply with the priority product list of the national project “Means of Production and Automation”,” said Egor Polyakov, Deputy Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Region.

The Instrument Group of Companies comprehensively utilizes federal and regional support measures for the development of its production.

“At every stage of obtaining state support, the enterprise is assisted by the regional Ministry of Industry, Trade and Entrepreneurship. For instance, for the procurement of equipment, AXIS LLC received concessional loans totaling over 965 million rubles through the regional and federal Industrial Development Funds,” reported Maxim Cherkasov.

He added that the enterprises of the Instrument Group of Companies – AXIS and Rezalt – have completed the full implementation cycle of lean production under the federal project “Labour Productivity” of the national project “Efficient and Competitive Economy”. Output at the pilot production lines of both companies increased by more than 40%.

The management company of the “Kulibin” SEZ is the Nizhny Novgorod Region Development Corporation.

“The AXIS production facility is the first to be launched at the state site of the “Kulibin” SEZ and was built in less than two years. All necessary utility connections have been brought to the enterprise. We also expect a number of other residents to commence their construction cycles in the near future,” emphasized Igor Ishchenko, Director General of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Development Corporation.

Going forward, the company plans to establish a regional machine‑tool cluster on the territory of the “Kulibin” SEZ, comprising a carbide products manufacturing center, a metalworking equipment assembly shop, tooling, fasteners and body tool production, and an engineering center for the development of advanced solutions.

“In the long term, the industrial complex will comprise three buildings with a total area of 64,000 sq. m. The cluster will become an important milestone in establishing a modern machine‑building and automation base in the region and will ensure the technological sovereignty of the industry by replacing critical imports with reliable domestic products,” said Artem Malov, Director of AXIS LLC.

For reference, the industrial special economic zone “Kulibin” was established in May 2020 on the territory of the Dzerzhinsk urban district. Today, the Dzerzhinsk part of the “Kulibin” SEZ covers an area of 724,7 hectares and includes the state site (416,7 ha), as well as private sites operated by DPO “Plastic”, “Oka Polymer”, and “Sintez OKA”. The private sites are already equipped with infrastructure. In November 2025, the Russian Government issued a resolution to expand the SEZ territory by another 117,7 hectares, incorporating a site in the city of Bor. The total area of the “Kulibin” SEZ now amounts to 842,4 hectares.