"Building Russia's Industrial Future!". Interviews with the heads of the PSO-13 to the Russian Business Guide magazine.

Russian Business Guide magazine. April 2019.

– In one of the previous issues of Russian Business Guide, we have already written about 55 years of experience of your company in industrial construction. And even then we noticed that PSO-13 is far from being a novice on the Kaluga land. What was your first project in this region?

– In 2010, we were invited by one of the partners in Kaluga, with whom we had built the first stage of a large industrial-warehouse complex Kulon-Istra in the Moscow region (by the way, today its area exceeds 220,000 m²). The work began with a tender for the construction of an industrial complex for Benteler, a German manufacturer of automotive components for the Volkswagen Group. We won the tender, and in less than a year passed the finished object to the customer. Although there were enough features in this relatively small building (about 14 000 m²). The plant is filled with a wide variety of technological equipment, including large presses with a force of 2,500 tons – we had to prepare special foundations and corresponding engineering systems for them. 

And further it was both easier and more difficult. It’s easier because if you do the work conscientiously and the customer is satisfied, they recommend you to their colleagues and partners. So, for example, it happened with the project for NLMK: when choosing tender participants for another facility, the plant’s employees requested recommendations from other investors of the Vorsino industrial park. Our company was among those recommended.

However, the higher the customer’s expectations, the higher the demands from the contractor are. So, we have to reaffirm the reputation of a reliable general contractor on each new project. Yes, the initial credit of trust plays its role, but, ultimately, the investor judges by the result.

– PSO-13 has implemented several projects in the Kaluga region. Which one is the most important for the company?

– Most recently, we have signed a contract with FREIGHT VILLAGE for the construction of a logistics facility at Vorsino. For us, this is the 11th project in Kaluga. It is very difficult to single out one from eleven – the objects are different, each has its own characteristics.

We have already spoken about the BENTELER factory of automotive components. After it there were the German VISTEON and the French FAURECIA – also from the automotive industry. Then we built lubricant plants for the companies FUCHS OIL and TOTAL, with the most complex engineering and technological networks. By the way, PSO-13 is not only building, but also designing. For example, in the TOTAL Vostok project, we were both the general contractor and the general designer; we developed a detailed BIM model of the entire enterprise.

TOTAL VOSTOK Lubricating Oils Plant

It is also worth mentioning the PENNOSTEKLO plant – our first experience of cooperation with RUSNANO Corporation.

The future warehouse of rolled metal products at the Novolipetsk Metallurgical Plant is interesting in its own way. This object is non-standard, “oversized” – if usually the column step in warehouses does not exceed 24 meters, then there is not a single column inside this 250-meter-long building which is almost 40 meters wide. The railroad tracks laid inside the building are used for loading cars, and for rigging works, unique double-beam bridge cranes are used.

Even if we take the latest project – the container terminal Vostok for cargo arriving for residents of the Industrial Park Vorsino. At first glance, the object is very simple. But the technical conditions of the customer are tough. The site is designed for four-storey storage of 40-foot containers weighing more than 30 tons each. At the same time, the terminal can hold almost 2000 TEU. All this imposes serious requirements for road surface and foundation preparation. Suffice it to say that only reinforced concrete slabs under the asphalt concrete pavement have a thickness of 350 mm.

If we talk about the largest project, then this is plant for our long-time partner Arkhbum Tissue Group, the plant is under construction now. The company will produce sanitary paper products. The object is interesting, first of all, by the scale: the total area of buildings of the first stage is 53,000 m², and the total area will exceed 100,000 m². But the point is not in the area, but in technological complexity. Paper production in this sense, oddly enough, is similar to metallurgical: heavy massive equipment, high energy intensity, specialized engineering networks and many other features. Unlike many large-scale or packing production enterprises, it will be a full-cycle enterprise: from the supply of cellulosic raw materials to the production of final products in beautiful packaging, ready for shipment to stores.

The complexity of the object is also influenced by the features of the construction site. Often, the soil under the building is not strong enough, and the foundations have to be further strengthened. In a certain sense, we are “lucky” to work under such facilities, so we have already accumulated enormous competences in this area.

