This year four more plants are expected to start operating in Lipetsk Special Economic Zone. They are PPG Industries Lipetsk (US), OBO Bettermann Production (Germany), ALTAIR (Russia) and RAZIONAL (Russia). The last two are involved in air-condition systems and boiling equipment production respectively.
While PPG Industries needs no introduction in the world of industrial and automotive coatings.
But on the eve of the new year Lipetsk Newspaper journalists travelled to the facility of the German OBO Bettermann to explore the nearest prospects of the company in the region and learn more about the record of the factory setting-up.
The first thing you run into at the factory entrance is the company smiling mascot named OBO, the company symbol impersonating the main company values – quality excellence and professional competence. Promoting corporate culture is a great priority here. Alexey Afinogenov in charge of the production at the SEZ plant, who volunteered to walk us around the facility, visibly takes pride in the high standards applied in the company.
— “We have hired 50 employees so far. Over the last 18 months all of them have been repeatedly sent to the headquarters office in Germany for training. While we are recruiting new people the requirements, of course, are indeed very high and they are not about technical skills only. We are looking for really responsible approaches to both safety and processes. The company provides the best it can offer in return. People are happy with this attitude, the staff turnover is virtually non-existent”, explains Alexey.
The fringe benefits include daily shuttle transportation, free hot lunches, well-equipped lounges with refreshments. Staff come mostly from the city capital – Lipetsk – and a nearby town Gryazi. Our guide Alexey, a graduate of Kazan Aviation Institute, have worked at a number of machine-building factories. When a vacancy ad for Bettermann production manager caught his eye a year ago he thought it a great chance for professional self-fulfillment in a new field. So, he immediately headed for Moscow for the interview, soon got the position and never regretted the move.
He says he is now endeavoring to implement the best practices he has picked up in Kazan, like malfunction prevention system.
— “We are determined to make OBO Bettermann the best tenant in Lipetsk SEZ, to work halfheartedly is really not our story.” From the first few glances at these dedicated doers you take their words for it.
According to Alexey, the company has been producing electrical protection equipment for over 100 years by now. Its complete nomenclature list would take up a dozen of weighty volumes. The new factory in Lipetsk SEZ is designed for cable carrying systems. They are, by the way, successfully used now at the factory .
Today commissioning works are in progress at Bettermann Lipetsk. The first product samples are scheduled for January 2016. Officially the plant is going to be launched next March. By that time another 50 hard-working people will find a new rewarding and steady job.
Sergey Kibalchenko
Lipetsk Newspaper
December 31, 2015
#News of SEZ
