The things started a score of years ago. A Siberian oil company needed a three-dimensional geocell for construction (invented by the Americans). Entrepreneur Mikhail Azarh, who supplied equipment to oil-industry took interest in this and soon became a distributor of an overseas supplier. It took off from there and in 2008 he opened the factory in Moscow to produce this already improved innovative products, which the Americans purchase themselves. Having started as an importer of an American soil strengthening technology, the company moved to the industry leaders. Today PRESTORUS is a diversified company with solid experience in the development, practical use and production of modern geosynthetics materials and it is located in the Lipetsk SEZ. The materials are used in the oil and gas, road, rail, military and other industries in the construction of roads, strengthening slopes, with shore protection and landscape design. The company's products (powerful example of import substitution) significantly wins in price and terms of performance, they are is better than imported materials. The sales territory is from the Far North to the South of Russia, and the international market is also being developed. Gazprom, Vankorneft, Stroytransgaz, Stroygazmontazh, FGUP Spetsstroy Russii, Russian Railways and others are among the main customers of the company. It should be noted that no complaints were ever received by PRESTORUS. The company has more than 30 patents of the Russian Federation for inventions and utility models. The quality management system of PRESTORUS was recognized as complying with the requirements of the international standard ISO 9001: 2008 (GOST ISO 9001-2011). As part of the international certification of Factory production control, FPC certificates were received for all products manufactured by the company. Among the latest development is the GEOCORD geocells reinforced with high-strength filament, the GEOSTEP seamless geocells for reinforcing slopes. The company’s founder, Mikhail Azarh has always been its driving force for all these years. Having graduated from the Moscow Aviation Technological Institute in the 1980s, he worked his way up from a milling machine operator to the chairman of the board of directors and PRESTORUS CEO. As you know the leader’s professionalism, his ability to pick the team of like-minded people and to manage them is the key to effective work, and Mikhail Azarh fully possesses all these qualities. Operating various organizations in the field of design, engineering and construction, Mikhail never ceased to improve his professional level, constantly taking continuing education courses. He is the author and co-author of 29 patents for inventions and utility models. The track record (with more than a dozen positions) in the social scene also speaks in favour of his competence: Expert Council member under the State Duma Industry Committee, member of the Council for Engineering and Industrial Design under the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, 1st Vice President of the National Chamber of Engineers and etc. In our conversation Mikhail Azarh told about the PRESTORUS current business, its achievements and struggles, growth prospects. - Mikhail, PRESTORUS has been a tenant of the most efficient SEZs in the country for 5 years already. How do you feel on the Lipetsk land? - Doing business is both achievements and certain problems that I hope will be resolved. We have actually doubled our production capacities in recent years and developed unique equipment (no one in the world produces this). We have export-oriented products, and we carry out scientific research and development work ourselves. The way of introducing innovations is complicated, but we have achieved notable successes here, we have about 40 Russian and foreign patents (recently M.M. Azarh was awarded the medal of the Federal Agency for Patents and Inventions. - Author). And the authorities provide significant support to us as SEZ tenants - in respect of income taxes, and obtaining subsidies for patenting abroad. - Every business has its challenges… - The products which we export lose as their certification and patenting abroad is costly, time and strength-consuming. On top of that, customs barriers are high. When our competitors from Israel deliver products to South America at a zero-duty rate, we have a rate of 18%. The same goes for the countries considered friendly - Egypt, Vietnam, etc. There are some questions about the Lipetsk SEZ as well. We are grateful to its management for providing us with all kinds of support: all energy sources are connected, excellent services. Though a number of points require improvements. The SEZ is located on the outskirts, and it requires some public transport to deliver people there (there are 28 plants and thousands of workers in the economic zone). We are ready to take a feasible part in this, because the current transportation costs are very expensive for the company. It is necessary to streamline the food service (we are also ready for subsidies), medical care. The hostel for visiting employees will also benefit the Lipetsk SEZ. I hope that the new leadership of the region and the SEZ will pay attention to these problems, because their solution will only benefit the region. - Who are your partners, who do you cooperate with? - Our main partner is Gazprom and Russian consumers. We specialize in production of three-dimensional polymer cells (geocells) for soil reinforcement on weak substrates. Our country is 70 - 80% of permafrost, marshes and erosion-hazardous lands, that is why the company's products are in great demand. Our facilities include “Goluboy Potok”, “Sila Sibiri”, “Altai” and other gas trunk pipelines, as well as Avtodor and Russian Railways facilities ... Our invention is bought in America and on other continents. I would like the PRESTORUS products to be in demand among the Lipetsk people as well. Using technology allows to cut the estimated costs, and builders are often not interested in reducing the cost of construction. Although a careful owner must understand that our products save 20-30% of capital and operating costs. - Tell us about the counterfeit situation. - Counterfeit is a terrible phenomenon; we are constantly facing it. Recently we have won a suit with the decision to ban the Krasnoyarsk plant to produce counterfeit, an analogue of our products. Unfortunately, the state weakly protects inventions, innovators and copyright. Loss and damage are the result... They built a beautiful stadium for the World Cup in Volgograd which was damaged because the bank slope of the Volga was strengthened by a counterfeit geogrid. So, the situation in this area needs to be rectified, which I constantly repeat. - Time flies. What are your plans and prospects? - They are huge. We intend to become a global leader in our industry, to enlarge the volume of our products, also in joint ventures in other countries. Some agreements exist in Peru, Vietnam, Spain, negotiations are underway with Canada and South Korea. A modern enterprise can not only produce and sell products, but also promote them, help the customer. We do this free of charge. For example, in July, our representative will participate in a meeting in Malaysia (to justify our position) on the construction of a 1,000 km road bypassing Brunei. We are going to develop manufacturing in the Lipetsk SEZ. We need around 25 employees, including a plastic manufacturing technologist. We plan to develop a new motivation system for employees, including salary growth, and the amount of social privileges - this is what life itself calls for. We have a steadfast position that we make this world more stable.
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