KAMAZ Leasing in Leasing Union
Leasing Company KAMAZ has become an official partner of a leasing subcommittee of the RF Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Leasing Union non-profit partnership.
LC KAMAZ has applied for joining the Leasing Union non-profit partnership for assisting in leasing activity promotion. The event took place during a final conference held by the leasing subcommittee of the RF Chamber of Commerce and Industry attended by LC KAMAZ’s representatives.
The forum assembled envoys of over 30 Russian leasing companies concerned with supporting law-making of the RF Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The Russian government will soon meet to review the draft federal law “On making amendments to part 2 of the RF Civil Code and the federal law “On financial lease (leasing)" and other RF legislative acts”. The document will then be submitted to the RF State Duma.
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
KAMAZ Foundrymen Hold International Forum
A specialized international conference named “Ductile Nodular Cast Iron and Cast Iron with Vermicular Compacted Graphite are Metals of the Future” will take place at the foundry of KAMAZ-Metallurgy OJSC, a subsidiary of OJSC KAMAZ, on October 5-7.
This imposing forum is supported by the Russian Association of Foundrymen. About 80 enterprises and scientific centers connected with the foundry will participate in the conference. The participants are from various cities – St. Petersburg, Moscow, Togliatti, Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Magnitogorsk, and Novosibirsk. There will also be representatives of foreign companies – for example, the world-famous German producer of equipment for the foundry – Heinrich Wagner Sinto (HWS) – and the oldest producer and supplier of materials for the foundry – the Norwegian Elkem Foundry Products Division (Elkem AS).
To date, the world and Russian vehicle producers show a serious interest in high-strength cast iron and, in particular, cast iron with vermicular compacted graphite. This material is easier to machine. It is no mere chance that the foundry was chosen to be the venue of such a meeting. The foundrymen of KAMAZ have gained a great experience making products of these materials. In September 2010, it is 30 years since a decision was made to launch high-duty cast iron production. For these years, KAMAZ’s foundrymen have learned how to get high-strength cast iron in several ways: for instance, using Ni-Mg-Ce alloys and other nickel-containing modifiers, a method of ladle inoculation (the so-called sandwich process), the so-called in-mold process partially used at present.
But already in 2006, the foundry of KAMAZ-Metallurgy started implementing the fourth technology of high-duty cast iron production – ladle inoculation of iron by treatment with a cored wire. During 4 last years, seven ladle inoculation plants were mounted in an iron casting department, a test laboratory for cored wire development and production was created. Since April 2009, an iron casting production department has been using its own cored wire.
At the end of last year, a regular issue of the “Foundry Production” magazine was fully devoted to the foundry production of KAMAZ – the groundwork of a cast iron production technology. It enabled KAMAZ’s foundrymen to once again make themselves known in the RF Government which develops a program to support and finance innovation projects this year. The foundry of KAMAZ was among the first plants which entered it.
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
KAMAZ in Finance-500 Rating
According to its volumes of receipts in 2009, OJSC KAMAZ was reckoned among top one hundred companies in the Finance 500 rating compiled by independent experts relying on the financial and economic performance of the largest Russian companies.
It should be noted that the whole year was recessionary, and for the first time in the whole history of Finance-500, the consolidated proceeds of most Russia’s major firms has decreased, not increased. Moreover, the aggregate proceeds of all 500 companies, with the exception of large raw material monopolies and some financial entities, on the list were less than $1 trillion. The crisis had mostly affected machine building plants manufacturing and selling the so-called investment products.
KAMAZ, as a pure truck producer, suffered much more than other Russian vehicle manufacturers realizing their products in the automobile market. Yet, the proficient management let the company retain its position in the top hundred of this ranking. In the first half-year 2010, KAMAZ Group increased sales of its products by 28.7 percent against the same period of 2009, while in terms of selling the main product – trucks – it exceeded the last year’s result by 37.6 percent. The second half-year sees an even faster growth.
Monday, 27 September 2010
KAMAZ Celebrates Professional Holiday
Today, on the last day of a working week, festive occasions devoted to the Machine Builder’s Day traditionally celebrated on the last Sunday of September are held at KAMAZ.
They were held at factories and in subdivisions during a lunch break or between two shifts. The KAMAZ workers will gather to a corporate evening in Culture and Business Complex KAMAZ (CBC KAMAZ).
The day before, Director General Sergey Kogoghin and Chairman of KAMAZ employees’ trade union committee Gumer Nuretdinov congratulated the KAMAZ workers on their professional holiday through the corporate newspaper “Vesti KAMAZa” and by radio “Golos KAMAZa” (KAMAZ’s Voice).
“We are grateful to all who remained with KAMAZ both in years of growth and development and at times of ordeals,” the greetings say. “Due to your conscientious and selfless labour, the company was given a chance to get over the crisis with minimum losses. And we celebrate this Machine Builder’s Day with optimism: during the latest months, KAMAZ strengthened its positions both in the domestic and foreign markets. Partnership with the world’s leaders of mechanical engineering producing automobile components offers us great opportunities.”
By tradition, workers and managers who made a major contribution to the company’s development will be awarded at the party in CBC KAMAZ. This year, there are more such people than ever. An honorary title “Honored Worker of KAMAZ” is given to 21 employees. Honorary diplomas of KAMAZ will be given to 105 people, and 101 KAMAZ workers will be thanked officially.
Friday, 24 September 2010
Sergey Kogoghin is the Best Manager in Mechanical Engineering
An annual rating of thousands of the best Russian managers made by the Kommersant newspaper and the Russian Managers Association (RMA) is published. Sergey Kogoghin, Director General of OJSC KAMAZ, topped the rating of managers of machine building enterprises.
The basic principle of the rating is “the best choose the best”. The managers were estimated not by objective results of their companies’ activities (volume of output, proceeds, etc.) – in that case, it would have been a rating of enterprises. The managers’ reputation was appraised, and this quality can be assessed only by means of an expert poll.
It should be recalled that last year KAMAZ’s director general took 8th place in the rating in the “Mechanical Engineering” sector.
Several managers of different KAMAZ subdivisions were also on the top list of Kommersant and RMA. The rating of directors of public and corporate relations was topped by Oleg Afanasyev, Director of PR Department of OJSC KAMAZ.
Thursday, 23 September 2010
“Blue Corridor 2010” at KAMAZ’s Home
Today, the “Blue Corridor 2010” rally of bottle-gas driven trucks and cars held on the territory of the Central and Volga Federal Districts made a stop in Naberezhnye Chelny.
The second race of vehicles and buses using compressed natural gas as automobile fuel started in Moscow on September 17. It was organized by OAO Gazprom, OOO VNIIGAZ and the National Gas-Vehicle Association. During the last days, the participants of this advertising and commercial event visited the cities of Ryazan, Penza, Togliatti, and Ulyanovsk where they met with representatives of regional and municipal authorities, their customers and representatives of local mass media.
