The agricultural college in Horadok plans to open its own service station for tractors and combine harvesters

Instructor of diagnostic fundamentals Yevgeny Fedotov and students Sergey Rodionov and Viktor Ringler.

Practice and Savings

Vladimir Shitko, Director of the Gorodok State Agricultural Technical College, which trains tractor drivers among others, shared an interesting story:

— Once, the engine of our training tractor "Belarus-3022" broke down. At the nearest plant, where we applied, they asked for 22 thousand rubles for the repair. A metropolitan firm quoted even more! Then I suggested that the instructors, a third of whom had graduated from BGTU, do the repair themselves. Together with the students. We overhauled the engine, bought the failed parts. The power-intensive tractor is still running with it. And it cost only 2 thousand rubles! Then we seriously thought: why not open our own service station for tractors and combines?

Vladimir Shitko.

Vladimir Vladimirovich says that he has not heard of similar projects in Belarus yet. But he admits that he wants to implement the idea not to be the first educational institution in the country to have its own service station:

— The idea arose in 2018 after we, together with the regional executive committee and partners from MTZ, Gomselmash, Vitebsk Motor Repair Plant, and other enterprises, opened a resource center. Today, not only our students but also students from 12 educational institutions in the region with an agricultural focus are trained on the simulators and in the computerized laboratories installed there.

Last year, the college opened a new specialty for training agricultural machinery repair technicians. All this will help to equip future specialists theoretically. But without practice – nowhere. So that young people can practiceаться, набить руку, decided to open a service station for high-power tractors and combines.

Farms Will Be Supported

According to specialists, the project has other advantages. Firstly, for students, of whom there are more than 700 in full-time study alone in Gorodok, this is a real opportunity to earn money. Secondly, if the price for engine repair without markups turns out to be 10 times lower, it will be much easier for agricultural enterprises in Gorodok and other nearby districts to revive equipment that is idle due to lack of funds for repair. And finally, if things go well, the college is ready to act as a kind of district agricultural machinery service, where an exchange fund of parts and assemblies for agricultural machinery can be created. Yes, it is necessary to agree with the farms on the transfer of tractors and combines that are out of order. But this, you must admit, is better than old machines rotting under a fence or being stolen by some scoundrels and sold for scrap metal.

Master of industrial training Vladimir Gladkiy and 3rd-year student Evgeny Kovalev. 

Teachers and masters of the college approved the idea. Teacher Evgeny Fedotov is sure that practical experience for a specialist who operates and repairs equipment is invaluable:

— We were brought a "Belarus-3022" from the "Gorodok" poultry farm, on which, due to a hydraulic system malfunction, they could not attach a plow. Armed with a tester and a computer with special software, my students figured out that the problem was in the wiring. We helped repair a forage harvester at KUSKhP named after Sverdlov. Before, I jokingly brought my car to the guys and left it as a "guinea pig." I admit, at first I was afraid they would ruin it. But today I have no doubt that they will fix 90 percent of the malfunctions themselves. It is no coincidence that some of our senior students buy equipment and repair cars of friends and acquaintances, earning money from it.

Key to Start

To channel the energy of the trainees in a civilized direction, the college is already equipping a service station for cars. For this purpose, old vacant workshops were repaired, a cabinet for charging batteries was installed, a hydraulic60-ton press, a compression tester, modern equipment for oil changes and fuel system cleaning. Laboratory assistant Maxim Solovyov, whom I met there, was working on a Zhiguli's wheel:

— When I was studying to be a technician-mechanic here, there were no such opportunities for practical training.

Third-year student Kirill Kozhemyachenkov has no doubt that the service station will help to study the car's structure more deeply:

— There is more responsibility here than when working on a training stand. If you know that the owner will come for the car tomorrow, you can't goof off!

According to Vladimir Shitko, they plan to open a service station for passenger cars by the end of the year:

— If we equipped this station with our own non-budgetary funds, then for the service station for tractors and combines, the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee allocated 420 thousand rubles. We will also invest more than 100 thousand rubles in it. These costs should be recouped within 2 years.

A room in the college has already been selected. It can accommodate repairs for 4 tractors simultaneously. At the beginning of 2020, a tender will be announced for the purchase of equipment. And the opening of the station for servicing high-power machinery is planned to coincide with the start of the next academic year.

COMPETENT OPINION

Sergey Yankovich, Head of the Mechanization, Electrification, and Labor Protection Department of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee's Agriculture and Food Committee:

— There is a presidential directive to restore the structure of district agroservices. The Gorodok project is being implemented in this regard. On the other hand, it will provide farms with young specialists with maximally developed practical skills. When a tractor driver thoroughly knows the machine, and not just mindlessly operates it, he has fewer downtimes and higher output.