Oleksiy Morshchagin, Tube and Wire Company
- Name: Oleksiy Morshchagin
- Vocation: Co-founder of Tube and Wire Company, EBA Donetsk Branch Board Chairman
For a long time innovation has been the strategic goal for Ukraine, while the preference was given to the so-called priority fields, which included metalwork alongside coal mining and metallurgy. Considering the powerful potential of metal industry and having the good understanding of the market demand in Ukraine, a group of businessmen decided to set up a production of electro-welded steel tube for refrigeration industry in Donetsk keeping prices competitively low against the similar imported products. Today we talk to Oleksiy Morshchagin the person who was laying the cornerstones of the Tube and Wire Company, EBA Donetsk Branch Board Chairman.
1. Was it easy to enter the metal industry market back in 2004?
Of course, it was a rather risky decision to enter the market of metal industry in Ukraine because of high raw material prices, lack of investment funds, obsolete equipment, absence of innovations, cut-throat competition from Chinese and other external suppliers. Nevertheless, with the help of efficient combination of lending and our own funds we managed to build a modern cold rolled electro-welded tube production line, which is one of the three similar lines working on the whole post-Soviet space.
2. What do you produce today and who are your main clients?
Nowadays, Tube and Wire Company supplies such industries as mechanical, power and construction engineering, shipbuilding and metal construction. Nord (Donetsk) are Juka-Invest (Zhitomir) are the strongest consumers in Ukraine. Besides, being at the home market, the enterprise exports tube to neighbouring countries of Russia, Belorussia and Slovakia to huge plants producing refrigerating equipment Indesit International (Lipetsk), Atlant (Minsk) etc.
3. The heavy industry production is a rather competitive environment, how do you deal with the strong competition on the market of wetalwork?
The main counterparts of Tube and Wire Company are large Russian plants: Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant and Volgograd Tube Plant. They owe their competitive edge to the vicinity to the main consumers and ability to offer a wide product range. And this is a mixed blessing since their scale does not allow them to swiftly adapt to the changing environment. As for us, it is easier to adjust to consumers' needs and to be responsive to unpredictable changes in economic situation. Naturally, it's getting ever tougher to maintain and to further expand our market share, nevertheless we are proud of our expertise in this sphere and we do our best to provide further development and meet consumers' needs at the highest level.
4. For quite a while your company has kept the leading position on the metal production market. What is the secret of the company's successes?
I do appreciate my 14-year experience in doing business. The production was started from a scratch and it took time to overcome all obstacles and gain a stable position. Today the enterprise keeps the leading positions not only on the domestic but also on the European markets. I think that the secret of our success is in innovation and high quality of products stipulated by internal quality management. Considering the importance of free interaction of all departments in the organisation structure, operational part of the plant was divided into 4 production areas. Besides main industrial manufacturing equipment, a great number of auxiliary tools and machines are used in a technological cycles that fastens the production cycle and makes it easier. I control the development of quality management system personally. The company has its own laboratory equipped with advanced measuring and testing machinery for the final inspection and analysis of the process. Quality Assurance department controls precision of the results and adherence to customers' requirements. Thus, striving for the perfect quality is the main factor of our success.
5. As the Chairman of EBA Donetsk Branch Board and a businessman, what aspects do you think need improvement?
Working closely in production sphere, we suffer from VAT non-refund and unreasonably high crediting rates. So we are interested in resolution of these problems on the high governmental level. The EBA helps with these issues officially bringing concern of business to the attention of state authorities. We would like to further promote fair and transparent competition, respect intellectual and other property rights, promote and respect non-corruption practices and encourage compliance with prevailing law at all times. Internally, we highly respect employees' rights, and do everything possible to provide them with healthy and safe work conditions and training opportunities. Besides, we strive to develop constructive relations with local and national government bodies to achieve a fair and productive business climate, recognising the importance of environmental protection. All these conditions set up reliable background for mutually beneficial cooperation and build up consumers' confidence in the quality of our production.