In Naberezhnye Chelny, a column of 23 racing vehicles lined up on the main square of the city, near a city hall. Among them were three NEFAZ buses (5299-11-31 suburban, 5299-30-31 urban low entry, and 4208-10-41 shift buses on KAMAZ-43114-30 chassis), a BM-53229G-1 rear loading garbage truck, and a KO-829B1 combined road machine on KAMAZ-65115-30 chassis. Four units of five KAMAZ vehicles are debutants of the auto race. The participants of the rally and the representatives of the companies producing bottle-gas driven vehicles were greeted by KAMAZ’s top managers headed by Yury Klochkov, First Deputy Director General, CEO, the city’s administrators, and the managers of Chelny’s RariTEK Company, KAMAZ’s partner in development, production and service of such vehicles. KAMAZ’s two communal vehicles and a low-floor NEFAZ bus are specially made for urban use. Two buses more are produced against Gazprom’s special order. Special mention should be made of a shift bus meant to get working crews to remote destinations. Its cruising range is no less than 700 kilometers (435 miles). Besides, this is the first bus with a restyled cab in the line of KAMAZ’s bottle-gas drive vehicles. Building it, KAMAZ designers also applied a number of solutions which they realize in construction of vehicles of a new model line.
Then, a round table conference where problems of the use of gas as engine fuel were discussed and a press briefing were held in the city hall. Presenting their machinery to those who had gathered there, the participants of the motor race called their attention to the fact that the level of noxious emissions from vehicles running on natural gas is considerably lower than that of their “gasoline” analogues. For example, CO2 (carbon dioxide) is less by 25%, and carbon monoxide is less by 80%. And bottle-gas driven trucks and buses don’t emit the so-called “particulates” at all.
The next stage of the “Blue Corridor 2010” race started in the afternoon. Tomorrow, the caravan of the bottle-gas driven machinery will be welcomed in Kazan, and a day later – in Nizhny Novgorod. “Blue Corridor 2010” will be finished in Moscow on September 25.
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Silk Way Rally Finishes
Silk Way 2010 Off-Road Rally Raid, Stage 7 (Elista – Maykop), Stage 8 (Maykop – Sochi)
In the truck race, the crews of the KAMAZ-master team conquered all three steps of the podium.
The only navigation mistake of Vladimir Chaguin’s and Firdaus Kabirov’s crews at the previous sixth stage moved these repeated Dakar winners back in the rating. Their main task was very difficult – to win more than a 40-minute lead during the last days of the race. It’s impossible to foretell in off-road rallies what exactly will bring success in this or that race and at its certain stages. Eduard Nikolaev’s crew was lucky thanks to the right strategy: “The main thing is to drive stably not making mistakes”. This aim became the basic tactics for the leaders of young members of the KAMAZ-master team at the seventh timed sector of the track to Sochi: Nikolaev’s crew took fourth place 20 minutes behind Chaguin’s crew and 4 minutes behind Kabirob’s crew. Ales Loprais, the Czech Republic driver who was fourth in the overall standings practically had no chances to catch up with KAMAZ’s leading trio.
On the seventh day of the race other crews of the KAMAZ-master team also distinguished themselves. Andrey Karghinov’s trio managed to clock the fifth time and remained sixth in the overall standings. It was virtually impossible to catch up with Franz Echter’s crew ranking fifth. The next was Ayrat Mardeev’s crew with the tenth place on that day. Andrey Leontyev took eleventh place in the truck race, less than three hours behind Pep Vila (Spain), but with a lead of more than seventeen hours over Hugo Duisters (Holland).
Before the start of the eighth stage, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin visited the racers’ bivouac in Maykop and wished them good luck.
Eduard Nikolaev’s crew started the last 10-mile rally course. The “legend” of this “mini-stage” with a much longer connection warned that there would be rather deep fords on the track and it would be important not to get stuck there, otherwise water could get into engines. Naturally, it applied to the truck crews to a small degree. And basically all lighter vehicles coped with numerous fords.
Nevertheless, the last stage, like all previous ones though, was not at all “silk”. Danger caught mostly on land. News channels showed a shot of a terrible accident. One of the crews deviated from a well-beaten track and jumped high. The vehicle flew up in the air and started breaking down even before a very hard landing on the front bumper…
And then the Caucasus’ main mountain range was left behind. On Saturday in the evening, the city of Sochi which will host Winter Olympic Games 2014 welcomed the participants of the Silk Way 2010 rally raid of the Dakar series. The crews drove 1,242 miles in order to finally get to the shores of the Black Sea. All the participants in the class of trucks kept their positions they had achieved before.
A great number of fords didn’t frighten Spain’s Carlos Sainz. The overall leader in the car and jeep race proved his status. Nasser Al Attiyah from Qatar did his best to win at the finishing stage. And he managed to do it. Sainz made the least number of mistakes what let him win.
So, the second rally raid Silk Way – Dakar Series made history. A celebration in honour of the winners of the rally was organized in the main hotel of Sochi. Sergey Kogoghin, Director General of OJSC KAMAZ, was among high guests of this ceremony.
Monday, 20 September 2010
Kalmykia’s Labyrinths
Silk Way 2010 Off-Road Rally Raid, Stage 6, Astrakhan – Elista
The crew of the KAMAZ-master team with pilot Eduard Nikolaev not only finished first, but also – captured the overall lead in the truck class having successfully solved a difficult navigation task on the track of the stage.
The stage was difficult in respect of navigation and road surface. Sometimes sand storms blew, visibility was poor, and the racers had to slow down. Formerly, military vehicles had passed on these numerous labyrinth roads and left very deep ruts which the racers had to surmount across. It hasn’t been raining there for a long time, that’s why the ground was dry and solid. On the whole, the track reminded the racers of roadless terrain in Morocco, Africa.
The crews in both classes of racing vehicles which passed this track divided into two groups – those who managed to find the 40th point, and those who lost much time and many positions in the overall standings to find it. The fact was that this “point” turned out to be almost a mile to the left from the route mapped in the “legend” of the sixth stage and logically linking the 39th and 41st marks on it. But devices of racing vehicles “catch” signals from equipment on checkpoints only at the distance of about half a mile.
This “mistake” made by the organizers of the rally deluded many racers, even experienced navigators. Eduard Nikolaev’s crew became the hero of the day. Navigator Vyacheslav Mizyukaev quickly enough realized what the problem was and, after the repeated lap on the track on the “right” trajectory, he managed “to take the point”. As a result, the crew not only showed the best time, but also took the first place in the overall standings having moved back Firdaus Kabirov’s and Vladimir Chaguin’s crews which didn’t guess this navigation riddle in time and spent more than an hour in search of the 40th point. However, in spite of problems, the expert pilots were satisfied with the track which had been laid in the sands and alkali soils of Kalmykia’s steppes.
Young racers of KAMAZ were a bit surprised when they learned that they had become the leaders of the race: “I slightly worry and feel uneasy towards Vladimir Chaguin and Firdaus Kabirov,” said Eduard Nikolaev at the finish, “yet they realise that they had made a mistake, and we had simply been lucky. Now we have to hold our ground, and not just to win or to drive fast, but not to make a mistake.”
Unfortunately, there are losses in the team. Ilghizar Mardeev’s KAMAZ jumped and landed hard. The navigator and the mechanic of the crew injured their backs, and they needed emergency medical aid, so they stayed at a hospital in Astrakhan. Alone, Ilghizar continues the race on its KAMAZ in a test mode, out of the event.
Andrey Karghinov’s and Ayrat Mardeev’s crews also had problems with navigation, but managed to successfully finish seventh and ninth, respectively.
