Artik Tuff is established in 1928. 100% of shares are owned by the State. The company is controlled by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.The company was created to exploit a huge tuff quarry. It produces blocks of tuff for civil construction. Land owned is 1000 ha of which 300 are utilized.The turnover at peak period in 1985-1987 was 10 mln USD and the number of employees at that time was 800-1000.The company is working at less than 1% of capacity at present.In the past years, 2/3 of the company has been downsized with sale of part of the machinery to private operators. The demand of tuff is decreasing because of present crises in construction business. Cost of transport is very high for the low value of goods with high weight.In the local market there is a strong competition between private small companies as they have the equipment to finish the blocks. The quality of tuff is very high and unique and the products could be very competitive in local and foreign markets if the working method were improved and costs reduced. Actually, Artik Tuff is selling raw blocks of tuff to private operators, cut directly in the quarry, and private enterprises finish the blocks and sell in Armenian market.The company owns 8 cutting machines, trucks, bulldozers and forklifts.The tuff-cutting machines are out of state. The imprecise alignment of the cutting machines and the poor condition of the blades cause a very high level of scraps (60% of total production).All the handling of blocks are handmade (loading of trucks and rail reloading).