TechnoNIKOL company executives. Interview with the general director of technonikol. How did the crisis affect your business?

In the fall of 1990, MIPT sophomores Sergey Kolesnikov and Igor Rybakov decided to earn extra money and got a job as roofers. The side job captivated them so much that four years later they became partners and launched the production of roofing materials in Vyborg. Over time, they took up heat and waterproofing materials.

Today the Technonikol corporation is one of the largest manufacturers of building materials in the world, successfully competing with the manufacturer stone wool Rockwool with a century of history, which launched production in Russia in the late 1990s. Technonikol has 52 production sites in seven countries of the world (Russia, Belarus, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Italy, Great Britain, Germany), the corporation supplies products to 95 countries.

In 2018, Forbes, the fortunes of Kolesnikov and Rybakov, each of which owns 50% in Technonikol, in $ 1.2 billion. The calculations took into account not only production unit Technonikol, whose revenue last year amounted to 79.2 billion rubles, but also the Nikol-PAK plant is a cardboard manufacturer.

Rybakov and Kolesnikov are so different from each other that they seem to be antipodes. The first is emphatically assembled, like a spring is stretched inside it. Kolesnikov is fond of biathlon and fights against officials who stamp laws and regulations in the antimonopoly committee " Business Russia"Which is headed. Rybakov, on the other hand, is extremely sociable, does not skimp on gestures and can spend hours reflecting on how entrepreneurs are changing the world for the better. He is a frequent guest of secular parties, successfully trying on the image of an imposing businessman.

Friends of the entrepreneurs say that it was precisely the difference in temperament that caused Rybakov several years ago to leave the operational management at TechnoNIKOL and focus on own business... In 2014, he and his wife Ekaterina invested 1 billion rubles in the Rybakov Fund, which finances more than a dozen social programs aimed, among other things, at the development of entrepreneurial communities. In 2017, Rybakov became interested in the venture capital market and, together with investor Oscar Hartman, founded the Larix fund to invest in platform solutions and marketplaces.

For more than 25 years, Technonikol Corporation is a serious term. Kolesnikov says that he does not intend to sell his share and retire yet - he spent too much effort with a partner to build an international business. And he does not plan to stop there. In 2018, Technonikol plans to invest about 2 billion rubles in the expansion of production. In an interview with Forbes Kolesnikov that Technonikol has already established itself in the European market, now is the time to start expanding into Asia.

Vladimir MARKOV, General Director of TechnoNIKOL LLC - Construction Systems, answers the magazine's questions.

Vladimir Valerievich, before talking about business, please tell us how the name "TechnoNICOL" was born?

The founders and owners of the company are physics educated: we all once studied together at the Faculty of Physical Quantum Electronics at Phystech. In physics there is such a prism - "nicole", made from Icelandic spar. It splits the beam of light that has passed through it into two with perpendicular polarizations. That is, one bundle enters, and two come out. The prism is named after its inventor - a French physicist William Nicolas.

The construction industry is in a difficult situation today. The volume of construction is decreasing, which cannot but affect the manufacturer of building materials. There is an opinion that in these conditions small companies should leave the market, and large ones will feel much more confident. Is it so?

Not at all. There are large companies that feel bad during a crisis, there are small companies that feel very good during a crisis. We ourselves were once a very small company. The 1998 crisis was perceived as an impetus, as a window of opportunity, and they used it very fruitfully. After all, according to Eastern philosophy, where are the most big problems, there are also the greatest opportunities.

In general, small companies are much more mobile than large ones. For us, with our 4600 staff, it will take two or three years to carry out some kind of global and serious change within the company (to innovate, set up a new business process, master a new technology)! And a small company can seriously turn around in just two or three days. Gathered 20-30 people, talked, decided: now we run there. We turned around and moved in the intended direction. In this regard, you can very quickly mobilize financial resources, rebuild into some other niche.

