Goncharov alexey ivanovich uralplastic biography. Business Formula Program

The electric power industry remains one of the most important industries for our country. The financial crisis left its mark on her condition, which affected the decline in electricity production. The situation in the Middle Urals is not so depressing yet: one of the largest Russian power plants is located here - Reftinskaya GRES and Beloyarskaya NPP. True, things are far from being so smooth there. In this plane, the problems of power equipment do not go unnoticed, the wear of which is obvious at many enterprises, but the money issue does not allow to solve these problems in full. Ural power equipment suppliers are often in a vulnerable position: they have something to offer, but the prices are not suitable for everyone, so there is often no supply-demand balance. In this situation, foreign companies are actively promoting their innovative energy equipment to the Ural market.
Power equipment and energy in the Urals in January-February 2017

The battery is, one might say, the heart of any mechanism, without it it will not work, so this product is in demand always and everywhere. The world of batteries is diverse: cars, phones, household appliances, electrical appliances. Now manufacturers of equipment often produce batteries for devices, so as not to reduce the demand for equipment. If we dwell on car batteries, then here the inhabitants of the Urals have plenty to choose from. These are Chinese batteries, and batteries made in the CIS countries, the most popular brands of batteries are Topla and Tubor. The production of batteries from Toyota and Nissan is also well developed.
Batteries of all types in the Urals, December 2016

The financial crisis had practically no effect on purchases for children, the Urals do not want to save on children, this applies to infants, older children, and teenagers. The latter cause a lot of trouble to their parents, trying to grow up as soon as possible, but parents still spend a lot of money so that their child is dressed, shod, and receives a good education. In the Sverdlovsk region in December, parents attack clothing stores, shoes, bookstores, electronics stores, picking up New Year's gifts for their sons and daughters. Particularly advanced parents make purchases using Internet services. And some residents of the Urals are sure that the best holiday for them and for the child during the New Year holidays will be if you send him outside the region.
Goods and services for teenagers in the Urals in December 2016

In the autumn season, exacerbation of chronic diseases begins, there is a danger of catching a cold, and this autumn has not yet spoiled the Urals with warmth. At the beginning of the month, prudent residents of the region signed up for gyms, fitness clubs, and sent their children to sections in order not only to maintain immunity, but also to develop strength, agility and endurance. For those who prefer to exercise at home, stores offer a wide range of special products for sports.
Sport and health in the Urals, autumn 2016

It is impossible to imagine any modern enterprise without office equipment. Mobile phones, tablets, laptops allow you to remotely solve work issues and not be bored while traveling. Repair and maintenance of digital equipment is carried out by qualified specialists.
Digital mobile and office equipment, consumables and stationery in the Urals in the first quarter of 2016

Modern communication technologies are in demand in Alapaevsk. Young residents of the city attend sports sections. The quality of life of citizens is monitored by public services.
Alapaevsk in the spring of 2016

In spring, the demand for finishing materials for household and industrial use is growing. Film releases are shown in cinemas. Serious and entertaining literature is presented in bookstores.
From Yekaterinburg to Volchansk - business and entertainment in the Urals in March 2016

The car battery market in the Urals is interesting, as there is a demand for batteries for the harsh conditions of the nearby Northern Urals and a special combination of car brands for traveling around the city, among them there are many powerful cars, and the fashion for car audio creates a need for reliable batteries that work stably at any time. season. In electronics stores, you can purchase replacement batteries and external batteries for the smooth operation of smartphones and tablets during the working day. Powerful batteries ensure the operation of uninterruptible power supplies.
Batteries wholesale and retail in the Urals, the range of offers of organizations in January-March 2016

Connection to the Internet and telephone services was in demand in early spring. Wholesale and retail sell goods for men's and women's hobbies. Parts and equipment produced by the Ural factories are popular.
Demanded services and goods of the beginning of spring 2016 in the Urals

In the working settlement of Pyshma, various metal, wood, and stone products are produced. Food industry enterprises provide the village with products. Cultural and educational institutions are available to residents of the village.
Pyshma in January-February 2016 - city life

Sports activities for children and adults are offered by clubs, centers and schools. On simulators, you can work out both at home and in the gym. Inventory for all kinds of sports is presented in Yekaterinburg.
Sports centers and schools, recreation and sports - equipment, services, goods in the Urals in January-February 2016

