The Cluj-Napoca Heavy Equipment Plant was founded in 1970 when the foundations were laid for a modern production unit for energy equipment: especially steam boilers, hot water boilers, special purpose boilers, burners, equipment for thermal power plants.
In 1976 C.U.G. expanded by building capacities for the construction of metallurgical equipment for the hot sectors and the cast iron foundry. At the same time, the rest of the utilities related to such an industrial platform were developed: the compressed air station, the oxygen factory, the tooling department, the internal railways, the modelling, etc.
In 1980, the department of complex technological equipment, heavy forge, light forge, electric steel plant and steel foundry was built, including the central analysis laboratory capable of performing mechanical and chemical testing, hot steel handling equipment, primary heat treatment furnaces and secondary, casting pots, casting machines, gable installations, rolling cylinders, rolling cages, other equipment for continuous casting lines, mechanical presses for embossing car bodies, cutting presses, hydraulic presses, deburring presses, mechanical presses, hammers for molding in the range 250-2500 tf, etc.
During that period of success, CUG had a football team and a professional folklore band. In 1985, the Combine had over 8,000 employees and machinery was intensively exported. In 1990, the press of the time announced that more work was done in January of that year than in December. But in 1991, the combine was divided into eight commercial companies: Fortpres, Termorom, UNIMET, TCM, PSA, Tehnomag, ERS and Fortur.
In 2016, the debts were over 1.3 million lei, while the turnover was just over 550,000 lei. In 2017, the Combine reported losses of over 6.9 million lei and a turnover ten times lower than the previous year. One of the reasons preventing real estate development in the area is liquidation from a legal point of view. There are blockages in the bankruptcy process due to division disputes. The last property delimitation process was resolved in 2017.
In the former production halls of CUG, various warehouses were installed. The former oxygen factory was demolished, and another hall was built in its place where liquid oxygen produced in other cities is bottled. The former Unimet was bought by the Austrians, where chassis for bulldozers are produced here, with imported sheet metal. The Someş clothing factory moved from the center of the city to the former CUG platform. (source)