It is clear that from the point of view of working with banks, it is difficult for small companies: banks look at them with distrust. But small companies are sometimes able to operate at higher interest rates than large ones, due, again, to greater mobility. They have a turnover rate money faster, and they can afford higher rates, and they need less resources than we do.

Therefore, I would not say that small companies will necessarily go bankrupt and die. Those with the wrong business strategy, excess spending, or abnormal attitudes towards customers will inevitably die. But the same will happen with large companies - they just have a relatively long period of dying. A huge dinosaur could already be seriously bitten by small and nimble predators before the signal reached the brain and it began to react.

- How did the crisis affect your business?

You know, we did not fall, we even grew a little. There are many factors that influenced this. For example, we take full advantage of the weakening of the ruble. Our export is growing very well now: it has doubled to Europe. At the same time, we are discovering new export destinations - India, China. We have been working in India for only two years, but already very good sales of our roll materials.

In general, this year we expect revenue growth by 13-15%.

- How competitive are our building materials abroad?

Due to the almost two-fold depreciation of the ruble in terms of price, we are very competitive abroad. In terms of quality, we have not been inferior to abroad for a long time.

In some countries, such as Turkey, the government helps construction companies pay for participation in foreign exhibitions. What kind of help do you expect from the Government of the Russian Federation?

I am convinced that everyone should mind their own business. Therefore, we do not need the government's help in paying for exhibitions or organizing them. If a business is interested in penetrating a certain market, it goes and participates in the exhibition. And we do it ourselves: we go, put up stands, participate. We don't need help here, we can handle it ourselves.

Help is needed in something completely different - in something that does not depend on ourselves. If we want to develop exports and make our goods more competitive, the Government must help entrepreneurs in this at its level. This includes taxation, and customs and export duties, and accelerated VAT refund, and the procedure for export registration or offsetting the same VAT. This is how the Government should help us, businessmen!

For example, some of the raw materials that we use for production in Russia, but which are not produced here, are subject to duty. And these duties should be zeroed. You should also think carefully about import duties on process equipment.

Almost all of our equipment is now imported. And this import is associated with very high costs for registration, both financial (duties, taxes) and "paper". This is where the authorities need to help us, especially now, during the crisis. Take whatever you want, for God's sake! In Russia, the backwardness of technology is the main reason for low labor productivity, therefore the import of any modern technology should be encouraged. The same is for export: while you collect the entire package of documents for VAT refund, two months pass, and before the actual payment - all six ...

By the way, about export. Quality requirements for building materials in different countries are not the same, while the development of exports requires special attention to this question. To what extent do our construction products comply with European codes, environmental requirements and other parameters?

You know, the road will be mastered by the one walking. If you methodically deal with this issue, it can be solved by any company. It's just that if the company is small, it will take longer for it, because any certificate costs certain money... If we like big company we can afford to conduct certification activities in several directions and several countries at once, then a small company cannot. Therefore, it will take her much longer to resolve these issues.

And we began to seriously deal with the European market five years ago and have achieved certain success there. I can say that all Western markets are extremely conservative. With high competition there is very strong inertia of consumers who are accustomed to certain products. And the main problem is not the availability of certificates, but the lack of trust. Nobody knows what kind of product it is - your product, and everyone will be afraid to use it.

- What should be done to overcome this mistrust?

Methodically work on this market... You start selling your material, it appears on one object, on the second ... And people gradually realize that in quality it is in no way inferior to Western counterparts, and sometimes even surpasses them, that its price is good, and the conditions and service we offer are attractive. That's when trust appears. It can only be earned by real deliveries, painstaking work.

But in the West they also know how to erect barriers. Our manufacturers, who are thinking about exporting, are told: "You first pass certification at the Prague Institute of Building Materials Standards," which has a representative office in Moscow. Until you have gone through it, we will not talk to you. Isn't this a bureaucratic barrier?

All my experience of studying the European certification market (and I can’t call it another word) says one thing: all certificates are ultimately invented to protect domestic markets from the external expansion of foreign manufacturers. That is, it is absolutely true - these are just some barriers that local producers and government agencies are building in order to protect their domestic market.

