Huta Stalowa Wola (HSW SA) is a

defense contractor The arms industry, also known as the arms trade, is a global industry which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology. It consists of a commercial industry involved in the research and development, engineering, production, and s ...

that operates a

steel mill A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-finishe ...

in the city of

Stalowa Wola Stalowa Wola () is the largest city and capital of Stalowa Wola County with a population of 58,545 inhabitants, as of 31 December 2021. It is located in southeastern Poland in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship. The city lies in historic Lesser Poland ...

, Poland. It is a major producer of

military equipment A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

and one of the largest heavy

construction machinery Heavy equipment or heavy machinery refers to heavy-duty vehicles specially designed to execute construction tasks, most frequently involving earthwork operations or other large construction tasks. ''Heavy equipment'' usually comprises five e ...

producers in East-Central Europe. In 1981 HSW and

International Harvester The International Harvester Company (often abbreviated by IHC, IH, or simply International ( colloq.)) was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household e ...

constructed the TD-40 earth mover, the world's largest at that time. It had plough capacity 19 m³ and the engine had 460hp. Production began in 1983. TD-40 was used by State Polish mines and was exported to

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

, Czechoslovakia, and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. TD-40E variant is still produced under the "Dressta" name. HSW SA is part of Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa SA.

History

It was established in 1938 in the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of the First Worl ...

. It was a part of a series of investments made by the Polish government from 1936–1939 to create the Central Industrial Region. This was to be a group of factories built in the middle of the country, away from the borders with Germany and the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. It was designed to provide a reasonably secure location for the production of armaments and high technology goods. The mill manufactured high alloy steels and weapons artillery and heavy machine guns in 1937. A city grew around the mill, and took its name from the town of

. In the 1960s and 1970s the company started production of heavy construction machinery, and in the 1980s, it was one of the major centers of resistance to the governemnt (see 1988 Polish strikes). In 1991 Huta Stalowa Wola became a

joint stock company A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareholders are ...

. It is the town's major employer. On 1 February 2012, HSW SA sold its civilian construction machinery division to

Guangxi Liugong Machinery LiuGong, officially Guangxi LiuGong Machinery Co., Ltd., is a Chinese multinational construction machinery manufacturing company headquartered in Liuzhou, China. It is the world's 10th-largest construction equipment manufacturer by market share ...

. In 2012, HSW bought Jelcz-Komponenty Sp. z OO.

Shareholders

* Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa S.A. 85.09% * The State Treasury 4.15% * PGE Obrót S.A. 1.08% * Adamczyk Grzegorz 1.02% * PGNiG S.A. 0.81%

References

External links

*
LiuGong Poland, formerly part of HSW
Iron and steel mills in Poland Defence companies of Poland Government-owned companies of Poland 2012 mergers and acquisitions Polish brands Companies established in 1938 {{Poland-company-stub