In total, today we have built 7 facilities in the Kaluga region. 4 more are in one or another stage of construction. If you add up, then it turns out that out of 183 regional investment projects, 6% was built by our company.

– Such large-scale construction projects require resources. Do you cope

– Of course. More than a thousand people work in PSO-13, 200 of them are engineering and technical specialists: foremen, designers, engineers and managers. There are many skilled workers who have been working with us for ten years or more. There are even labor dynasties. Responsibility is not taken “out of nowhere”. It is based on the correct attitude to the work of each individual employee. In this sense, I like the words of Fazil Iskander: “The real responsibility is only personal. A person blushes alone.” Therefore, experience and continuity in the team play a key educational role.

By the way, if we are talking about the Kaluga region, I can’t help but mention the local specialized organizations, which we are pleased to hire for contract work. This is Megaom, Prometey, and many other companies. They are mobile, professional, well aware of the situation. So the presence of such contractors can be considered as another component in the investment attractiveness of the region. 

– Do you feel the support of the regional authorities in their work? After all, you probably have something to compare?

– We really have a lot of examples for comparison. In addition to Kaluga, we built and are building in the Moscow, Ryazan, Tula, Lipetsk, Arkhangelsk regions and even in the Khabarovsk region. I can say that the administrations of all regions do a lot to attract investors. But there is no such combination of ready-to-build industrial parks, prepared infrastructure, tax breaks, well-structured administrative procedures and, after all, just officials’ attention to the interests of investors and builders, perhaps nowhere. So, the Kaluga region has deserved the primacy of attracting investments.

– There are not so many general contracting organizations on the market, about which both customers and competitors speak with respect. PSO-13 is one of them. What is the reason for this attitude?

– I think there are several reasons. First and foremost, we work honestly and openly. If we see that the customer’s technical requirements are not clearly formulated, then together we try to detail them, to offer the best design solution and fix a firm contract price. As a rule, customers listen to us – after all, the experience of building two million square meters of industrial buildings makes itself felt.

The second reason is an integrated approach. PSO-13 is one of the few Russian companies offering investors to work under an EPC contract. Simply put, we take all the risks associated with construction. We offer to design the object, and build it “turnkey”. For investors, this is cheaper, more convenient, and faster, as it allows partially parallelizing processes and fixing costs. After all, time is money for investors, so the number of those who want to spend six months or a year only to develop project documentation divorced from technological limitations, and only after that to begin construction, is now greatly diminished.

The third reason is reliability. This financial stability, and cooperation with major banks and insurance companies, a pool of proven contractors with whom we work for many years, and a guarantee of VAT refunds. So, working with us, investors relieve themselves of a mass of obvious and hidden risks. 

And finally, the fourth is the competence and high quality. We offer the best experts, state-of-the-art building materials, well-trained staff, teamwork, well-built processes and continuous construction and technical supervision. By the way, speaking of industrial construction, they usually mean steel structures, reinforced concrete, pipes and so on. This, of course, is the case. But we always strive to ensure that the objects constructed please customers not only with industrial aesthetics, but also with the beauty of administrative and office areas, and the convenience of working spaces.

All this together makes the work of investors with our organization comfortable and productive. Many customers, developing their business, come to us again and again. One such example is our nearly 10-year collaboration with Arkhbum Tissue Group. The first object for this company – a corrugated cardboard production plant – we built in the Moscow region, and immediately worked together well. Therefore, when we were asked to undertake the completion of the largest shopping and entertainment center in Arkhangelsk, we agreed, understanding that it was not so much an offer to make profit as request to help them. And when Arkhbum Tissue Group decided to build a new plant, we, already knowing by that time, the attractiveness of the Kaluga region, offered to consider a construction site in the Industrial Park Vorsino.

We strive to become the best company in the field of industrial construction in Russia. And we are confident in achieving this goal. Our  mission is to create, build world-class industrial facilities, and thereby create the present and the future of Russia.

Recorded by Elena Alexandrova

The full content of the magazine can be found here.