Household and industrial goods of local enterprises and suppliers from other regions are widely represented in Alapaevsk. Professional and continuing education services are offered. Telephony services, Internet access, passenger and freight transportation are in demand.
Alapaevsk in December 2015 - January 2016, goods and services

Aramil's manufacturing enterprises produce various polymer products and other products. Car repair services and sales of auto parts are widely represented. Educational institutions of the city teach in-demand specialties.
Aramil in November-December 2015, public and private services to the population, production and trade

Packaging for food and industrial goods, with and without a logo, was in demand in August and September in the Urals. There is a demand for gift wrapping. A number of enterprises provide relocation packing services, packing and packaging of goods for their further sale.
Packaging in the Urals in August-September 2015

How to change data in iural.ru if there was a site change?
During the 10 years that information has been posted in the iural.ru catalog, there have been changes in it. Changed…

Interview with Alexey Goncharov, General Director of ZAO Uralplastic-N

Alexey Goncharov. Photo: expert.ru

The new high-tech plastic business seeks to occupy more and more niches in the market, is afraid of industrial espionage and requires new consumer standards The production of flexible polymer packaging modified with nanocomposites of its own production is preparing to start this year Uralplastic-N CJSC (Aramil, Sverdlovsk Region). The company intends to reach its design capacity - 24 thousand tons of packaging per year - in 2013. The sales volume under the project by 2016 should amount to 5.2 billion rubles. The total investment is 2.3 billion rubles. The payback period is five years. This is one of three projects in the Sverdlovsk Region that are already being implemented by businesses together with Rosnano.

The Aramil site started from scratch, having received approval for the deal and financing in 2009. OJSC "Rosnano" entered the project with money - it owns 48% of the company. Aleksey Goncharov, General Director of CJSC Uralplastic-N, believes that Rusnano is a good partner for work in Russia: he took on not only consulting, financing, staff training, but most importantly, support of the project. “Unfortunately, without help at the state level, all new goods in Russia do not move, since our markets do not depend, as they do abroad, on regulations - how and what to pack,” says Goncharov.

Slim Solution

- Alexey Ivanovich, why was the project needed?

Modification with composites containing nanoparticles is one of the directions of the nanoindustry in the market of polymer raw materials, which seeks to make the product more economical and obtain additional properties of materials. Today, the whole world is puzzled by the reduction in weight and cost of packaging. To achieve this without losing the barrier, physical-mechanical and other properties that are important for the safety of the product and its logistics, it is necessary to change the structure of the film with nanomodified additives. Otherwise, it is impossible to achieve the specified properties in full. That's why we took on the project. This is our know-how: we ourselves, in contact with world leaders in the industry, developed both the process chemistry and the equipment. In our country, we are the first to use these technologies in a complex.

We are starting to produce both the actual nanofilms and the raw material component - granules with nanodispersed additives that change the final properties of the film. I affirm that our products are the most technologically advanced. Because with coating technologies there are risks of contact of nano-additives with a person, they have not yet been fully explored and frighten Europe. And our technology allows you to hide nanoparticles inside the film, thereby making them 100% safe. Additives are strongly associated with the film structure, because they are nucleating agents in the chemical chain.

- Are there analogues on the market?

Since we are the only ones in Russia who use this technology, there are no competitors in the domestic market yet. Three parameters of the film are compared: barrier properties, physical-mechanical and certain specially specified ones, for example, the twist effect (memory effect), opacity, paper effect, and so on.

The film is needed by those modern enterprises, transnational corporations who want to provide a thinner packaging solution - in order to emit less into the environment, it is better to preserve the product, to bring it with all the taste to the end consumer. The most important effect that we have achieved is to reduce the thickness of the nanofilm by 20%.

- How did she get thinner?

With additives. Unfortunately, the scientific ideas that are used here are closed to you: competitors are on the alert. The author of these ideas works in our research department, where they develop new types of films. I think we have the strongest film team in the country. The search for solutions occurs when a new product with new properties cannot be realized on traditional materials. We first look at what is “closer”: is it possible to modify the existing raw materials. Nanotechnology is what is "closer". And looking "away" means building new giant chemical plants. In Russia, high-quality raw materials - meaning the primary basis, the one before the nanoparticle - are not produced at all. Have to import.

- You again do not name what exactly and from where?

Because of the fierce competition in the market, where everyone is rushing about in search of a new one: who would have something to peep. Most do not generate new ideas. We have such a somewhat Chinese market.

- Is it possible in principle to protect yourself from industrial espionage?