Friday, 17 September 2010
“Blue Corridor” Starts
Tomorrow, on September 17, a rally of bottle-gas driven trucks and motor cars will start in Moscow with an active participation of KAMAZ and its partner in development and mastering of production of trucks and buses using natural gas as automobile fuel – RariTEK Company, Naberezhnye Chelny.
The second rally of this kind (the first one was held last year), which was organized by OAO Gazprom, OOO VNIIGAZ and the National Gas-Vehicle Association will be held at the Central and Volga Federal Districts. The route is made so that stops may be in the cities of automakers. Thus, on September 21 and 22, the participants of the auto caravan will be met in Naberezhnye Chelny, at KAMAZ. They will visit an exhibition of modern vehicles and buses and a round table discussion there.
In eight days participants will travel a distance of 2,620 kilometers on the main highways. The caravan will sequentially visit the oblast centers of Russia: Ryazan, Penza, Togliatti, Ulyanovsk, Naberezhnye Chelny, Kazan, and Nizhny Novgorod. “Blue Corridor 2010″ will finish on September 25 in Moscow.
23 vehicles in all, including escort vehicles, are engaged in the action. The main transport column consists of 17 vehicles. KAMAZ’s group in this column is imposing. Last year, KAMAZ delegated three vehicles running on gas to the rally. This year, the mini row of KAMAZ vehicles has grown to five units. These are three NEFAZ buses (5299-11-31 suburban, 5299-30-31 urban low entry and 4208-10-41 shift buses on KAMAZ-43114-30 chassis), BM-53229G-1 rear unloading garbage truck and KO-829B1 combined road machine on KAMAZ-65115-30 chassis. These vehicles will go on a tour right “from the party”: from September 14 to September 17, they were shown at the GasSUF-2010 exhibition held at Moscow’s Expocentre Sokolniki. This race is the first one for these four KAMAZ vehicles.
Two communal KAMAZ vehicles and a low-floor NEFAZ bus are specifically designed to operate in cities. Two buses more are manufactured at the request of Gazprom. Special mention should be made of a shift bus designed to bring working crews to remote destinations. Its cruising range is not less than 435 miles. Besides, this is the first bus with a restyled cab in the line of KAMAZ’s bottle-gas driven vehicles. A number of design solutions realized in vehicles of the new model line were used in its construction.
According to Andrey Ovchinnikov, Director of Innovative Products of KAMAZ FINANCE AND TRADING COMPANY, KAMAZ is going not only to surprise the audience, but also to achieve its educational and commercial purposes participating in the motor race. “We want to reach out to the regional and municipal authorities of the cities through which the route will pass and where we will meet,” he said. – They will see with their own eyes that KAMAZ vehicles running on alternative fuels, i.e. on compressed natural gas are in serial production, and their model range is wide enough. This is an occasion to think about execution of Federal Law 261 which states the necessity of transport energy efficiency. This is thought-provoking information for our end users who could develop their business with our help, effectively using environment-friendly vehicles. “
According to experts, emissions from vehicles running on natural gas are considerably less than those from their “gasoline” analogues: CO2 (carbon dioxide) is less by 25%, carbon monoxide is less by 80%. And bottle-gas driven trucks don’t emit the so-called “solid particles”, carbon black, to put it in simpler words, at all. Thus, “the blue corridor” gives “the green light” to eco-friendly vehicles.
Thursday, 16 September 2010
KAMAZ Vehicles Head “Real” Dakar
Silk Way 2010 Off-Road Rally Raid, Stage 5, Volgograd – Astrakhan
Three crews of the KAMAZ-master team which had been in the lead of the race kept their positions, and the fourth one joined them in the Caspian roadless terrain.
“This was already a real Dakar!” – this phrase was most often heard in the pilots’ comments on the track of the fifth stage. The rally became there what the racers were used to naming Dakar – a lot of sand, an unpredictable track, difficult navigation, and, as a result, a lot of retirements including the leaders’ ones. For example, Giniel de Villers finished the race on the way to the Caspian Sea when his vehicle was sent by an unexpected ditch on its roof. The South African was on the point of winning pretending to a high rank of the overall standings only at the previous stage…
In the truck event the battle continued between Vladimir Chaguin and Firdaus Kabirov. This time, the sixfold winner of Dakar was better on the track driving a new vehicle, by the way. “It’s difficult to draw conclusions yet, the car is a little bit lighter, but I can’t say anything definite about it. On the whole, the day was interesting, like a real Dakar, there were dunes and high-speed sectors where we drove at our maximum speed, a great number of ditches and gullies. The most important thing for us was not to finish the race in pits of Astrakhan.” Valdimir Chaguin said.
Eduard Nikolaev’s crew became the truck leaders’ real competitor as it ranked third in the overall standings. Vladimir Chaguin was glad to see the young pilot’s success, “He is stable and fast, and Vyacheslav Mizyukaev, the navigator of the crew, copes with all difficulties of the track. They have already shown good results, and it’s important for them to get to the finish and not to make mistake.”
The fourth result was shown by another trio of the tem – Ilghizar Mardeev’s crew which overtakes the crew of Austria’s Franz Echter for fourth position after five stages. “I’m very happy about today,” said the pilot after the finish. “It was interesting in the respect of navigation. And it was close to Dakar in difficulties.”
The rest crews of the KAMAZ-master team also successfully got to the finish, Ayrat Mardeev who had shown the tenth result commented on the track, “Today it was various, sometimes fast and even, and sometimes hilly, and it was rather hard for the suspension of our vehicle. The sands were not so difficult to pass, but some crews still managed to stick there.”
Andrey Karghinov and Andrey Leontyev finished seventh and thirteenth respectively. Karghinov ranks seventh in the overall standings and doesn’t let the Czech Republic driver Ales Loprais and Franz Echter go far.
Thursday, 16 September 2010
Dialogue with Premier
Yesterday, Sergey Kogoghin, Director General of OJSC KAMAZ, made a report “On Measures of Support and Development of Domestic Machine-Building in the Volga Federal District” at the interregional party conference of United Russia in Nizhny Novgorod.
After the top manager of KAMAZ had made his report, he talked with Vladimir Putin, Russia’s Prime Minister. Below is a transcript of their conversation from the official site of the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
Vladimir Putin: In case some of you did not recognise the previous speaker, it was Sergey Kogoghin, Director General of OJSC KAMAZ.
There was an idea several years ago to transfer Mr Kogoghin from KAMAZ to another major Russian automobile plant. At the time President of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev objected strongly, saying that Mr Kogoghin was doing an excellent job and was a highly efficient manager. I agree with him. I would like to thank you for your praise of government anti-crisis measures. Not that this is a mutual admiration society - I must acknowledge that the KAMAZ management achieved a great deal in recent years to develop the company and, lately, to recover from the crisis.
You have probably seen me inspecting the final construction stage of the Chita-Khabarovsk motorway and talking to long-distance lorry drivers. I did my best to advertise your lorries but not with a great deal of success.
Drivers know their business inside out. Many of them spend their whole lives on the road. They have concerns about the engines. I want to ask you in this connection how is your collaboration going with foreign partners, including our American colleagues? You have told me about your first steps toward building a new engine, and have shown it to me. This was the first point.
Second. They invited me inside their lorry, and I got in. I literally walked in -the cab of this jumbo lorry is high enough to stand upright. It has a wardrobe, two comfortable berths and a fridge. The drivers told me that this vehicle was made with people in mind.
