16.08.2013

Foe more than 12 years Electronmash has been known to Russian consumers as a manufacturer of PS, switchgear cubicles and other electrical products.

- Mr. Potapov, a year ago in the interview (“Electrical Engineering News”, № 2 (62) 2010), you said that the goal of the company's processes was associated with the system solutions. Is the overall accomplishment of power supply and automation tasks still in the spotlight of ELECTRONMASH?

- Automation of electric power supply, creation of the multi-level system solutions are one of the priorities of our company. Remote monitoring of the power supply processes and remote control of the substation equipment are the vital need required by the progress in microelectronics and communications.

Quite often the customers, when purchasing equipment, want to get a multi-purpose automated product that can be integrated into higher-level dispatching system. We have done much in this direction. We have developed the ACS standard panels for the substation equipment; prepared packages of adapted software and design documentation. The next step is inclusion of the standard dispatch and remote control panels into the product line, as well as solutions for energy metering.

In the last year our developed systems were used in dozens of projects. They are: ACS for the complete transformer substations supplied by us to the Olympic venues in Sochi, dispatching panels for Novoroscement, supervisory control and data acquisition systems for the oil loading port in Ust-Luga, automatic systems for commercial measurement of power consumption and automated systems of electric power technical record-keeping produced by BSH (Bosch und Siemens Hausger te); engine launch control systems for Surgutneftegaz oil production stations, etc.

– In 2010, Electronmash put into operation the first phase of the new production facility and planned to increase production of switchgear cubicles. Were you able to increase the overall production and sales?

– Launch of the new manufacturing facility in the “Parnassus” industrial area helped the company to increase sales more than twofold in 2010. It's an entirely different level of development of the company, other problems and challenges. Throughout the year we fine-tuned our processes, trained the staff on the principles of the plan-fact analysis, lean manufacturing, “just in time” technology. This work has revealed the hidden potential of the company, which we now seek to implement. In June, we will move to a new office, and in August will open another workshop where LVS “ASSOL” will be manufactured. The total area of production and warehouse space at Parnassus will reach 8000 m2 by the end of 2011.

– Will Electronmash develop its own production of component parts or does the company rely entirely on the products of famous brands?

– Our company has always relied on the partnership; it is a worldwide practice to co-operate with other manufacturers. I doubt that very soon it would be cost-effective to build our own production of component parts for our core products – as LV switchgears “ASSOL”, Switchgears “ELTEMA”, DC control panels "ExOn". Perhaps this step helps to control the quality and the cost, but it is only part of the story. On the other hand, the market promotion of an unknown product, for example, home-produced switch requires a huge investment in marketing. Add to that the investment in the production, import duties, lack of support of the manufacturer in the country. All this does not speak in favor of the development of such industries. That's why Electronmash produces finished products using components made by global corporations - ABB, Siemens, Schneider Electric. When purchasing our products, the customers need to rely on their quality.

– How is the company’s distribution program developing? Are there any new partners, products?

– The constant search for new partners in the region is our policy. I’d like to note that today a representative office of our company is being actively developed in Yekaterinburg; we are jointly engaged in the reconstruction projects of the Novotroitsk power plant, Tarko-Sale housing and public utilities. Negotiations are under way with Elektrotekhnika LLC in Irkutsk concerning arrangement of the same activities.

Our company continues to work with its European partners. By the end of 2011 Electronmash together with the Italian company GBE plans to start production of dry-type transformers in Russia. We will produce cores, and our Italian partners will supply coils. Final assembly and testing will take place at the new shop at Parnassus. In 2010, Electronmash significantly increased sales of dry-type transformers in Russia. Thus in the North-West region more than 150 transformers were delivered including 60 pieces with 2500 kVA capacity for the Tikhvin Railway Car Building Plant. Having assessed the costs of logistics and customs fees, we decided that the production should be closer to the customer, who will now have more confidence in the warranty and post-warranty service.

– What trend in the engineering development is now seen to be the most promising for the company?

–In 2011, Electronmash will market a new product - SadEL, a system of computer-aided design. What must be done to increase productivity, shorten the deadline for designing, DD development and production of the equipment when almost every design institute has its own requirements to execution of technical documentation and terms of reference provided to manufacturers? What shall be done in this situation to optimize the inventories of components, to shorten the time for their delivery, to achieve high-quality service? After analyzing the situation, our company has developed CadEL – the power distributing equipment design program.

It already contains the information on packages switchgears and DC control panels; next thing on the agenda is 6, 10, 35 kV LVS. In the future, all the products will be linked into a single system. Working in CadEL, the customer can independently develop switchgears on the basis of the standard circuit designs, include them into the construction part of the project and estimate the budget. In the coming years our company plans to focus on the development of SadEL. We invite for cooperation all those who are interested in SadEL!

Electrical Engineering News, № 2 (68) 2011

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