At the same time, local producers can work without even having these documents, but it is impossible to import material that has not passed certification - they will not be allowed across the border.

Although the unification of Europe is now playing into our hands, since some of the certificates of our Lithuanian plant are now CE marked, which means that they are valid throughout Europe.

Let's go back to russian market... We are talking about the need to fight for quality. But sometimes only positions are included in the project, and the general contractor, in order to save money allocated to him by the developer, replaces materials with cheaper and low-quality materials. How to get out of this situation?

Yes, this problem really exists in Russia. There are several ways to solve it. The first way is the introduction of a new internal Russian standard for building structures. Let's say that the standard roofing system, which is used in 80% of our roofing solutions, is already banned in a number of European countries due to its limited physical and mechanical characteristics. Improving the durability of roofs through state standards, which are mandatory for everyone, is the most correct way, but it is the longest and most difficult. Although we still have to follow it.

The second is what we, manufacturers, can do directly. Educational, explanatory work, service, audit of the contractor's fulfillment of the requirements laid down by us regarding how our material should be used in certain design solutions. As one of the examples: since last year we have a quality service. Her task is at least three times during the construction process to come to the facilities that we conduct in order to train, consult and monitor the contractor for compliance with the requirements of standards and guidelines for the use of our materials. This is something like the manufacturer's supervision.

And the third way. In the USA, such things are resolved through the mechanism of guarantees. There, no serious customer will ever order the same roof without a real guarantee. And here they are already connecting insurance companies, professional associations that, in order to reduce their risks, develop requirements regarding what minimum characteristics the materials should have, in which constructions they should be used, what kind of control should take place, etc.

At the same time, in the States, guarantees, as a rule, are also paid: you buy materials and work separately, and you pay for a guarantee separately.

You mentioned associations. Recently, on the initiative of several companies, including yours, with the support of the Ministry of Construction, an association “National Association of Manufacturers of Building Materials, Products, and Structures” was established. Why did you need this association, what tasks will it solve? And is such an extensive structure needed in the context of existing associations?

Working in various industry associations, we have come to believe that most of the issues addressed in these associations coincide. The industry and industrialists have common problems. To solve these problems, it is more expedient to join forces. For example, technical regulation issues - general work, development of exports, industrial clusters in the regions, R&D in production, increasing labor productivity and much more. This platform allows the experience of successful enterprises to be used for the development of the entire industry.

I believe that a strong association of all manufacturers of building materials will help develop this type of industry in the Russian Federation, improve the quality of the domestic market and make the country a significant player in the global industrial arena and largest exporter building materials.

Don't you think that such a large association - 400-500 large enterprises - threatens to turn into a kind of bureaucratic body? Or will it be some kind of sectional work under the direction of a single body?

In such associations, targeted work is carried out in the areas of industry development, key functions, the most problematic issues in the format of working groups and committees. For example, the sphere of technical regulation in the building materials industry, the development of the export of building materials or import substitution.

In each direction there are the most interested enterprises, and, as a rule, about 20 people participate in the working groups - the most active, who can accumulate the opinions of other manufacturers. This format allows you to make decisions more quickly and implement them without unnecessary bureaucratic restrictions.

Always a sore point for construction market - qualified personnel. But, among other things, this directly affects the final quality of construction. What approaches, in your opinion, can radically change the situation? How can business help here?

Business, of course, can help and influence here. But the state, which is responsible for education, including higher education, still has more opportunities. But today no one regulates the number of legal, accounting, financial, managerial universities and specialties in our country. And simple construction professionson the contrary, it is not enough, and no one is engaged in the popularization of the same technical schools and colleges.

Now it is very difficult to find a competent electronic engineer, a machine tool engineer. When we faced all this, we realized that if we wanted to build a long-term strategy for personnel in our company, without going to the origins, to an educational institution, nothing could be done.

Therefore, we began to implement training programs in our profile areas. Moreover, we cooperate with educational institutions, primarily MGSU (we even wrote a textbook with them on building systems), and we are developing our own network of training centers. Now we have 17 of them.