It is easy to see why such lorries were designed in the United States: they have strong trade unions that monitor working conditions in the industry, and lorries account for a great part of shipments. They made their demands for decades on end, and satisfactory standards were gradually introduced.
You have shown me your cab blueprints. To what an extent will KAMAZ future-oriented endeavours meet the client's standards?
Sergey Kogoghin: We design our vehicles in conformity with the existing European standards. American standards differ from all the others somewhat. We have made a new lorry, you are right. We have done it, first, because our clients don't want to buy anything else and second, because American motorways are designed for lorries longer than twenty metres. They have no length restrictions, while Russian roads do not allow proper turns...
Vladimir Putin: The standards are different.
Sergey Kogoghin: We follow European standards but the cabs we are designing now conform to all UNECE standards.
One can stand upright in the cab of a new haulage lorry. Such cabs have a smooth floor and two comfortable berths. They can't really be compared to American cabs because we cannot achieve their level of comfort on an 18 sq m space. If cabs are larger, the caravan will have to be shorter and that will raise the price for every kilo of freight. But we certainly take drivers' comfort into account.
Vladimir Putin: You see, it is not a question of standards but of consumers' expectations. That's what we should proceed from. If you say that your lorries meet all the latest standards, the consumer - a lorry driver, in this case - will reply: "This standard might conform to some demands or others but I want something different," and buy a second-hand American lorry. The market is the market, and consumers seek what they want and do not care for standards that exist on paper.
Sergey Kogoghin: You are absolutely right.
Vladimir Putin: We could approach this problem by introducing bans and limitations but that would not be the right kind of regulation. I promised the drivers to tell you about this, and now I am telling you in public.
Sergey Kogoghin: As for the engine plant, you asked about our cooperation with our partners. The plant has been making 500 engines a month, and we intend to produce 12,000 next year, which is the estimated output for the first stage. There is nothing to stop us from doing this. We will produce 25,000 engines in 2012. The plant is operating.
Vladimir Putin: Thank you.
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
Steppes and Deserts Upset All Plans
Silk Way 2010 Off-Road Rally Raid, 4th Stage, Lipetsk – Volgograd
In the fourth stage, the longest one in the race, the participants reached a zone of real “Dakar” sands, and the crews gained their first experience of the marathon race. And again, the stage was started early in the morning with a long connection over 400 km long. It led the participants to desert landscapes and a 320-kilometer-long special leg consisting of two sections. The participants had to use their excellent piloting and navigation skills to pass these legs.
Being in the spirit of the Dakar series, the racing track of the stage was laid sometimes along a twisting, narrow and uneven route, sometimes in the forest, sometimes through bare steppes, and, here and there, along poorly seen, overgrown roads. The first dunes overgrown and open to all winds are for a distance of 50 km. The navigators had to make their path through sand hills which were very much alike maneuvering among steeps and traps.
Events were developing interestingly in the class of motor cars and jeeps. As a result, instead of a pair of leaders – Spaniard Carlos Sainz and Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah who were expected to win in the rally, a trio topped the overall standings. Steppe roads led South African Giniel de Villers to the first place on a special leg. Thus, the winner of Dakar 2009 proved his wish to take one of prize-winning places on the marathon. The new victory let him go up to one level with Nasser Al-Attiyah in the overall standings. Now, they are only 1 minute 19 seconds behind Carlos Sainz. The fourth stage upset all plans in this class.
The situation is still uncertain in the category of trucks too. The crew of the KAMAZ-master team with pilot Firdaus Kabirov took first place on the stage again. Vladimir Chaguin’s crew finished third on this stage and is 11 minutes 23 seconds behind other crews of the team in the overall standings. This time Czech Ales Loprais’ crew on Tatra was wedged in between the KAMAZ crews; it kept the fourth place in the overall rating and as before following the KAMAZ crew with pilot Eduard Nikolaev, yielding 15 minutes to the leader of the race.
Today the caravan rally will head for Astrakhan.
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
OJSC KAMAZ: Eyes Turned to the Future
Today Sergey Kogoghin, Director General of OJSC KAMAZ, Chairman of the Board of Association of Russian Automakers Non-Profit Partnership, has made a report at the inter-regional party conference of United Russia “Strategy of Socio-Economic Development of the Volga region till 2020. Program for 2010-2012” in Nizhny Novgorod.
Sergey Kogoghin’s report was devoted to measures for support and development of the domestic automobile industry in the Volga Federal District.
Automobile industry is one of the basic economic sectors of the Volga Federal District. The main enterprises are located in five republics and oblasts of the district and form the so-called “Volga Automotive Cluster”. Besides them, there are about 300 producers of automobile components in the district too. The Strategy of Development of the Russian Automobile Industry till 2020 approved by the RF Government sets the enterprises of the district a task to create a strong, competitive economic sector and improve production quality.
In this connection, Sergey Kogoghin emphasized three main tasks: to increase business scales, to recover competitiveness, to catch up with engineering achievements, to raise an HR-potential. He stated methods of approach and operational experience of KAMAZ and other automobile companies of the Volga Federal District in solving of these tasks.
In particular, KAMAZ’s top manager told about the company’s partnership with the regional educational institutions as an example of successful solving of infrastructural and personnel problems: the company and its partners established the KAMAZ-KSTU Scientific and Educational Cluster, the Machine-Building Volga Cluster University, corporate universities of KAMAZ, AvtoVAZ and GAZ, as well as Industrial Park Master on production premises of KAMAZ.
As to development of a modern component base, Sergey Kogoghin noted that some of the world’s leading OEM producers entered the regional market. KAMAZ established JVs with such famous companies as Zahnrad Fabrik, Cummins, Knorr Bremse, and Federal Mogul. KAMAZ’s Director General emphasized that development of vehicle components production has a multiplier effect in related branches with a factor of 2.0-2.5.
Partnership with the world’s manufacturers means that the Russian enterprises can produce new high-technology vehicles able to successfully compete with the leading foreign manufacturers’ products.
Sergey Kogoghin named OJSC KAMAZ’s long-term development strategy as an example of a development strategy based on innovative renewal of the produced model range due to establishment of JVs for key components production. This strategy provides for production of the current model range with the use of modern components till 2013. At the same time, the company will be focused on production of reliable and high-quality vehicles at reasonable prices. From 2014 KAMAZ will start producing vehicles of the new generation with brand new specifications and customer properties complying with the world standards. And to date, KAMAZ’s investment program is focused on implementation of 8 key projects which will enable to achieve its goals and make its products competitive for the near future.
According to Sergey Kogoghin, when establishing modern automobile enterprises in the RF, the state should create economic incentives both for production and for demand for high-tech, up-to-date vehicles. In order to achieve the goals of the strategy, the state should stimulate renewal of the vehicle fleet, demand for eco-friendlier equipment produced by the Russian companies, production localization at JVs established with foreign companies, maintenance of key competences of the Russian auto producers.
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
“Beautiful Dream” Left Behind
Three crews of the KAMAZ-master team continue leading the race, the racers of another crew are trying to catch up with their teammates.
Silk Way 2010 Rally, 3rd Stage Vyazma – Lipetsk
The third stage 380 km long was started early in the morning yesterday. A special leg 210 km long under the name “Beautiful Dream” was laid in picturesque hilly valleys of the central part of Russia and partly passed through “historical” roads which keep wheel tracks from racing vehicles of Paris – Moscow – Beijing legendary marathon 1992, the first off-road race of the Dakar series held on the territory of Russia.
