Putin: "The automotive industry is going through difficult times, but 'KAMAZ' is coping."

      Russian President Vladimir Putin met today with the General Director of PJSC "KAMAZ" Sergey Kogogin. The head of the automotive giant from Naberezhnye Chelny reported on import substitution in production, new vehicles, including the K5 series, and the military lineup. Special attention at the meeting was given to measures of social support for employees, as well as the humanitarian mission in the SVO zone, notes the Kremlin press service. – Sergey Anatolyevich, "KAMAZ" is the largest manufacturer of heavy trucks not only in Russia but also, one might say, in the CIS. The entire automotive industry is going through difficult times, but "KAMAZ" is coping, the president noted. – I saw that contributions to all levels of the budget system have significantly increased, tax contributions from the enterprise have risen. And the staff has been almost entirely preserved, right? How do you manage that? – Vladimir Vladimirovich, of course, 2022 was a challenge for us because there was, so to speak, a rather sharp reorientation of goals and objectives. We mainly faced the fact that we were integrated into our global [automotive] industry. And in this case, during the "divorce" from our partners, including "Daimler," it was important to maintain our operability. But the policy that the company pursued even before the special military operation was always aimed at maximizing localization, Kogogin stated. – Therefore, I can assure you that "KAMAZ" has not stopped for a single day. We shook hands with our European partners, said goodbye until better times, and continued working. That is, the entire component base was preserved. There was a big challenge: even taking the engine, we needed to master about 240 parts in two months. The company managed that. A significant emphasis during the meeting was placed on the social obligations of the plant. – An important question for us was to unite the team in these changed conditions. The goal I set for myself was to unite the team on the basis of patriotism, the general director of "KAMAZ" said. – Regarding the unification of the team. You often raise the demographic question now. What is the company doing? First of all, we have never lost sight of the issue of motherhood and childhood, that is, benefits are paid both during maternity leave and after the birth of a child up to 16 years. Up to 3 years, if the mother returns to work, we pay her benefits. Kogogin spoke about a complex of children's recreation camps, about labor dynasties (where staff turnover is only 2%), about the "Design of Youth" competition, and about joint projects with educational organizations. – There was a problem that children did not want to pursue engineering specialties. Fortunately, that has ended. But for it to end meaningfully, we organized engineering classes in 12 schools starting from the fifth grade. Our employees give them lectures on an optional basis, we organize in-depth study of mathematics and physics. 85% of graduates from these classes go into technical specialties. If we start working with them in the fifth grade, we get the result we need. Kogogin also spoke about the creation of industrial parks and the developed military lineup. – To some extent, I consider this a feat. You have been to our special military vehicle plant; we used to produce 70 units a year, today it is 3,800. In a short period, we developed more than 20 models, completely diverse. How do I motivate the teams in this? Our vehicle capacity is 10 people; it does not explode under artillery shelling, it is protected from shrapnel, six kilograms under the wheel. There is good ballistic resistance. Shelling is now extremely rare, mainly it is just netting against drones. I say: every piece of work you do, every vehicle produced – ten lives of our soldiers. This motivates people a lot because each of them may have a son, brother, friend, or neighbor there. This is very motivating, Kogogin shared.

      Photo: kremlin.ru

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      News from neighboring regions on the topic:

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