With its more than 700 employees and corporate history dating back as far as 1958, the “Kazremenergo” JSC now figures amidst the top ten companies of Kazakhstan. Its products/services pipeline encompasses the repair, reconstruction and modernization of diverse energy equipment, such as steam boilers, engines, turbines, generators, transformers, reactors, automatized switchers, control systems, construction and consulting.
To keep in pace with contemporary quality requirements and sustain the management’s qualification maturity, the company has recently adopted the ISO 9001-2009 standard, regarding quality management survey and requirements, which is being implemented into the overall business process together with presidential guidelines and specific laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan. As Mr. Zarubin himself testifies: “During the last years, an average of approximately 50% of the company’s net profit has been systematically invested into the amortization and modernization of our equipment in order to increase productivity and proficiency parameters. “ Together with their main production plant in Almaty headquarters, the company sustains an impressive automotive fleet, weight lifting and construction equipment, as well as mobile laboratories, enabling to perform maintenance and monitoring survey services at distant energy plants.
The main business lines of Kazremenergo are repair and maintenance of energy equipment, construction and monitoring. Although present business trends in global production favor complete replacement of used industrial capacities, the frequent reality in the CIS and nearby region is that numerous energy plants and substations prefer their equipment to be continuously modernized, updated and meticulously monitored, due to unaffordable procurement costs of new equipment. Often such an approach requires more intelligence and technology skills than in case of standardized implementation of new infrastructure. That’s where Kazremenergo comes into play.
“We are currently executing a state-comissioned order for the installation of equipment at the Akshabulak energy plant. 3 energy blocks are being developed, with the 1st starting supposedly in September 2011. In view of keeping that deadline, we are cooperating with partners from Russia, as well as the Japanese Hitachi, which supplied the main turbines, and ABB having delivered generators.” The company cooperates with leading Kazakh companies, such as “KEGOC”, “SC Almaty Electric Stations”, “AES Ekibastuz”, “Kazzink”, “Kaztransoil”, “Kazchrom”, “Kazakhmys” and others. Furthermore, Kazremenergo’s engagement reaches out well beyond Kazachstan itself, encompassing Kirgyzstan, Tajikistan with its Dushanbe and Yavan thermoelectric plant having been put to service after 20 years of frozen activity; commissioners from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Mongolia, Vietnam, India and Ethiopia comlete the clients’ list.
The European vector of Kazremenergo’s activity equally deserves attention – “We are fond of enhancing further our European partnerships. In past times European companies played a vital role in supplying our repair plants with modern metalworking equipment; for instance, Lincoln Electric has delivered us key welding layouts. Nowadays Kazremenergo itself is a highly sought-after intermediary between major suppliers of engines like ABB or Siemens on one hand, and their Kazakh end customers on the other, such as Petra Kazakhstan or Kazgermunay. On this stage Kazremenergo, in its quality of long-term service partner for ABB, is responsible for the installation of engines, troubleshooting, maintenance and monitoring during guarantee period” – states Mr. Zarubin. Kazremenergo does, in the end, sustain solid demand for technologically advanced industrial components, such as seismically-adapted pumps (Almaty lies amidst a seismically highly active region), the latter provided by Lentimex from Slovakia, and cranes, furnished by Klinger from Austria.
One may think that in such circumstances, where the company’s role is reduced to providing services upon request, there may be little space left for individual initiative to be implied on the client’s behalf. To a certain point that may be so, yet the company’s advisory and consulting importance ought not to be neglected. Thus, Kazremenergo disposes of a number of mobile laboratories, that are permanently patrolling industry plants and issuing judgements on their operational capabilities. “As long as HR-policy is concerned, we take pride in the fact that in times when the world is distressed by the economic crisis, we have been able to create new job opportunities. During the 1st half of 2011 we’ve welcomed as much as 65 new employees” – Mr. Zarubin reveals. “Moreover, we sustain close partnership with educational institutes and the academic community, such as the Almaty Institute of Power Engineering and Telecommunications. 2 to 5 study grants are awarded each year at the company’s expense, safeguarding the awardees’ enrollment at Kazremenergo once they’ve graduated, with a loyalty period settled for 5 years. The majority of those to have passed are likely to stay for good.” – he further adds.
The company was actively engaged in developing and supporting the newest ecology projects and legislation guidelines, together with state legislative bodies. Worth mentioning is the project of modernization of the Almaty thermoelectric plant’s burner devices. Kazremenergo, in cooperation with the Pavlodar Research Center and academics from Novosibirsk, have enabled the plant to reduce substantially the blowout of nitric oxide into the atmosphere. Moreover, Kazremenergo has realized, upon the initiative of SC “Almaty Electric Stations”, several projects of purification of flue gases, using instead of electrofilters emulgators only. The purification ratio averages some 99,5%, depending on the quality and homogeneity of fuels utilized. “Considering the severe ecological restrictions on environment pollution, and huge fines put on behalf of legislation violation, most companies apprehend the advantages of keeping to the rules and are motivated to safeguard them.” This implies even for the development of nuclear plants, whereof Kazakhstan yet has none
In a period where the outer world is permanently troubled by uncertainty, market volatility and overall economic crisis, Kazremenergo constantly increases its production volume and turnover. Nor has the company acquired any dubious fonds in any way, neither has it speculated with versatile market assets. The only troublesome issue might have arisen from the somewhat restrained payment ability of several clients, but, nonetheless, as Mr. Zarubin concludes – “with the majority of our clients being energy suppliers, they forcibly are likely to sustain a certain minimal output level… During any times, people need heating, electricity and gas, lighting, which are primary needs. This is the main reason why we haven’t been damaged by the crisis. And even as it reached its peak, we have boosted our production volume gradually.”
Stanislav Slabeycius
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