The head of the enterprise told the president about import substitution in production, new cars and the humanitarian mission in the free trade zone.
President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin held a meeting with Sergey Kogogin, CEO of KAMAZ PJSC. The head of the company reported to the president on import substitution in production, new cars, including the K5 series, and the military line. Special attention was paid at the meeting to measures of social support for employees, as well as to the humanitarian mission in the free zone.
As Vladimir Putin stated, KAMAZ is the largest manufacturer of heavy trucks not only in Russia, but also in the CIS and is coping with the emerging challenges of the present.
According to Sergey Kogogin, the challenge for the company was 2022, when there was a sharp reorientation of goals and objectives and it was necessary to keep the company operational. "But the policy that the company pursued even before the start of the military operation was always aimed at maximizing localization. Therefore, KAMAZ did not stop for a single day, continued to work, and the entire component base was preserved. For example, if you take an engine, you had to master about 240 parts in two months. The company coped with this," he stressed.
Separately, the head of KAMAZ drew the president's attention to the production of four—wheel drive heavy vehicles of the K5 series - dump trucks, tractors operating off-road in the Far North and Siberia.
"Everything here is aimed at making people feel comfortable. In addition, it is important that we did not recreate what we had done before, but improved the characteristics: increased engine power, repair and maintenance intervals."
Sergey Kogogin also noted that in order to solve the state tasks assigned to the enterprise, it was necessary to unite the team in new conditions. "The goal that I set for myself was to unite the team on the basis of patriotism. At the first stage, I had to work for more than two years without days off or vacations.
We immediately took over the patronage of three regiments, where mostly mobilized from Tatarstan, including KAMAZ employees, served. A total of 24 humanitarian shipments, 1,500 tons, were sent.
The regimental commanders determined what they needed, and we formed humanitarian aid. Since KAMAZ is the main vehicle in the army, a third are spare parts, a third are something for fighters, the rest are passenger cars, quadrocopters, drones, electronic warfare. I would like to emphasize that in the city of Naberezhnye Chelny, in our factories, young people and veterans also strive to do something with their own hands, for example, they weave nets," said Sergey Kogogin.
The head of KAMAZ also touched upon the issue of social support for employees. "A complex of children's recreation camps was built at KAMAZ during the Soviet Union. KAMAZ needs 2,000 beds per season, but we support all 10,000, and half of these camps operate year-round, as these are capital buildings with heating systems. In summer, 500 children from Lysychansk, Luhansk People's Republic, a sponsored city of the Republic of Tatarstan, also rest here," added Sergey Kogogin.
The company pays close attention to the topic of training young engineering personnel and training in working professions, emphasized Sergey Kogogin. Thus, students of higher educational institutions have been interning at the enterprise since the second year. "As part of our cooperation with the Advanced Engineering School, we provide research and development work on a contractual basis. More than 20 laboratories have been fully equipped with modern equipment. The teachers had the opportunity to conduct research using the most modern equipment. In other words, the Russian Federation, the republic and KAMAZ have created a place where it has become interesting for both teachers and students. I think this is a great achievement for us.
In addition, we have organized engineering classes in 12 schools starting from the 5th grade, and our employees give lectures there. As a result, 85 percent of school graduates from these classes go on to technical specialties. That is, if we start working with them in the 5th grade, we get the result we need," Sergey Kogogin is sure.
The head of KAMAZ also reported to the president on the creation of industrial parks: "In your message and decree, you set another task — these are industrial parks. KAMAZ is the owner of the largest industrial park in our country. Today, more than 2 million indoor production areas, 510 residents, 17,000 jobs have been created, and the volume of marketable products reached 170 billion rubles last year. We have covered many cities, even Kaliningrad has an industrial park."
In the context of a special military operation, increasing the production of military products has become of paramount importance. "We have developed more than 20 different models in a short period of time. To some extent, I think this is a feat," said Sergey Kogogin.
When creating special equipment, the experience of representatives of special operations forces is taken into account. "For example, we have made an armored platform for trucks, mounting for mortars, machine guns, ammunition. This machine can perform the work of providing a special group during a short battle," Sergey Kogogin shared.
The head of the enterprise also spoke about the plant's plans to develop an updated armored transport and combat vehicle for transporting personnel. "Our APC is outdated, there is no full-fledged one. Our company undertook to do it on its own. This year we will "raise" this machine, start testing it, so that next year we can release a pilot batch," the head of KAMAZ summed up.
