OREANDA-NEWS. March 10, 2010. KAMAZ finished 2009 with the following performance: about 26 thousand vehicles were sold in the market, and the automobile plant assembled over 23.3 thousand vehicle sets and ready-made vehicles. KAMAZ-Diesel produced almost 28.5 thousand engines and power units. Spare parts for KAMAZ trucks and other equipment were produced to the amount of 3.6 billion roubles.

Yury Klochkov, First Deputy Director General – CEO of KAMAZ Inc., commented on the results of activity of the company’s production unit. He considers that most of events significant for KAMAZ production were held within the bounds of five large-scale projects realized by the company. The first one – changing a production management structure – was implementation of IT on the basis of scheduling and a SAP system. The second project is aimed at changing of a logistics system, the third one – for a purchasing system, the fourth one for a quality management system. And finally, KAMAZ’s Production System continued developing.

The first two projects and the last one, in his opinion, can already be considered fulfilled. Besides, there is a basis for planned changes in purchasing. The project for quality will also develop in 2010.

Klochkov names maintenance of the staff, and in the first run, of qualified specialists engaged in the main production, and specialists, one of the main achievements of KAMAZ in 2009. All results concerning the development of KAMAZ’s Production System planned for 2008 were achieved successfully even though only 60% of working time was used (under conditions of a “stop-start” regime).

Having spent 24 million roubles as investment into development of the Production System, the company gained 2.4 billion roubles of economic effect. According to Daimler’s experts, SAP is being implemented at KAMAZ very quickly, twice or thrice as fast as in Germany at its time. As Yury Klochkov said, the SAP system will completely be implemented at KAMAZ during 2010.

First Deputy Director General mentioned the managers’ and employees’ efforts to reduce costs and increase labour productivity. Due to this fact during the last 4 months of 2009 one line of the mother assembly conveyor of the automobile plant worked one shift, the second one worked two shifts, and 150 vehicles were produced each day. In 2008, when the conveyor worked 6 shifts, the mother assembly line made a record of 240 vehicles. With projection for today it makes 350 units a day. In other words, fully using facilities during the whole month the mother assembly line of KAMAZ would have been able to produce up to 7 thousand vehicles. On the whole, labour productivity grew by 20% in 2009.

Earlier KAMAZ had only 4 model areas through which KAMAZ’s Production System was introduced at plants and in subdivisions. In 2009 there already were 150 model areas. And, according to Yury Klochkov, the main thing was that the atmosphere changed, people themselves changed, they don’t need to be constantly “stimulated” by their managers now. People believed in the company’s management and bore irregular work of all KAMAZ subdivisions with a certain loss in income.

In 2009 batch manufacturing of restyled KAMAZ vehicles started. During 2010 all models and modifications of KAMAZ trucks will be equipped with restyled cabs and other necessary components. KAMAZ seeks to fulfill requirements of current and new standards already at the stage of a new product development. New vehicles will go throuth the whole cycle of tests (and the staff will be trained), and only after that they will be produced.

As is known, a transfer to Euro-4 ecological standards adoption of which had been planned for January 1, 2010 in accordance with Technical Regulations was put off. The crisis made its amendments, and the transfer is no longer obligatory.

– Of course, we thought about this date for a long time, – Yury Klochkov said. – From the point of view of an engine, everything is done: we have got our Euro-4 motor, licensed Cummins. In connection with postponement of implementation of new standards, the schedule of preproduction of KAMAZ vehicles of the “Euro-4” level is planned for the next year and a half.

In his opinion, production of enterprises joint with foreign investors exerts a direct, quite definite and positive influence upon the quality of KAMAZ vehicles, and the decision to invite world leaders to KAMAZ to get modern components with a proper quality was absolutely right.

It is decided to announce 2010 to be “The Year of Quality” at KAMAZ.

– The most serious tasks are set for 2010, – said CEO of KAMAZ. – We can’t go out of the crisis with a vehicle of the same quality which we have today. Two or three years will pass, and the situation will be radically changed. Salespeople say with one voice: “A vehicle at the same price, but of a higher quality is needed”. It is clear that we won’t manage to solve this problem only by means of the use of imported components. Therefore we will develop and produce our own components faster.