Many of these training centers open on the basis of educational institutions in Russian regions. That is, we go to this or that institution, negotiate with them. They allocate a site for us, we organize a training center there, where not only students of this university can come for knowledge, but also contractors working with our materials and managers trade organizationsselling our products.

QUESTION FROM A READER. Sergey from Mytishchi is interested in what kind of scientific specialists have a chance to get a job in your company?

We need chemists - specialists in the field of construction chemistry and polymer chemistry. Now we have the most promising projects related to PIR thermal insulation and polyurethane foam. This is all polyurethane chemistry, and our research center needs specialists in this area. They will definitely not remain without work, I guarantee.

In Voskresensk, we have a strong scientific center for bituminous materials. And they need employees connected with chemistry. By the way, this direction is also closely intertwined with polymer chemistry. Indeed, today most of the roofing and waterproofing materials have been modified with various polymers, the main research is carried out on the optimization of these compounds, their modification to create new solutions. And then there are single-layer PVC and TPO membranes ...

- The traditional question of the editors: how do you spend your free time, what are your hobbies?

I am interested in fishing. I fished both in Russia and abroad - in Costa Rica, Venezuela, Norway, Iceland. Almost every year I go to the Krasnoyarsk Territory, to the area between Nizhnyaya and Podkamennaya Tunguska. I fished both in Sakhalin and Kamchatka.

I don't like to sit with a float - most of all I like undercarriage, river fishing, with a spinning rod.

- Thank you for the interesting interview, Vladimir Valerievich. Success in all your endeavors!

Interview prepared by Alexander GUSEV, Andrey CHERNAKOV

01.03.2017 General director of TechnoNICOL Vladimir Markov at the Russian Investment Forum in Sochi spoke about the need to urgently solve logistical and infrastructure problems in the Far East.

TechnoNICOL Corporation began manufacturing products in the Far East in 2007. In 2016, on the basis of TASED "Khabarovsk", a new plant for the production of basalt insulation, investments in the construction of which amounted to about 2 billion rubles. At the Russian Investment Forum, held on February 27-28, 2017 in Sochi, General Director of TechnoNICOL Corporation Vladimir Markov spoke about the prospects for work within the PSEDA, investment plans companies and key problems of Russian exporters.

The work of the enterprise in the Far East makes it possible to provide residents of this region with high-quality thermal insulation materials, to simplify logistics, but, which is especially important, to increase the export of industrial products abroad. “Due to the low capacity of the domestic market, when building the enterprise, we understood that we would eventually have to export up to 50% of the output. China is of great interest to Russian exporters of building materials, - Vladimir Markov said in his speech. - The Chinese market for construction materials produced by TechnoNICOL is approximately 5-6 times larger than the Russian market in terms of volume. At the same time, local manufacturers manufacture products using outdated equipment, which negatively affects its quality. In this connection, Russian manufacturers can successfully compete both in price and quality. But Russian exporters are interested not only in Asian markets, but also, for example, in North America. We recently shipped the first batch of products to Canada. "

Placement on the basis of the Khabarovsk PSEDA is of great importance for the manufacturer. The estimated volume of benefits provided should be approximately 500 million rubles. But the advantages of working on the basis of a priority development area are determined by many factors. “The most important asset is not connected with money, but with attention from the administration of the region and the city, which makes it possible to simplify the solution of various issues and speed up the implementation of the project,” commented Vladimir Markov. - We are planning to build an enterprise for the production of rolled materials in the Far East, investments in the construction of which will amount to about 1 billion rubles. The effectiveness of the project will depend on the solution of a number of issues, including logistics and infrastructure. At the moment, the Far East is very expensive logistics, the cost of transportation russian territory may be 2-3 times higher than the cost of transportation in China. The paradox is that sometimes it may be more profitable for us to bring waterproofing to Shanghai by sea from Vyborg, that is, practically from the other end of our country. It is necessary to promptly solve the problem of creating additional customs crossings, primarily the crossing on the Bolshoi Ussuriysky Island.