As pilot Eduard Nikolaev noted, that rally course with a very difficult navigation was really “a navigator’s dream”. The track passed along the borders of fields of Central Chernozemye (“Black Earth” belt); slopes and fords followed one after another. And it was against a background of a view “native” for the Russian participants – small trees, forests, fields and… an enormous number of spectators on the race track.
Today all three leaders of the rally – the crews of the KAMAZ-master team with pilots Vladimir Chaguin, Firdaus Kabirov and Eduard Nikolaev – for different reasons stopped on the course. Firdaus Kabirov’s crew was delayed on the way because of an accident of Mitsubishi with pilot Aleksey Berkut. The KAMAZ racers helped the Russian crew. At the same time, a loss of time by no means influenced the position of the crewof Kabirov who showed the best time on a special leg having left behind the Czech crew of Ales Loprais and his teammates – Vladimir Chaguin’s crew. A wheel of Chaguin’s KAMAZ was punched, and he had to stop and replace it. Eduard Nikolaev’s crew rounding up the top three prize winners lost several seconds because of careless overcoming of one of water obstacles. The racers had to spend about two minutes to release pressure in wheels. After that the high-powered KAMAZ easily got out of “the water captivity”.
But these problems didn’t let the competitors oust the crews of the KAMAZ-master team from the top three positions in the overall rating. With the fourth result, Ilghizar Mardeev’s crew managed to go up one position and leave behind the crew of Austrian Franz Echter on the MAN truck. Now about 40 seconds separate the KAMAZ racers from the fourth position of Ales Loprais.
Two other crews of the young members of the KAMAZ-master managed to keep their positions. Andrey Karginov showed his best sixth result and got close to Franz Echter. Ayrat Mardeev stays on the eleventh position. Journalist Andrey Leontiev having stably passed a special sector moved up one position.
Today the participants of Silk Way 2010 rally will go on the track of the fourth stage. 302 high-speed kilometers of a special leg “Archeda” and the first dunes are in store for them.
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
Expert Aces and New Names
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| Eduard Nikolaev and Ildar Shaysultanov, the winners of the second stage |
After the first day of the race, four crews on KAMAZ vehicles took the first four positions in the class of trucks.
1 – 2 Stages of the Silk Way 2010 Rally
On Saturday, on the first day of the race, the participants of the rally of the Dakar series ran the first 86 kilometers of the distance on Luzhsky tank range and further to the city of Staraya Russa. The route was very unusual – some legs looked like routes for classical rallies, some of them resembled special legs of Dakar. Logs, tumbledown bridges, cuttings in a forest and quicksands occurred on the way there.
An accident of Pep Vila Roca’s crew from Gerard De Rooy’s team became a great disappointment. He overthrew his MAN having greatly damaged the vehicle and therefore lost more than 3 hours. Vladimir Chaguin stopped on the distance in order to help his wrecked rival and continued the race only after he had seen that the Spaniard’s crew hadn’t been damaged greatly.
The experienced racers of the KAMAZ-master team immediately seized the reins of power. Three main crews of the KAMAZ-master team started struggling for positions from the first meters. Vladimir Chaguin showed the best time of the day having left behind his teammate – Firdaus Kabirov – with a lead of 1 minute 44 seconds; Ilghizar Mardeev ranked fourth after Eduard Nikolaev. Andrey Karghinov ranked seventh, and Ayrat Mardeev ranked eleventh. Andery Leontiev, Moscow’s journalist, set himself a task not to damage his KAMAZ and get used to the difficult route, and he coped with his task having took thirteenth place.
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| Vladimir Chaguin and Gerard De Rooy, irreconcilable rivals in races and friends in life |
After the second day of Silk Way 2010, new names could be found in the overall list of winners on stages of the Dakar series race.
The second stage passed not far from Vyazma and the hero city of Smolensk, the place of decisive battles in the first year of the Great Patriotic War. After an overnight stay in a camp on an airfield of Staraya Russa, the participants started a more difficult stage about 750 km long with two high-speed legs named “Lake Valdai” and “Bear Run”. They were divided by a neutralization area. The first leg 105 km long is a very fast, with wide roads which then narrow and lead to woodland. Then a very rugged terrain, sometimes quaking and with a deep rut, appeared before the pilots. The second part of the route was 68 km. Then, after a connection 250 km long, the participants came to a bivouac on an airfield of Vyazma.
Four jeeps of Volkswagen’s teem topped the overall standings. Spaniard Carlos Sainz showed the best result having left behind Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah.
One can say that success of the crew with pilot Eduard Nikolaev on KAMAZ opened a new stage in the category of trucks and in the history of the KAMAZ-master team. This trio gained its first victory on the stages of the Dakar series races having left behind Firdaus Kabirov’s crew with a lead of 30 seconds. This year 26-year-old Nikolaev have already made himself known at the Championship of Russia having won a stage of the Khazar Steppes race.
Vladimir Chaguin’s crew showed the third result on this day. Leads between the leaders are minimal. Ilghizar Mardeev’s trio was sixth on the finish of the stage following Austrian Franz Echter and Czech Ales Loprais. Mardeev is an experienced racing driver, and he knows that stability is a necessary means in long races. Andery Karginov was seventh, and Ayrat Mardeev was twelfth. Andrey Leontiev also successfully came to the finish, not far behind his rivals.
Today the racers will be faced with a more serious distance. There are 215 high-speed kilometers on the third stage named “Beautiful Dream”.
Monday, 13 September 2010
Dakar-Series is Again in Russia
The Silk Way 2010 off-road rally raid of the Dakar series with participation of almost all members of the KAMAZ-master team will start in Saint-Petersburg on 11 September.
KAMAZ’s sports team which had celebrated its 22nd anniversary this summer sent its 7 crews on KAMAZ racing vehicles to participate in the second edition of Silk Way. The first 3 vehicles will be driven by eminent racing drivers of our time and repeated Dakar prize-winners – pilots Vladimir Chaguin, Firdaus Kabirov and Ilghizar Mardeev. Another 3 crews are headed by young, but already experienced pilots – Eduard Nikolaev, Ayrat Mardeev, Andrey Karghinov. They participated in the first edition of Silk Way which was held in September 2009 along the route Kazan – Ashgabat. Andrey Leontiev, the representative of the information partner of the team, a participant of the Khazar Steppes 2010 race, the head of the Auto Plus TV-channel will drive as a captain in the seventh crew.
The second edition of the Silk Way international rally will link the northern capital of Russia to the capital of the future Olympiad-2014 – the city of Sochi. AK Transneft became a title sponsor of the Silk Way 2010 – Dakar Series rally. The organizers of the race suppose that the following rallies along ancient caravan routes will also finish in Sochi – right up to holding of the winter Olympic Games of 2014. The total length of the route will this time be 4,200 kilometers 2,500 km of which are special stages with account of travel time.
The marathon competition which professional racers not without reason named “half of Dakar” will cross three climatic zones of the European part of Russia. The route developed by the international reconnaissance group of the Dakar rally raid this summer promises to be more complicated and interesting than last year when the racers crossed the Kara-Kum desert and came in Turkmenistan. Bivouacs after the passed stages – and there will be eight bivouacs in all – will be located near to the cities Staraya Russa, Vyazma, Lipetsk, Volgograd, Astrakhan, Elista and Maykop.