Impossible. I'm not sure if my company doesn't have it. And after all, the law does not take penalties for this! Therefore, we close the information. We have been working on the developments that formed the basis of joint production with Rusnano for more than five years. And only when a state corporation was formed, it became possible to implement them. There are still a lot of ideas in store that we want to implement in the next ten years. But the main thing now is the development of a project that is funded.

Thousands of applications are submitted to Rosnano, but very few receive support. How did you manage to get through to the state corporation?

My path was extremely standard: I filled out an application on their website. From the first time, it was not possible to convey a commercial idea to the expert council. Rewrote the project, filed again. Then they reworked the idea once again to an extremely understandable option for non-chemist experts. It worked! Rosnano experts calculated the profitability of the business, and they liked it. A corporation cannot give away money for free.

- Many do not want to give part of the business to Rosnano.

If you don't want it, don't give it up. Go to the bank, take a loan at 15 - 18% and try not to die in a year. There are no other options. Rusnano is an investor for five years of development, in the sixth year it withdraws from its share, sells it to public profile investors or places it through an IPO. The task of the corporation is to earn the maximum amount of money for the state. I have the right to redeem my share.

- How much sales do you expect to reach in five years?

By 5 billion rubles a year, that is, we must grow four times to the current 1.2 billion rubles.

- Is it a good pace?

Much faster than the market. This will be a significant import substitution, a huge number of low-quality industries will leave the market after the launch of a new site.

- How much more expensive is nanoproduction and how does it narrow the consumer field?

Products of mass demand and aimed at reducing the price per square meter for people who can count.

In tons, this film is more expensive, but due to the fact that it is thinner, the price per meter is cheaper, which is more important for the client. And externally, the film will look much better than the one on the market today: more glossy, transparent, more pleasant to the touch. We will also make exclusive items for individual consumers.

- Is it necessary to increase the capitalization of the company?

Yes, in five years Rusnano should get out of business as profitably as possible. A whole division in Moscow is working on the topic of increasing the capitalization of supported companies. They do it better than us. Therefore, such a division of labor: I am engaged in production, business, I am puzzled by the launch of a new plant and the release of new products. This is important for me: I will successfully make a product - it will be easier for partners to promote the company.

- Is Rusnano the main investor or will it pull someone else up?

Not yet known. The ambitions of our team are growing because we see new niches that appear on the market. They need to be borrowed or someone else will.

You won't step into the river twice

- What are your positions in the market?

The flexible plastic packaging market includes hundreds of types of films for the food and non-food industries, logistics and films for greenhouses, automobiles, and so on. Therefore, it is impossible to say exactly what market share we occupy.

- With fierce competition - and do not measure the share?

We measure, but demand is very dynamic, the market develops in leaps: from time to time, consumer companies “get tired” of standing at one point, there is an explosion in demand, manufacturing plants begin to be built. Changes often occur: today the consumer used one package, and tomorrow the product has been improved and switched to another one by another supplier. This market flows like a fast giant river that you can't enter twice to match.

- But the parameters of the players are known?

In terms of sales in the domestic market, the largest non-Russian players are manufacturers from the CIS countries and Europe. Foreign companies import raw materials duty-free, and the product is exported to Russia with a duty of 0.15%. And I get raw materials with a duty of 10%! That is, foreign players in relation to Russian consumers are in a better situation than domestic ones. I hope our legislators will rectify this soon.

In Russia, small and medium-sized business players are engaged in the production of packaging materials - according to domestic standards. In Europe, there is a different classification, according to their standards - I am a medium-sized business, according to Russian - large.

- Where is the market going?

The whole sensible world and production are moving towards environmental friendliness, and we are going the same way. By modifying the films, we eliminate the need to pack the product in a material containing heterogeneous components in the structure (paper, foil, etc.), which does not allow it to be reused; in Russia, it is mainly thrown into landfills. We have received a product that will allow 100% recycling. When a culture of waste collection and recycling is introduced in our country, which is already a standard of life in the entire civilized world, the film will become even more relevant.

In the field of packaging, everything is very simple in its dependence: if I produce yogurt or meat stuffed with chemicals, I do not need good packaging materials. If I produce products that are useful for humans, then I need a good packaging material that will preserve the properties of the products. And the better my product is packaged, the wider my markets: from Yekaterinburg I can even take it to Vladivostok. There will always be a goal to preserve the product from the harmful effects of the environment and deliver it to the final consumer in its original form.

