Roustam Minnikhanov: “Production has to be overhauled amid crisis”

A presentation of the Pozis research and development centre and a meeting called On coordination of industrial companies and organisations’s action in the field of technical upgrade and developing cooperation were held in Zelenodolsk, Tatarstan. The Prime Minister Roustam Minnikhanov attended the meeting.

Other attendees were the Tatarstan Industry and Trade Minister Ravil Zaripov, Zelenodolsk District head Radik Khasanov and the President of the Association of Businesses and Undertakers President Alexander Lavrentiev.

The guests, led by Roustam Minnikhanov, began by touring the R&D centre and workshops, examining the production run. The Pozis R&D centre is a state-of-the-art technical complex, set up to conduct tests, implement and manufacture products of any complexity. The centre was set up to increase the competitiveness of products and services in Tatarstan’s industry. It has a vast potential in terms of design and technology innovations. It includes an Innovative Technology Centre, as well as an instrument and machine building complexes.

The ship builder Zavod imeni Sergo’s representative Alexander Skoromnov told journalists the guests had been demonstrated 4 firms including Avista-2, NPZ Plastmass, Delfo and Crystal Kholod. The smaller and medium businesses are Pozis key suppliers. “The purpose of our joint effort is to make products cheaper. Amid the crisis, smaller business increases production, creating jobs in this republic,” he said.

The federal unitary state enterprise Pozis acting general director Vladimir Mikhailov said the R&D centre designed and manufactured equipment and instruments for machine building enterprises and for Zavod imeni Sergo. “We would like to spread the cooperation onto other enterprises in Tatarstan. Some of the enterprises are using our service. They include JSC Kazan Helicopter Plant, an agreement with which was signed a very short while ago, as well as KMPO and Nefis Cosmetics,” he said. “I cannot say the crisis has not affected us. Our development programme though includes creation of a strong technology base. Our unique equipment replaces energy-consuming production with less energy-consuming. Our Hannfrost line is quite as good as the more expensive imported products by Bosch and Liebherr. The refrigerator is meant to replace imported refrigerators in Russian shops. We have smaller and less costly refrigerators, 54-cm wide. Prospectively, we plan to arrange supplies of several models,” said Vladimir Mikhailov.

The official went on to say that a total of about 700 million roubles had been invested in pre-production and engineering. Between 2006 and 2009, investments totalled 214 million roubles, including Tatarstan’s funds and investments within federal target programmes. The company has certainly been affected to some extent, which is related to the fact that a state defence order takes a long time to be composed. This year, the company received its first advance payment in August, after repeated direct requests to the Russian Defence Minister from the local authorities. “If the state defence order remains the same next year, we will have problems, but we are set to cope with the problems. This year, the company intends to manufacture 290 thousand refrigerators, which 76 percent of last year,” said Mikhailov.

Opening the meeting, Roustam Minnikhanov noted the situation in the local economy remains complicated. The industrial production index as of the end of August was 87 percent. The situation differs by the sector. The defence industry is doing better, which is accounted for by an increase in government orders. Work is being done to attract more orders to the agribusiness sector. Automakers are facing the biggest difficulties.

“The situation in the auto industry remains challenging. Developing local and regional production collaboration is under the circumstances one instrument to minimise the crisis after-effects in the industry. This should allow us to optimise production and to expand the promotion of our products. The global practice shows one should modernise production in the times of a crisis,” said Minnikhanov.

He went on to urge local company managers to get involved in supplying components to the Universiade-2013 facilities. “This year, we will disburse at the construction about 7 billion roubles. Besides, attracting more funding is being negotiated. We should use to a maximum our machine building branch, encouraging it to make supplies to the construction sites. In the Ammonia project, our machine building firms could win a substantial order as well,” the Premier emphasised.