According to Vladimir Markov, the problem of staff shortage raised at the forum session is typical not only for the Far East, but also for all regions. Russian Federation... This will inevitably push up the salaries of highly qualified specialists, which will have a positive effect on the level of professionalism in various industries. “Excellent professionals who are ready to engage in their own self-development, problems with employment and the opportunity to earn decent money, will not experience,” said Vladimir Markov.

About TechnoNICOL Corporation

TechnoNICOL is one of the largest international manufacturers of reliable and efficient building materials. The company offers the market the latest technologies that combine world experience and the development of its own Research Centers. Cooperation with design institutes and architectural workshops allows TechnoNICOL to respond flexibly and quickly to changes in consumer demands.

Today TechnoNICOL company has 51 production sites in 7 countries of the world (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Italy, Great Britain), 18 Training centers, 5 Scientific centers, 21 representations in 17 countries of the world. Products are supplied to more than 80 countries. TechnoNICOL headquarters are located in Russia, Poland, Italy, China and India. The revenue of the TechnoNICOL Production Complex in 2015 amounted to 64 billion rubles, in 2016 - 70 billion rubles.

“The TechnoNICOL Corporation has been dealing with the issues of increasing labor productivity for over 20 years. From the very beginning of the foundation of the company, we have been constantly developing, improving the qualifications of employees, working with contractors, and reducing costs. Since 2010, in the daily activities of our company, we have begun to focus on the philosophy of lean manufacturing.

Today, the plants of the TechnoNICOL Corporation are distinguished by one of the highest labor productivity indicators in the industry, which allowed our Technoplex enterprise in Ryazan to become the winner of the rating of the first All-Russian prize “Labor Productivity: Industry Leaders - 2015” in the “Production of building materials” industry.

And we are not going to be satisfied with what has already been achieved, consistently introducing mechanisms and developing technologies to increase labor productivity at our factories. Only in one direction "Mineral insulation" in 2015, 3606 proposals for improvements were submitted, which led to economic effect in the amount of about 200 million rubles per year. In general, labor productivity in 2015 at all plants of the Corporation increased by 9% and amounted to 13.4 million rubles. per person per year, which is more than 4 times higher than the industry average.

Separately, great attention in TechnoNICOL is paid to occupational safety issues, because only feeling their security will employees be ready to work with maximum efficiency. In 2015, the Corporation launched the "Zero Injuries" program, which, among other things, provides for bonuses to the entire staff of the enterprise if no emergency situations that led to injuries occurred during the year.

Today at TechnoNICOL we are increasingly paying attention to the implementation of targeted improvements, as well as increasing the automation of all processes and the introduction of various information systems, both at the level of individual business units and at the level of the Corporation as a whole. For example, now we are implementing a large-scale project based on Microsoft technologies for building a system internal control and audit, which will allow us to consolidate all business processes in the Corporation ”.

Company information

TechnoNICOL is one of the largest international manufacturers of reliable and efficient building materials. The company offers the market the latest technologies that combine world experience and the development of its own Research Centers. Cooperation with design institutes and architectural workshops allows TechnoNICOL to respond flexibly and quickly to changes in consumer demands.

Today TechnoNICOL has more than 40 production sites in 6 countries of the world (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Italy), 17 Training Centers, 5 Research Centers, 21 representative offices in 17 countries of the world, its own sales network of 140 branches. Products are supplied to 79 countries of the world. TechnoNICOL headquarters are located in Russia, Poland, Italy, China and India.

About the award "Labor Productivity: Industry Leaders of Russia - 2016"

The main objective of the Performance Award - to identify the leaders of the Russian industry, to show those who, thanks to comprehensive efforts, achieve unique results and develop the country's production potential, as well as to offer industrial enterprises new goals and worthy examples for development. The results of the Prize will provide enterprises with unique benchmarking information on key industries and industry in Russia as a whole.

 

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