"People do not understand that the ability to create something with their own hands is very expensive in our time," say brothers Yaroslav and Denis Balta, heads of the Balta Group of Companies, winners of the TOP-10 young entrepreneurs project in Naberezhnye Chelny. Based in the auto city, they conduct international business: Balta Press is one of 12 in the world and the only manufacturer of hydraulic equipment for metal processing and recycling in Russia. In an interview with Chelny-biz.ru, the entrepreneurs told why they took the helm of the family company when both were under 25 years old, how they found customers in the Far North and Tanzania, but cannot find workers in Chelny. General Director of Balta Group Yaroslav Balta and Сommercial Вirector Denis Balta talk about competition with Europe and China, Tatarstan support for manufacturers and business plans for grandchildren.
"THERE ARE SPECIAL PROJECTS FOR ROSATOM, FOR THE ARMY, FOR THE ARCTIС..."
- Your business is highly specialized, at its international level it is not known to most of the city's residents. What is the Balta Group of Companies?
Yaroslav: We have two lines of business: the first is equipment manufacturing, the second is metal fabrication and metal processing. The main company "Balta Press" has been operating since 2001. The second was launched less than a year ago.
Denis: Balta Press – design and manufacture of hydraulic equipment. These are huge heavy machines for metal processing and recycling.
– Scrap metal must be brought into a convenient bale shape in order to send it to metallurgical plants for smelting, right? Who are the main buyers of the equipment?
Denis: Metallurgical plants that are directly involved in the manufacture of rolled metal. In turn, it is used in the construction of our houses, bridges, the Crimean bridge at the last...
Yaroslav: And small factories, metal reception sites – any companies that have production related to metal also need balers.
– Who do you work with in Tatarstan?
Yaroslav: KAMAZ has our machine.
Denis: We work with a lot of people. With the Kazanorgsintez plant, for example. Go to any production, everyone has waste: metal or corrugated packaging, cable and wire products, shavings. Everybody needs balers. Those, who have already purchased them from us, buy more with confidence. We have colleagues in Latvia. They bought a baler about three years ago, they did some work and will fly here soon to buy another unit for the new branch.
Yaroslav: A hydraulic press is a machine that makes money. It increases the cost of metal, reduces logistics, increases the efficiency of metal yield. This is one of the great ways to increase your marginality.
In addition to these machines, we are now mastering everything related to metal – cutting, stamping. We have lines for the processing of lead, metal shavings, huge wire rods (whole wagons are thrown there). There are special projects for Rosatom – for recycling radioactive waste, for example. For the army, for the Arctic...
Denis: We supply equipment to the Arctic under the program for cleaning up the Far North. Sunken ships and old expeditions are raised from the bottom of the ocean, then recycled with the help of our equipment.
Yaroslav: One of the recent projects is for the EVRAZ plant (United West Siberian Metallurgical Plant – ed.) in Novokuznetsk. It makes pressed bales from wire rod (a whole wagon of wire). Next to our machine there is similar German equipment four times more expensive than ours.
Denis: The machine weighs 150 tons. Except for us, no one in Russia can supply such equipment.
– None of manufacturers throughout the country?
Denis: There were similar factories in the Soviet Union. They all went broke. There are no more such enterprises on the territory of the former USSR.
Yaroslav: There are only 12 companies in the world that produce this kind of equipment. This is not surprising because it is difficult. This is a pioneer area. Equipment is difficult to design, difficult to manufacture, you need to constantly learn and improve yourself, do a lot of hard work. But we know for sure that our grandchildren will work in this company, knowing that they work in one of the best companies in the world.
– Where are you guided by?
Yaroslav: By our uniqueness. I myself am engaged in design, I have a design department. We create what few people can do. Looking at the closest competitors in Germany, Austria, Italy, we understand that we can do better and at a price lower than that of China. This is our secret of uniqueness. This should burn in us, this should be loved. We are fans of what we do. We are not chasing the scale, we follow our idea persistently.