American and European directives describe in detail how the product must be processed and packaged, what qualities the film must meet. These standards, unlike ours, are mandatory. And Russia needs new ones: in the old ones, created more than 50 years ago, only film for greenhouses is registered! And the whole market is oriented towards them today. State-owned enterprises make large purchases of film. No one produces such films anymore, and standards rule our lives. Therefore, now at the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Standardization and Certification in Mechanical Engineering, an initiative team of experts (where I am also a member, I help classify films) is prescribing new Russian packaging standards.

- What other factors hinder the development of the market?

First of all, customs procedures. Our country does not produce high-tech equipment for the processing of polymers and high-quality raw materials for the production of packaging; everyone is forced to import. The duty on equipment is set at zero, but it is subject to such regulatory documents that you start thinking about the second and third imports: do I need all this? Only business ambitions drive progress. Duties on the import of raw materials are higher than on the import of finished products. I can guess why the slowdown is happening: obviously, foreign businesses have many times more money to lobby their interests and goods. There, for each enterprise, they will fight at the level of the president. And in our country, the development of plastic is now catching up, manufacturers are very weak in relation to global competitors, we are far from being on an equal footing.

The second brake on development is the high cost of communications. Connecting to gas and electricity networks is also complicated by regulations and procedures. Abroad, just say that you want gas or electricity, and everything will be done. Moreover, the connection to communications is made by the supplier of energy and gas on a turnkey basis: from the project to implementation. Payment is taken only for consumption.

- A new industrial site - in Aramil, because the networks are cheaper there?

We take production out of the metropolis, although it is not cheaper in the suburbs. In Aramil, there was a site that was maximally prepared in order to start production within a short time within a year. This determined the choice. In addition, the mayor of Aramil supports the development of industry. This is important when the state official at least simply does not interfere. At first we will transport personnel, in the future we will work in the mortgage direction.

- Where did this project move the company?

For the enterprise, this is an opportunity to have a future. It is very difficult to develop production at high rates on bank loans, especially during a crisis. And the participation of Rosnano allowed the production to practically be reborn. During the project, we updated the equipment park, introduced new technologies, logistics, approaches to the organization of production, new products - all the most modern. We built a beautiful, modern plant. This is a different world, with the help of Rosnano we have taken a step into Europe. A new life will begin at the end of the year with the launch of the plant, the equipment is already operating in a test mode.

The implementation of the project did not go smoothly. I lost a total of three or four months simply by following someone. For example, the main components lay at the Koltsovo customs for three weeks - we were fooled with documents. On such trifles with large-scale projects, months fly away. Changed a huge number of contractors: there is absolutely no one to design and build new production facilities. Western designers do not know our GOSTs and SNIPs, and domestic designers do not know new technologies, they do not know anything, although they supposedly have experience and licenses. Designers from St. Petersburg were invited to Aramil, and from Moscow to Kaluga, but both projects were reworked thirty times.

Air Sellers

- What project do you have in Kaluga?

We are building another plant - Penotherm, which we will also launch in October. Partner and co-investor in the second platform - VTB. There will also be a new product, not flexible polymer packaging, but foamed polyethylene and polypropylene materials. These are noise and heat insulators, they have a huge range of applications. Many, having installed them at home, sleep like babies, because they do not hear their neighbors, the street. These materials are used for soundproofing interfloor ceilings, as a substrate for underfloor heating, they are used to insulate walls, windows, saunas, baths, roofs, they are used by the auto and electronic industries. Also these products are used as packaging material. In terms of these technologies and the release of a number of products in Russia, we are also leaders and exclusive manufacturers. There is also nano and know-how.

- What are you applying for with the launch of the site?

This market is narrower, we intend to occupy 40-50% in three or four years. Competitors are only domestic, because this is an “air” market: it is unprofitable to transport very light foam materials from abroad, only 4 tons fit in a 40-foot truck. It is better to produce it close to the consumer.

- What is the novelty of the Kaluga product?

In this market, everything is determined by three indicators: price, properties, such as noise insulation, and the uniqueness of the product, the exclusivity of the niche - it can be anything, up to "rugs for gardeners." I say this in relation not only to the Kaluga site, but in general to the Russian markets.

