Independent all-arounders

Precast plants in Russia manufacture not only precast parts all the time. Some facilities manufacture their own formwork tables, shuttering profiles, and the molds along with them. Others manufacture additional parts for their own production, such as insulation material, form liners, and fastening products. BFT editors recently saw good evidence of this situation during a journalistic tour.

What’s the reason here? One explanation: many of the large production facilities around metropolitan areas such as Moscow or St. Petersburg have evolved from the old state-owned collective combines that formerly offered package services from planning to production, and that at the same time manufactured all other materials and products needed for construction. Although owners changed in the course of privatization during the 1990s, corporate structures did not always completely change.

But that is not the only reason: first, even smaller and medium-sized plants manufacture the suppliers parts that they need themselves. A second, perhaps even more significant explanation comes from an insider of the industry: The companies want to be independent from unreliable suppliers and usurers that do not supply the required materials and parts on time and that often demand extortionate prices.

This problem will not vanish from Russia from one day to the next – in many places there is a lack of modern infrastructure and functional logistics services necessary to ensure reliable and punctual delivery. Yet: suppliers that make the effort and listen to the customers are very much in demand by the plants. This was another fact that the editors were able to confirm on their trip.