Press-centre

1 april 2024

On March 27-28, our enterprise hosted the IVth International Championship for solving BELAZ CHALLENGE mechanical engineering cases among students from leading technical universities of the CIS countries.

This year, eight university squads, uniting more than three dozen participants - students from Belarus, Russia and Uzbekistan, competed in intellectual battles on the sidelines of the BELAZ challenge.

The first day of the Championship was an introductory one. The guests learned interesting facts from the glorious history of BELAZ, got acquainted with the exhibition of the plant museum, visited the plant’s workshops and, as a warm-up, took part in a technological brainstorming session “Assemble BELAZ” on the main assembly line of the plant. Those interested were even able to try themselves as mechanics for mechanical assembly work at BELAZ, tightening the wheel clamp of a 55-ton dump truck.

On the main day of the challenge on March 28, the best representatives of specialized universities presented non-standard approaches and solutions to real technical problems with an asterisk to the expert jury. One of the practice-oriented cases is the presentation and motivation for proposals to improve the efficiency and reliability of operation of innovative models of BELAZ dump trucks. The championship participants also offered their original views on the introduction of useful additional options for BELAZ machinery with their description and justification for the experts’ consideration.

Completing the main part of the competitive program, student teams demonstrated ingenuity and team coherence in the now traditional mechanical engineering quiz called “BELAZ, please!”.

As a result, having collected the maximum points, the team of the St. Petersburg Mining University (SPMU) of Empress Catherine II became the winner of the Grand Prix of the competition and got the title of champion of BELAZ CHALLENGE-2024. The performance of St. Petersburg students generally received high marks from experts as the most reasoned, thorough and thoughtful. At the awards ceremony, in addition to honorary diplomas and memorable prizes, the champions from SPMU were awarded a certificate for completing an industrial internship at OJSC “BELAZ”.

Other participants in the BELAZ challenge also did not go without awards. They were presented with diplomas and awards for championship in individual team categories. Thus, representatives of the Ural State Mining University (USMU) (Ekaterinburg, Russia) were awarded for the “Best Technical Solution of an Operational Case”. The most original solution to the operation case was proposed by students of the Gomel State Technical University named after P.O. Sukhoi (Belarus).

For the best proposal of an option for BELAZ machinery, experts noted the guys from USMU, and for the best justification of the proposed option - the team of the National University of Science and Technology “MISIS” (Gubkin, Russia).

USMU students received awards for championship in the technological brainstorm “Assemble BELAZ”. Representatives of National University of Science and Technology “MISIS” from Moscow won the mechanical engineering quiz “BELAZ, please!” And the most creative team video card was presented by the guys from the branch of the Murmansk Arctic State University (Apatity, Russia).

Separate diplomas were also awarded to: the National University of Science and Technology “MISIS” team from the city of Gubkin – in the nomination “Debut in the BELAZ-CHALLENGE-2024 Championship” and USMU students – in the nomination “Recognition of the Student League”.

The team of the branch of the National University of Science and Technology “MISIS” (Almalyk, Uzbekistan) was awarded for active participation in the Championship, and the best team spirit, according to the jury, was shown by students of the Belarusian National Technical University (Minsk, Belarus).

BELAZ-CHALLENGE is an international educational project that provides talented youth with a unique opportunity to exchange experiences and self-realization, putting into practice their theoretical knowledge in the field of mechanical engineering and the mining industry. The organizers of the annual student championship are OJSC “BELAZ” and the general distributor of the company in Russia JSC “TD BELAZ”.