We create up to a hundred new products a year, we are leaders in price and certain properties. We are growing gradually, with the market. Since the redistribution of shares and the change of owners took place at Uralplastica in 1999, the company has chosen the production of packaging and foam materials as the main direction of development. By that time, the former products turned out to be unnecessary to anyone. We rebuilt old workshops and purchased new equipment. The payback of the project in Kaluga (more than 200 million rubles) is three years.

Compare by plate

Yes, we have always tried to produce not what the neighbor does, but to develop and implement something new. Being like everyone else is not interesting to me. Although it is not a fact that it is always better for someone who spends money on development than for someone who takes what has already been worked out and simply replicates. An example is China, which no longer knows where to put dollars, while its main task is to repeat what has already been worked out in other countries, it floods the whole world with this. But no one else in the world has managed to build such a system.

- How comfortable is it to innovate today?

Uncomfortable. On the one hand, the state spends enormous efforts on opening such projects as Rosnano, Skolkovo - all directions are good. Made the upper super part for development. But for this you need to create an environment. Because innovators are facing an environment that does not welcome them with open arms. In terms of investments in nanotechnologies, Russia is the second in the world after England. So it is necessary to do everything else, as they have.

- What are the problems of promoting innovative projects?

I want our top decision-makers to make a comparative table on one piece of paper: they put the developing states of Europe, Japan, China, America into it and compare with us how we differ for the worse. They determined where we have a problem, and would level us before joining the WTO.

- On what points should you compare?

Yes, for everyone. Taxes, credits, networks, communications, obscure people may or may not break into the company. Let's see in which developed country it is allowed to break into business: it is prohibited everywhere if the company's activities are not recognized as a threat to the state. Everything else - please, through the court. There are no such repressive measures anywhere. I would simply equalize the conditions for growing a business and try to take the best from foreign experience. And hard implemented.

- But after all, what is good for the Chinese is death for the Russian?

Is not a fact. Business is international, has no borders. We constantly talk about the Russian mentality, our man is used to thinking that he is lazy, a parasite and a loafer. Why play on the worst sides? We need to show the best people. And in our media, they constantly show the bad and the negative. What do we want to educate in the youth?

- The second wave of the crisis is approaching - what new threats do you consider?

The biggest thing I fear is the panic that could start in banks or somewhere else, and the actions that government officials are taking are not at all market-oriented, in my understanding. Instead of asking enterprises what to do to make it easier for you to overcome the crisis. Not giants and not monsters of raw materials, but those who strive for high technologies. Just people who live and work in the country: what can be done to make them survive the crisis comfortably.

We are accustomed to the fact that new technologies are created either by order of large companies, or on the basis of old, still Soviet research institutes. But we are not accustomed to the fact that an individual owner of an average company builds his business on the inventions of new technologies - this is not customary in Russia. Aleksey Goncharov, the owner of Uralplastic-N, on the contrary, has been hiring technologists throughout his commercial career in order to then produce something that did not exist on the market before.

A man builds his own factory. A large plant - several workshops with brand new equipment are being mounted with might and main in the suburbs of Yekaterinburg. Polymer film will be made here. The plot is not romantic, because the packaging is not Gagarin's flight to Mars or the search for the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider. Nevertheless, the person in question is building a plant with his team, trying to apply all modern knowledge in technology and modern logistics.

Prior to that, he also enthusiastically made hot-melt powders, processed metallurgical waste, sewed clothes, and traded. He forms his picture of the world in the course of a clash of interests between his work and the surrounding reality. Very masculine, I must say.

And, by the way, about romance: he already has one plant, and there he just converted the Japanese line, which previously produced film for the space industry, to the production of packaging film. Because the country does not need much space film, and products are packed every day.

The name of the man Alexey Goncharov, he is the owner of both factories and an extremely rare worldview in our country - entrepreneurial. We talked with Alexey almost the whole day - in the office, at the old enterprise, on a trip around Yekaterinburg, at a plant under construction. And all the time there was a feeling that it was not me who was interviewing him, but he himself wanted to show me his picture of the world: he instantly moved from private things to generalizations, and I had only to write down.

About money out of thin air

“I started completely from scratch. Textile first. They sewed everything: clothes, curtains. He hired people at home, then ateliers, then even large garment factories. Sold in the markets, from cars, through shops. This is the year 90-91.

In those years, there were people who produced something, but did not know how to sell it. On the other hand, there was a shortage. And I saw where to sell. Then the minimum return was 150%, no matter what you do. And it was 1000%.