Already on the first stages, the racers will have to completely bring into play off-road properties of their vehicles. High-speed stages of the rally will be to the south after Lipetsk, near Volgograd and Astrakhan. A real Russian desert without roads and settlements starts in the sands of Kalmykia. The race will finish in the subtropics of Black Sea Region, on the venues of Sochi, on 18 September.
This time Silk Way also attracted attention of the European best automobile companies. The racers representing these companies are the main competitors of the KAMAZ-master team on all off-road rally raids. At this race, many of them, like the KAMAZ racers, will test new models of sports vehicles which will participate in the next Dakar-2011.
Friday, 10 September 2010
Awards for KAMAZ Employees
A ceremony of presentation of state awards and honorary titles of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tatarstan took place in the Palace of Celebrations in Naberezhnye Chelny.
Four KAMAZ employees were among the citizens of Naberezhnye Chelny who received state decorations for patriotism, allegiance to the loyalty oath and irreproachable service shown both in peace time and on battlefields and in places of catastrophes.
Rasul Garipov, Deputy Chief Engineer, Project Manager of Kama Press and Stamping Plant, and Nuria Nurieva, Main Specialist of Painting of the same subsidiary of KAMAZ, were awarded the honorary title “Honored Machine Builder of the Republic of Tatarstan”.
"The city and KAMAZ are inseparable," Rasul Garipov noted receiving his award. "I’m glad to see how the city built by us is developing. It is gratifying to know that KAMAZ’s employees make their great contribution to its development. I take this award as a deserved appreciation of many thousands of our workers. I wouldn’t have received it if it were not for our general director Sergey Kogoghin who set us a task to renew a model range of vehicles we produce."
Alongside with other citizens of Naberezhnye Chelny, Victor Alyashev, a participant in the rectification of the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl Atomic Electric Power Station, a maintenance man of a maintenance shop of KAMAZ-Metallurgy OJSC, was honored with a medal “For Courage”. Aleksandr Ryazanov, a worker of the same plant, a pourer, was thanked officially by the President of the RF and the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the country for courage and bravery shown in the zone of Georgian-Ossetian conflict.
Thursday, 09 September 2010
KAMAZ Launched Mayak Project
On 8 September, at its automobile plant, KAMAZ launched the Mayak project implemented jointly with Daimler (Germany), the Russian company’s strategic partner, and LeanCouching, a consultant to the European leading automobile enterprises on their production systems based on Lean Production.
Alongside with the managers of OJSC KAMAZ and the employees of the automobile plant, the representatives of the Russian company’s main partners in implementation of the Mayak project – Christoph Siegel, Head of the Production System of Daimler; Gert Haar-Jorgensen, Founder and Managing Director of LeanCouching; and Nigel Waring, Director of LeanCouching, participated in the event.
Developed as part of the agreement on strategic partnership of KAMAZ and Daimler signed at the end of 2008, the Mayak project is a process organization and control system stipulating changes, first of all, in KAMAZ’s vehicle assembly. All areas and aspects of activity of the automobile plant will be brought to conformity with the Production System of Daimler.
It is supposed that the Mayak project will greatly influence activities of KAMAZ’s other plants, services and outside suppliers. It corresponds both to practice of the Russian enterprises traditionally focusing on the finishing production and to experience of West European automobile business where assembly is an absolute “trendsetter” for the whole production string of enterprises.
KAMAZ has lately achieved a great breakthrough having developed and implemented its own production system which is the best and most effective program in the Russian automobile industry for today. Implementation of the Mayak project will be a great addition to and improvement of the KAMAZ Production System.
The changes made according to the project are to finally lead to vehicle production ramp-up on one line of the mother assembly conveyor of KAMAZ to 48 thousand units a year with double-shift operation. The second line of the mother assembly conveyor will be used to assemble low-volume and modernized vehicles, fine-tune assembly processes and prepare a new model range. Thus, development and mastering of production of new vehicles will move faster: they will go to the mass production conveyor being perfected and roll off the assembly line being of a higher quality.
Wednesday, 08 September 2010
KAMAZ-LEASING and Rusbusinessauto Became Strategic Partners
KAMAZ-LEASING, one of the Russian largest groups of companies offering services of vehicle leasing, and Rusbusinessauto, Russia’s leading operator of trucks, concluded an agreement on strategic partnership.
KAMAZ-LEASING Group of Companies chose OJSC KAMAZ’s best dealer 2009 with the broadest branch network for sales, maintenance and repair of vehicles on the territory of Russia to be its strategic partner.
Under this agreement, a new special program was prepared. Now, Rusbusinessauto can offer its clients profitable conditions of leasing of the whole product mix of trucks, construction, municipal and other vehicles on KAMAZ chassis on the whole territory of the Russian Federation. The agreement provides for a low initial installment ¬– 20% of the cost of a vehicle, setting of a term of a leasing contract of up to three years, and also a special condition for CASCO insurance at 1.9% per annum. A total rise from the purchase price of a vehicle will be only 7% a year. The new program of KAMAZ-LEASING and Rusbusinessauto will make KAMAZ vehicles even more affordable for customers.
REFERENCE:
Rusbusinessauto: Business firms which formed the basis of the company were established in 1993. To date, Rusbusinessauto is the leading operator in the market of trucks, buses and special vehicles and one of the leading parts suppliers; it has got a network of modern truck service and repair centers. The regional network of Rusbusinessauto covers 15 regions of Russia.
KAMAZ-LEASING: KAMAZ-LEASING Group of Companies is one of the Russian largest organizations offering a service of leasing of vehicles from a manufacturer. The development level of the company, its service and package of services is appreciated both by its colleagues and experts of the market. In particular, in 2009, according to experts of the Russian Association of Leasing Companies, Leasing Company KAMAZ took 1st place in its market in the segment “Road-Building Machinery”, 3rd one – in the segment “Machine-Building Equipment”, 7th one – in the segment “Motor Transport Leasing” and 13th one – in the whole domestic leasing market by volumes of a new business.
Wednesday, 08 September 2010
“Getting Out of Crisis, Getting Stronger”
Yesterday, Yury Gerasimov, Director General of KAMAZ-Diesel Inc., made a report participating in an event held at the administration of Naberezhnye Chelny.
The report of the top manager of OJSC KAMAZ’s subsidiary producing power units, diesel and gas engines for trucks and spare parts for them was devoted to activities of KAMAZ-Diesel and maintenance of jobs under crisis conditions.
Already at the very beginning of the recession, production volumes and receipts halved; and, according to the results of 2009, they made 45.5% and 46.8%, respectively, against 2008. Losses of the enterprise in 2009 reached 643.8 million roubles, and the burning issue for the enterprise was to survive and to maintain its jobs.
In order to improve the financial condition of the enterprise, a number of activities were developed to lower costs, which enabled to save 344 million roubles in 2009. Measures for savings on costs to the tune of 634 million roubles were prepared to breakeven this year; and, according to the results of the first half-year, everything is executed according to the planned values. Due to introduced lean production instruments, 52.5 million roubles were saved in 2009, and over 30 million roubles were saved for the first half-year of 2010. Increased labour productivity and an engine assembly cycle reduced more than one-half were great achievements.