– How is the Russian market distributed today?
Denis: According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, our production covers more than half of the market.
– Who are the most famous buyers of your equipment?
Denis: The same Latvians supply aluminum to the Audi plant. All aluminum used in the production of Audi is baled by our machine.
Yaroslav: Shotgun cartridges, which are produced in Russia, pass through our lead line. Cartridges "Fetter" (Shot foundry and cartridge plant in Podolsk – ed.) cover half of the Russian market.
Denis: Our balers are not picky, they are even in Africa (in Tanzania), in Iran.
«I STUDIED IN CZECH REPUBLIC TO BE A POLITICAL ANALYST. I NEVER THOUGHT THAT LIFE WILL BE ASSOCIATED WITH PRODUCTION»
- Much has been said about uniqueness. Is this all the development of local engineers, designers?
Yaroslav: I design this with my department.
– Yaroslav, did you get your education in Naberezhnye Chelny?
Yaroslav: Yes, but what our education gives is not applicable in work. This is theory. What I really use is my own work and the work of my design team. We communicate with military engineers and designers. Europeans tell us some points.
– You cannot produce alone. Where do you get specialists for your team?
Yaroslav: The team is a huge problem. Not a problem, in my opinion, to open a grocery store, find an administrator, cashier, accountant, office-cleaner. But the problem is finding a constructor.
Denis: There are no trained specialists who can manufacture balers, heavy equipment. We recruit people and start teaching them.
– How was the company created? The first director of Balta Press was Vasily Andreevich Balta.
Yaroslav: Yes. This is our father, he died in 2012. After that, my brother and I began to do business together. I began to lead the company. I was 19 then.
Denis: I was 24.
– Was it necessary for each of you to come to the enterprise, or in any case you were planning and preparing to join the family business?
Yaroslav: I, of course, planned to link my future with the enterprise, but at the age of 27-28. I would like to live as a student, then gradually enter the business, but I had to enter the business at the age of 19, in a shock situation.
Denis: I studied in the Czech Republic to become a political analyst. I never thought that my life would be connected with production.
– Yaroslav, who was involved in the development of equipment before you?
Yaroslav: Vasily Andreevich. We never try to keep silent about this fact. This is our father's company, he created everything with his own hands. We just picked it up at the right stage, we increased it several times, and brought it to the international level. The idea belongs to our late father. He initially collected everything here, as they say, on his knee.
Denis: Our father is a natural genius. There are people who are endowed with great talents by nature.
– Today your responsibilities are distributed: for Yaroslav – production, for Denis – commerce. There is a popular belief that you shouldn't do business with friends and family...
Yaroslav: We are constantly arguing, swearing, but disputes are only about how to do better. When there is a certain task, everyone begins to fight for their opinion. But when we meet some difficult problem, all disputes fade into the background, we sit down and solve it together.
– Have there been situations in your life when you wanted to quit your family business and create something of your own, perhaps in a completely different area?
Yaroslav: There were situations when we felt utterly discouraged. But not in terms of quitting the family business, but quitting the direction, because it is very difficult. But I cannot sell without Denis, he cannot produce without me. We want to make history in this industry. We're legislators here. Family is mutual support.
«THE PROCESS IS SO AUTOMATED THAT WE CAN FOLLOW WHAT IS HAPPENING FROM THE PHONE: SPECIALISTS, CALLS, MACHINE...»
– Over the past year, the Balta Metals project has been launched. You stated that this is a unique direction for metal processing, which is not yet available in Chelny.
Denis: We can say with complete confidence that there are no such sites – with such an approach, with such honesty, transparency – on the territory of Tatarstan.
– You have many competitors in this market.
Yaroslav: There are a lot of competitors, because this is a very simple business: bought and sold.