Well, how does it happen ... You sit at a cup of tea with a man, he says to you: “There is an interesting direction. The problem is to buy and bring such and such a fabric. If we succeed, we can earn 500%”. There is a queue for the material a year ahead, besides, the fabric manufacturer is a monopolist, and very corrupt. And I selected such options according to which we took this material even without money.

An entrepreneur can make money out of thin air, the main thing is to be able to calculate a million options and risks ... I went by myself and developed without anyone's help.

About education

- For Russia, the institute is not a ticket to life. I graduated from the institute with a degree in economics-management, but it doesn’t matter, this education is not applicable to real life, only systemic thinking, which is brought up at the institute, is applicable. My parents gave me more: I was brought up among engineers, scientists, leaders, and my family set boundaries that I do not cross.

It’s probably something else that’s bad: in my life I worked as an employee for only a few months, but it’s better to work in the system first so as not to reinvent the wheel later. I was already making good money at the very beginning, but I also lost a lot, because the market is not a barrel of honey. There are profits, but there are also losses. If at that time there was experience or senior comrades, then I would have gone even faster and managed money more profitably.

About the personal chauffeur

- I drive myself. Not because I love it, but because I don’t see the need for a personal driver. I have a Swiss acquaintance, a billionaire, he also thinks so. I don't know if he even has a company car.

About motivation

— I don't feel like a rich person, and money is not my main interest. I am an inquisitive and sociable person, and there is a sea of ​​information around. An employee worked for us, whose nephew was engaged in science. The main theme was to create microorganisms that process human waste. And I suggested to him: "Will you pick up a band?"

Well, they began to work. Then I saw that the scientists were not fully loaded, and I started throwing more mundane topics at them. Then we developed a polyamide hot-melt adhesive powder for the clothing industry, which was imported from Europe, and a number of structural polyamides for mechanical engineering. This project was completed within a year. That's how I got into the chemical industry. God lends a hand, you need to grab it.

It was high chemistry - workshops, equipment, an institute was found in the Baltic states that designed cryogenic mills - to make fine polyamide powder. Then I exhausted everyone here so that they would bring the car to mind - at Uralmash, at the Novator Design Bureau, at the optical-mechanical plant ... The equipment was very complicated. And then I drove everyone away, since they apparently can only make rockets, and I was horrified at how they make them. We have improved the technology ourselves, and as long as there was a textile industry in Russia, I, one might say, was the king. And then our country decided that things needed to be imported from China and Turkey.

About risks

— Probably, I was one of the first who began to import high-tech raw materials for new products. And we began to do what the market needs - packaging. "Uralplastic" is an old plant, there are buildings here from the 41st year. Y-yes, you need to repair all the time ... In the mid-90s, there were good technologists here. But they did not have the approaches that the market required. The plant worked by inertia, making raw materials and the so-called consumer goods - basins, toys, film for greenhouses. Wage debts and theft - everything was dragged to the market.

The plant belonged to workers, two and a half thousand people. I bought shares from them. If I hadn’t bought it, I don’t know what would have happened: the bandits, together with the policemen, began to tear them apart.

Buying was difficult, literally at the risk of life. Either I took the enterprise and stopped the persecution of it, or I would not be there by now. But I had professional assistants: lawyers, PR people, securities specialists. When you get involved in this, your people must be smarter than those who oppose them.

About loans

- I became the owner, and we revived the Japanese line, which the plant acquired back in perestroika and used to produce materials for space suits. And they bought equipment - with their own money and venture capital money of acquaintances. Because it was unrealistic to build a manufacturing business on bank loan rates in those distant 90s and early 2000s, and even today I consider rates from 10 to 18% unbearable for production. After all, business in Russia is mainly based on monopoly companies, and not on small and medium-sized businesses, which are the consumers of everything new.

In total, tens of millions of dollars had to be spent on equipment. In addition, there was a housing stock, in which at that time not a single employee of the enterprise lived, and in order to get rid of it, we also had to give a lot of money to the state. Instead of investing in production, in addition to taxes, I financed the repairs of heating mains and other nonsense not related to the plant.

About philosophy

- When I came to Uralplastic, I had to deal with massive theft and incompetence. I already knew then who was capable of what, because everything was built on units of people. Now, on average, our employee earns a thousand bucks a month. And sometimes two or three, it all depends on them.

