• 25.03.2022

-Vladimir, when you wrote the first page of the history of ZGM, could you admit that someday your brainchild will be known throughout the country, will receive worldwide recognition?

- From the very beginning of our journey, Galina Savchenkova and I (Galina Savchenkova – a founder of ZGM) have been aware that this should be a factory, a full-fledged scientific and production association, and not an intermediary company between producers and consumers.

When creating the company, we also outlined the level that we planned to achieve. We had experience working in the scientific and production association format, therefore, the ZGM was built with the possibility of its own developments and their subsequent introduction into production. As a result, today we have an established system of materials and technologies that have no complete analogues in the world.

- How is this possible, because ZGM has quite a lot of competitors in both the Russian and international markets?

- Of course, there are enterprises in one or another industry that we consider to be our direct competitors. However, there is still no enterprise like ours that would meet the needs of all industries at once, neither in the country nor in the world. By the way, eight years ago, when we began to introduce radiation protection technologies, it was not taken seriously by nuclear scientists. And now Rosatom and other industry structures around the world, from Chernobyl to Fukushima, use our technologies, recognize us as competitors. And there are quite a lot of such examples where the ZGM showed itself from a completely unexpected side.

- I would like to know where else you showed your factory in a completely unexpected way for yourself and others?

- For example, in protection against electromagnetic radiation. We have established the production of special chemically resistant materials for the cable industry. Companies from China have been buying them from us for a long time and steadily.

- This is really an extraordinary story, given the fact that the Celestial Empire produces almost everything on its own, from pins to spaceships. Are there any other industries in which the ZGM competencies could be useful?

- We are present almost everywhere. However, in many industries we have not covered all the needs, but only indicated our presence. For example, our material is used at the spaceport in French Guiana. These are small volumes, but the French are constantly taking our sealants for their construction projects.

We also provide regular supplies for domestic enterprises of the military-industrial comple. It's not even about the volume of shipment, but about the variety of the product range. There are a lot of our products in the defense industry. At the same time, we are constantly expanding the range, responding to the tasks set by customers. And requests for new products on their part arise with enviable frequency. The defense industry enterprises regularly make some changes to the design of their products, introduce something new, after which they ask us to present products corresponding to these changes. We receive a technical task from our customers and are successfully working on a new product.

- Is it difficult to imagine how you would respond to new challenges without your own scientific and technical center created within the framework of the scientific and production association plant model?

- Yes, we have created a unique research and scientific center of its kind, from the walls of which all the products in demand on the market have come out. This is really our main argument in realizing the needs for new developments.

When our own capabilities are not enough, we cooperate with the higher school. We try to involve specialized institutes and universities in practical work. So, recently, together with the Ogarev Mordovia State University, we won a major competition to create new systems for protection against electromagnetic radiation within three years. Nuclear scientists from Sarov will work with us.

Both scientifically and practically, we are participants in many significant projects for the country in the cage of serious organizations.

- Two years ago, you took a course on technical re-equipment of the enterprise. What successes have been achieved in this process? Are there any plans for further modernization of production?

- In a couple of years, we have purchased and installed several important systems in production. These are not just pieces of equipment, but process automation complexes. One of them is, for example, a complex for filling cartridges with paste-like sealants. The cost of this equipment was eight million rubles.

We have invested several million rubles in the modernization of the material cutting process.

There were investments in the development of the scientific base. This year we have purchased an innovative device that allows us to determine the radiation-protective characteristics of materials. A few days ago, a group of our employees went to Minsk, to the enterprise where this device is manufactured according to our order. They are going to learn how to use the device in advance before its delivery to Dzerzhinsk, which, in turn, will take place in early April.

- Any technical re-equipment is aimed at accelerating production processes, increasing the volume of finished products. This, in turn, happens when the demand for the company's products grows. How are things going at the ZGM in the last two "coronacrisis" years?

- Things are going uphill. We finished 2020 with a shipment of 280 million rubles. By the end of 2021, this figure has grown to 350 million rubles. I believe that this year we will work with a revenue of 400 million rubles.

- What is the reason for such an unexpected increase in shipment volumes?

- Only an outside observer can say that about our successes. Inside the company there is a full understanding of the regularity of what is happening. The fact is that we did not give up, but continued to improve many of our own developments, born in 2008, 2006 and even earlier. And in 2020, some of them, as they say, shot, found their consumer, and in fairly good volumes.

And the first quarter of this year turned out to be very successful for us. The first three months in the economy are a time of traditional calm. This year our plant completes this period with volumes 2.5 times more than last year.

- Can you tell us which specific product is popular this year?

- About five years ago, we made a unique material for waterproofing subway tunnels. Our system is best suited for subway lobbies. It was a unique product of its kind, but not much in demand on the market. In connection with the further expansion of the Moscow metro, our development turned out to be extremely in demand.

- Is it somehow connected with the current economic situation, in which domestic builders, and many others, began to reach out to domestic manufacturers?

- In the case of metro builders, there is no such relationship. Representatives of companies that worked with us ten years ago, but then switched to foreign manufacturers, are already starting to contact us. I believe that in a month or two there will be much more such requests, followed by the conclusion of contracts and shipment.

I predict that aviation plants will revive cooperation with us.

- Is the ZGM able to completely replace all imported products in its direction, if the future situation requires it? How long will it take to develop and put into production an analogue of an imported product?

- Different times may be needed, in some cases it may be a matter of weeks, in others - for many months. However, for most imported analogues, we are ready to start direct deliveries today. We produce a lot of things that are currently being purchased from abroad at home. For example, for many years large Russian companies producing equipment for storage and processing of liquefied natural gas have been using our waterproofing for foam glass containers. Our material is perfectly suitable as a thermal insulation of liquefied natural gas storage facilities, because it is able to withstand extremely low temperatures, does not collapse even at minus 180 degrees Celsius. The imported materials that our partners previously purchased in Europe and the USA were exactly the same in characteristics as ours. Only domestic sealing systems for the Russian industry, as it is easy to guess, are much cheaper. And there are no problems with their supplies, logistics within the country works without failures.

- What are the moods of the management and staff of ZGM looking to the future? Are there any concerns?

- If we talk about the prospects of our activities, they do not cause absolutely no fears. Yes, there are certain concerns, but in response we are looking for opportunities to hedge against difficulties. We also inspire confidence in the bright future of the plant in the team. For example, since March, we have decided to increase wages by ten percent throughout the enterprise. This will slightly minimize the current inflationary growth in the economy for our employees.

- People have always been the main value at ZGM. What do you wish the team on the plant's birthday?

- A practical demonstration of interest in specialists, in every person at the enterprise, is better than any words. So, for example, we do not save on work clothes, tools, or consumables — we buy everything that each team member needs in work.

We do not skimp on social events either. Recently, we have updated the council of the labor collective, which today is gushing with new ideas on team building, which will soon be implemented.

In general, my biggest dream is to reorganize ZGM into an open joint stock company so that all our employees become owners of the company's shares. So every worker will be able to feel like a full-fledged owner of his native plant. Shareholders will have a special approach to work, as an interested owner. Interested in the company's development and prosperity, which will directly affect the personal well-being of all members of our friendly team.

Vladislav Shepelev

Link to the Internet source: https://dzer.ru/20867-ravnenie-na-otechestvennogo-proizvoditelya.html