Denis: There is a very big competition. Our advantage is that we ourselves manufacture equipment for this site. We save on this, and we test our developments here. Balta Metals is not what you are used to seeing at metal warehouse, where the dirt is knee-deep, unpleasant people in dirty clothes. We have cleanliness and order in the first place.
Yaroslav: This direction was launched during the year. I was responsible for it. I visited companies, including those in Latvia, the Czech Republic, where they have been doing this business for years and doing very cool things like no one else in Russia does. We visited our top clients and described all the processes. To do like everyone else is not interesting for us. We know how to do better. The process is so automated that we can follow what is happening from the phone: each specialist, calls, machine. We can collect all analytics.
– Is this automation saving?
Denis: You have to understand that if you do this kind of automation, then at the first stage it is always a little more expensive. If we increase production to a huge scale, then there will be savings. We know that when we make all the adjustments, one specialist will perform the functions of three or four people and will be of much better quality. Barn notebooks are a thing of the past.
«THE SOCIAL LIFT IS FASTER THERE WHERE YOU DO SOMETHING WITH YOUR HANDS. BUT THE PRESENT GENERATION HAS NOT YET REACTED TO THIS TREND»
– Why did you choose the KIP "Master" for placing?
Yaroslav: We like it here. Thanks to Maksim Georgievich Steblov, who heads all this and maintains it at such a high level that it is not a shame to invite European partners.
– You considered the advanced development area of Chelny for the implementation of projects.
Yaroslav: We were going to join the TASED in 2018, but our plans have radically changed due to the new project. We wanted with one, but we will go with the other.
– Did you use government support measures?
Yaroslav: Yes, I apply to the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Tatarstan to receive government subsidies. I like the Tatarstan support of manufacturers very much. Many thanks to the government of the Republic for creating such cool favorable conditions for the industry.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia supported us very much. After a meeting with Minister Denis Valentinovich Manturov in 2015, many Russian holdings and factories drew attention to us.
– How do you assess the conditions for doing business in Chelny? What infrastructure projects would make your work easier: highways, railways, logistics centers?..
Yaroslav: We have everything here. There is one problem in Chelny – there are not enough staff.
Denis: There is a need for specialties that are not taught at all in Chelny. For example, there are no hydraulic technicians on the market.
– Then where do you find employees?
Denis: We teach them. How many people were there at the Department of Hydraulics of KFU this year? Seven?
– What city-wide solution do you see?
Yaroslav: We need to adopt experience of education.
– Do you have a dialogue on this matter with schools or technical schools?
Yaroslav: There are technical schools, the question is the prestige of the vacancy. People do not understand that the ability to create something with their own hands is very expensive in our time. People have disaccustomed to being proud of what they create themselves. Carrying pieces of paper from office to office, you will also earn... Young people go to those areas where there is prestige, where they consider the social lift to be the fastest. Now the market situation has changed. The social lift is faster where you do something with your hands. But the current generation has not yet reacted to this trend.
– With such a scale of business and intentions, don’t you feel cramped in Chelny?
Denis: The city is comfortable for work. In terms of culture, recreation opportunities it is very tight.
– What exactly do you lack for rest, entertainment? Do you have a need for theaters?
Denis: Yes, we constantly go to Moscow, to St. Petersburg, to watch performances there. Here, I believe there is a problem with them. Maybe there is no audience, no demand... Demand creates supply.
Yaroslav: We must be grateful that there are theaters in our city. Yes, it would be better if there are more culture.
Denis: We don't want to talk about new projects yet (smiles). These will be completely new market segments. Some pieces of new equipment are currently being tested in this building.
Yaroslav: We know that our company will be of an international level, that production will be located not only in Chelny. We know for sure that we will be engaged in production, as we like it. We know we can do 10 times more, 20 times more than we can now. BALTA will be a continent-wide company. It's a question of time.
Denis: A question of time and economics. We need competent and equally ambitious specialists who want to work and earn money with us as a team.
Author: Lilia Pavlova. Source: online newspaper Chelny-biz.ru
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