Another activity for HR-management under the crisis conditions was to form a “gold” personnel reserve – the list of professions and specialties which determine both the plant’s current activity and its labour potential in the future.
Owing to successful cooperation of the management of OJSC KAMAZ and the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Protection of the Republic of Tatarstan, the workers of the plant were provided with additional jobs and wages for almost a year (from June 2009 to April 2010 inclusive). The number of new jobs created for this period of time grew from 1,052 to almost 7,000.
To date, as regards the development of the new product mix, under way is preproduction of Euro-4 engines with a Common Rail fuel injection system and development of a modern transfer case 6522. Already in 2010, it enabled to create almost 100 new jobs. It is also planned to develop new constructions of front axle details 6522 and production of localized details for ZF gearboxes and Cummins engines (crankshafts, cylinder heads, flywheels). This will make it possible to create 165 jobs, at least.
During the crisis, the scheme of payment was changed. If a worker’s suggestion brings a saving rate, its part will go for his tangible reward. Regulations to create incentives of the personnel for development and promotion of new products have recently been introduced. These regulations provide for payment of rewards for employees who develop and realize new products to the tune of 10% of the marginal revenue.
In conclusion of his report, Yury Gerasimov noted that KAMAZ-Diesel is getting out of the crisis with credit. “We learned how to more effectively manage costs, we became more efficient, adaptive to continuously changing environmental and internal conditions,” he said. “Under conditions which require survival strategies, we continued developing, and, moreover, increased our share in the market and entered new markets. Finally, we maintained our personnel. We hope that, thanks to all these measures, we managed to save our potential in order to become even stronger in a competitive struggle in the future.”
Read the full text of the report made by Yury Gerasimov, Director General of KAMAZ-Diesel Inc.
Tuesday, 07 September 2010
KAMAZ Develops Again
From the beginning of September, KAMAZ plants, production units and services resumed employment of workers, engineers and technicians.
This news was announced by Maria Sivko, Director of Department of Labour Relationship and Personnel Development of OJSC KAMAZ, at a press conference for the media of Naberezhnye Chelny today. She noted that it had become possible due to growing production volumes and sales of KAMAZ’s main products – trucks and spare parts.
A lot of received orders to execute till the end of this year made it necessary to regularly increase the number of employees at the main plants and production units. Thus, for instance, the automobile plant, KAMAZ’s finishing production, is ready to employ about 300 people: metalworkers for a machine-assembly department, machine setup men and machine operators, electricians, loader operators and truckers, metal painters, QC checkers and progressmen. 250 people are wanted for Kama Press and Stamping Plant: besides people with versatile all-factory professions, the enterprise is in want of an additional inflow of crane operators, welders and stampers. There are more than 100 vacancies at the foundry of KAMAZ-Metallurgy OJSC. The main professionals needed there are founders and fettlers, loader operators, welders and metalworkers.
Maria Sivko also informed that Research and Development Center, design and engineering services of KAMAZ and its subdivisions will readily take on their staff experienced designers and engineers who proved to be good.
Working at KAMAZ is now prestigious thanks to stability and permanently growing wages. This May the company’s production units and services switched over to a five-day working week, and during last months there was no, even short-term, idle time. KAMAZ employees’ average wage grew from 11 to 16 thousand roubles for this period. On 1 September all employees’ rates and wages were raised by 5%.
Last week KAMAZ’s staff resumed working after the annual corporative paid leave. Next August will also be off. At multiple requests of employees who have children of school age, the corporative leave may be shifted one week forward, so that parents could get their children ready for school on 1 September.
Monday, 06 September 2010
KAMAZ Trains its Sales Representatives
The business representatives of KAMAZ’s dealers have completed a three-day course of special study at KAMAZ’s Corporate University and the Regional Institute of Advanced Technologies and Business.
The company’s sales system moved to a brand new level due to an activity in the Russian and foreign markets of automotive vehicles, an increasing competition and the introduction of a model range of modernized KAMAZ vehicles to the market. Therefore Leasing Company KAMAZ and KAMAZ FINANCE AND TRADING COMPANY initiated this event.
During three days the dealers’ commercial officers were trained to upgrade their professional skills as sales managers. They considered the issues of sales ideology and techniques, and also – process control at the training. From technological and economic points of view, the participants of the seminar studied a degree of KAMAZ vehicles’ competitiveness in the modern market and innovative changes which KAMAZ’s designers plan to make in the construction of vehicles.
The commercial representatives also studied the fundamentals of leasing. Leasing is a proved and, at the same time, rather promising and actively developing activity of KAMAZ’s customer affairs. In 2009, according to the Russian Association of leasing companies, Leasing Company KAMAZ took 1st place in the segment “Road-Building Equipment”, 3rd one in the segment “Machine Building Equipment”, 7th in the segment “Leasing of Motor Transport”, and 13th in the whole Russian leasing market by volumes of the new business. Besides, by version of Expert RA Rating Agency, the company ranked third among top 20 best leasing companies working with medium-sized enterprises.
Friday, 03 September 2010
Top Managers of Cummins at KAMAZ
On 2 September, Tom Linebarger, President and COO, Cummins Inc. (USA), and Steve Chapman, Group Vice President of China & Russia, Cummins Inc., visited KAMAZ.
They were met and accompanied by Sergey Kogoghin, Director General of OJSC KAMAZ; his Deputy Irek Gumerov; Yury Gerasimov, Director General of KAMAZ-Diesel Inc.; Dmitry Yakubovsky, Director General of ZAO Cummins KAMA. In the morning, the American businessmen, who had many times visited KAMAZ before, saw the manufacturing lines of Cummins KAMA Russian-American Joint Venture established by OJSC KAMAZ and Cummins Inc. on a parity basis in 2006 and located in the building of KAMAZ-Diesel. They saw its process equipment in operation in shops for localization of details and assembly of Cummins engines at the joint venture, and also – they visited a manufacturing entity of KAMAZ-Diesel – a line of processing of crankshafts for KAMAZ engines. All these production units have got modern equipment produced by the world’s leading manufacturers.
Tom Linebarger and Sergey Kogoghin met with the employees of the JV in the assembly shop where 130 people work to date. They thanked the employees for their hard work of the last two years. By the way, in August, Cummins KAMA JV switched over to everyday assembly, and now it produces 300 engines a month. But, already by the end of 2010, due to the growth of KAMAZ trucks production volumes, the enterprise will have started producing 500 engines a month for KAMAZ’s mother assembly conveyor. And the number of workers of the JV will naturally increase.
“Parents’ main project is their child,” said Sergey Kogoghin, Director General of KAMAZ, addressing the JV’s employees. “Cummins KAMA, the child born by us jointly with the American company, has recently come to an adult life. The JV worked excellently, and now it will face the future with confidence, together with KAMAZ, of course.”
Sharing his impressions from what he had seen and heard on that day, Tom Linebarger noted that the employees looked like they were excited and enthusiastic which was very important for the success of the company. According to him, the manufacturing lines are using the latest technology, and the manufacturing lines themselves look like they’re world-class lines. “Here we produce the engines of the new generation which are bringing the latest technology for the lowest fuel consumption and the lowest emissions in the air,” he said.
Tom Linebarger said with certainty that the engine production volumes at the JV, and the economics of the enterprise would only improve.
“I think the last two years have been a test for the strength of the relationship with KAMAZ,” said the American company’s President. “When the market was in difficulty, the trust that the two companies had built up was really strong, and the both companies had to be connected to organize successful manufacturing, and we both made a lot of work and had to figure out how to keep it even when the money was very poor. I think the result has been as the relationship is stronger.”
Steve Chapman, Group Vice President of Cummins Inc., whose first visit to Chelny had been already in 1987, said that he clearly saw many changes in Chelny since then as well as changes in KAMAZ.
“I think at that time,” he said, “it was definitely a strategic reason for Cummins and KAMAZ to work together. We’ve maintained a conversation for already twenty years, and now we’ve made some solid investments, and it’s definitely strategic both for the Russian economics and the progress of our cooperation. And for us, this cooperation is not just cooperation inside Russia, but we consider it a really global cooperation.”
Thursday, 02 September 2010
Golden Chariot Award to KAMAZ
The readers of The Reis Magazine named KAMAZ the leader in the sphere of production of commercial vehicles.
The Golden Chariot National Public Award of Russia’s Transport Industry is given to the managers and staffs representing a domestic transport industry, a sphere of freight services, science and education in the transport sphere. The organizational committee of The Golden Chariot National Public Award of Russia’s Transport Industry and the editorial staff of The Reis Magazine by tradition offered readers to name the leader in nominations “The Leader in the Sphere of Production of Commercial Vehicles” and “The Leader in the Sphere of Production of Components for Commercial Machinery”. Among 18 contenders, including such companies as MAN, Mercedes, Iveco and other well-known brands, KAMAZ gained a convincing victory.
The best transport companies of Russia will be awarded in the Kremlin, Moscow, on 8 September, within the bounds of the First ExpoCityTrans Eurasia Congress and International Exhibition.
Thursday, 02 September 2010
First Big Delivery of New Holland Equipment Made in Russia
CNH and KAMAZ deliver the first fleet of combine harvesters manufactured at the recently formed industrial joint venture’s Naberezhnye Chelny plant in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia.
New Holland Agriculture distributor Zapsibhlebproduct delivered this week the first fleet of 20 New Holland Agriculture CSX7080 combine harvesters to leave the assembly line at the Naberezhnye Chelny plant, manufacturing base of the industrial joint venture between CNH Global NV and OJSC KAMAZ. The machines were purchased by two large farms in the Krasnoyarsk territory.
ZAO Nazarovskoje, one of the leading farms in the Russian Federation, took delivery of 15 CSX7080 combine harvesters. With 65,000 hectares, this farm located in Stepnoj, Nazarovskij region, devotes half of its arable land to crops such as maize and rape and the rest to animal husbandry, with 50,000 pigs and 18,000 cattle. Isaev Valerij Andreevich, owner and General Director of ZAO Nazarovskoje commented: “I am very excited about the new equipment and I can’t wait to see the machines at work in our fields. We bought our first New Holland machine – a T9060 tractor – last year and have been so delighted with it and with the service support from Zapsibhlebproduct, that we have decided to stay with the brand for the purchase of our new fleet of combines.”
The remaining five CSX7080 combines were delivered to ZAO Solgonskoje, in Solgon, Uzurskij region, which already runs a fleet of five New Holland tractors and a FR9060 forage harvester. This 29,000-hectare farm focuses mainly on growing cereals, and dedicates a quarter of its arable land to animal husbandry, with 10,000 heads of cattle.
The CSX7080 is the ideal choice for mixed farms such as ZAO Nazarovskoje and ZAO Solgonskoje that need a high capacity combine harvester equipped with advanced technology in an affordable package. With their new combines they can count on the best and most effective harvesting solution in all crops, conditions and terrains. The CSX7080 is equipped with New Holland’s four-drum technology - threshing drum with Opti-Thresh™ concave, beater, Multi-Thresh™ Rotary Separator, and Straw Flow™ beater. This highly versatile system guarantees high throughput with no compromise in kernel and straw quality. The CSX7080 also features the best combine cab in this segment, a component built around the operator's need to be at the very heart of the combine’s operation, with full control for top performance. With a 300 hp fuel-efficient FPT Cursor 9 Common Rail Tier III compliant engine, the CSX7080 is ideally suited to tough harvest conditions, harvesting up to 600-1000 hectares per season depending on the average yields.
Roberto Valfré, General Manager of the CNH-KAMAZ Commercial joint venture, stated: “Russian farming is going through a difficult time. The country is experiencing the worst drought in nearly 40 years and, on the financial front, credit remains difficult to obtain. In spite of this, farmers are investing in equipment to achieve the higher levels of efficiency required in today’s economic climate and place their businesses in the best position to succeed – and they are choosing New Holland for the quality of the equipment and the support they receive from us. This growing interest in our equipment was the driver for localizing production in Russia, so that we could be closer to our customers. Today, with the first deliveries taking place, our decision has become a reality and from now on our Russian customers will be able to purchase locally made and supported New Holland equipment.”
REFERENCE:
CNH (Case New Holland)
CNH Global N.V. is a world leader in the agricultural and construction equipment businesses. Supported by more than 11,600 dealers in 170 countries, CNH brings together the knowledge and heritage of its Case and New Holland brand families with the strength and resources of its worldwide commercial, industrial, product support and finance organizations. CNH Global N.V., whose stock is listed at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:CNH), is a majority-owned subsidiary of Fiat S.p.A. (FIA.MI). More information about CNH and its Case and New Holland products can be found online at www.cnh.com.
CNH in Russia - CNH operations in Russia date back to 1907, the year in which the first Case tractor was shipped to the country. Since then, the company has continued to strengthen its presence, with the opening of the first Moscow-based offices in 1998, as well as the development of a widespread distribution network. At the beginning of 2009, CNH opened a new spare parts depot centre near Moscow. CNH has historically been, and continues to be a leader in the combine and large tractor segment in Russia; in recent years, it has also quickly penetrated other agricultural and construction equipment segments.
OJSC KAMAZ is the largest Russian manufacturer of heavy-duty trucks. It takes the 11th place in truck production (of 14 t GVW) and the 8th place in diesel engines production in the world. KAMAZ Group consists of 96 enterprises, 13 of which are the main associated companies. The staff is about 59 000 employees. KAMAZ sales and service network covers all regions of Russia and the CIS, and also traditional outlets. There are 127 dealers and more than 100 firm service car centers. Trucks of GVW from 14 up to 40 tonnes, diesel and gas engines are the major products of OJSC KAMAZ. The trucks are used in the CIS, Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America (more than 80 countries).
ZAPSIBHLEBPRODUCT is a distributor of New Holland Agriculture equipment in the Russian Federation. Founded in 2007, Zapsibhlebproduct has eight outlets in North West Russia and runs a fleet of 18 service vehicles to support its customers.
Thursday, 02 September 2010
KAMAZ Increases Wages
Today KAMAZ employees’ minimal wage rate has been increased by 5 percent.
The order to increase minimal wage rates was signed by Sergey Kogoghin, Director General of OJSC KAMAZ, and Gumer Nuretdinov, Chairman of the company’s Trade Union Committee.
The order also approved a new “Single Tariff System of Payment of OJSC KAMAZ’s Workers’ Labour”. The company’s managers set themselves a task to increase wages and grant social guarantees to KAMAZ workers.
Wednesday, 01 September 2010