The basic philosophy of production should be this: there are no people in production. People should only be in the service: to teach, to make repairs, to work in shops, in restaurants, to engage in applied science, to trade, to build and, in general, to do what the main population in the world does. If we want to have a lot of quality and cheap goods, everything must be automated and work without people. Then there will be a gigantic offer in the service and services market.

We have the opposite. I’m building a plant right now, you can’t buy anything here, I bring everything from abroad, and there are no quality contractors, everything is redone several times.

Look, in Scotland, the state budget for 60% consists of services and services, despite the fact that they extract oil from the sea. Oil, apparently, is harmful to the country, because the muscles are overgrown with fat.

Let's look at the entire value chain from oil to the final product: if a barrel of oil costs, say, $110, then at the end of the chain I buy polymer raw materials for one and a half thousand euros per kilogram, and paint for 6-9 thousand euros. This chain is worth billions. And the brains, and the absence of corruption. If there is corruption, it destroys this chain.

About the Asian mentality

“Sometimes you forget that we are an Asian country — you put in a new technology, but the market is not ready yet. People are very conservative, and this, of course, reflects on them, as manufacturers are afraid to bring new and better products to the market. Well, we, of course, sometimes manage to introduce all the most modern things only ten years after the West, since the consumer is not ready. It seems to me that the educational role of the state is very important here.

In competition, we have such a "Chinese" mentality. No one invents, but only sees what others are doing well. As soon as we launched, such enterprises began to open one after another, only six such enterprises opened not far from us. A person opens an enterprise, thinks: “I will trade in 100% dumping, I will wait until all competitors die”. This is business in Russian.

About polymers

- The packaging itself is not interesting to me, it just fell into my hands. My interest is to create a company that does not just make new products, but forms the market, bringing Russia closer in technology to the developed world states.

Now the task is to make new Russian raw materials for petrochemistry. All modern technological raw materials are produced abroad, and we want to make our own. What is needed for this? Add some substances to the composition of polymers - titanium dioxide, nanoclays, and a lot of things, up to 50 components. The additive must be properly selected to give exactly the properties that the consumer needs, reducing the thickness, or adding barrier properties, or something else that the customer wants, which is impossible to achieve with conventional raw materials - this is nanotechnology. We can make the film 20-30% thinner than what is on the market. There is less waste to the environment and less raw materials. Plus new areas of application.

It just seems that all films are the same - they have different permeability for gases, for fats, heat resistance, strength ... Take the well-known polyethylene: it is a sieve, it is permeable to acids, gases, fats, chemistry. There is a theme when all of our favorite products are packaged in a material that is permeable to fats. And now the fats penetrate into it and pull the paint and glue into the product. Why do we have such products? Because they try to stuff them with chemicals in order to keep them longer - chemicals are cheaper than good packaging. In general, if you understand the packaging, you can determine whether you are buying chemicals or a healthy live product.

About new projects

— We also produce high-quality noise and thermal insulation materials. Now they are becoming more and more popular, they are environmentally friendly and really make life more comfortable. They are produced on the basis of foamed polyethylene and polypropylene approved for contact with food and are also modified with our additives. And in this direction we have the most advanced team in Russia.

Since the beginning of the year, we have already been producing nanomaterials, but at the new enterprise we will turn around to the fullest! We have a scientific group of six people. We also give something to outsourcing, but when you need to develop a technology, outsourcing it is like going to the square and shouting how I do it. Moreover, all the Ural factories that produce packaging are 100% staffed by my staff. Well, let them use it.

There is no serial equipment in our business. Everything is unique. This is the work of our scientists, Finnish, Canadian, German. We give the terms of reference, and then the manufacturers make it according to our order. There is, of course, an option to buy the same extruder, for example, as from Uralplastic. They will sell you, but without technology you will get a pile of iron.

At the new plant, I put the technology that should be. In the old place, I have to demolish everything for this, but I cannot stop production.

About Rosnano

- I believe that the birth of Rosnano is just a cry from the heart: "Let's do something!". The idea is very good - to pull out the science and technologies that still exist in the country. Yes, their money is difficult and hard to get, but this is one of the few real opportunities for small and medium businesses to find financing for a high-tech project. But Rosnano is not only money, it is resources for lobbying at the state level, product promotion, assistance in standardization, and much more necessary for development. Our project is 2.3 billion rubles in total investment. Without Rosnano, I probably would not have been able to attract such investments. And it is important that this is money for small and medium-sized businesses. After all, the average business in the world is up to a billion dollars. There is an example in the USA when a company with a turnover of 30 billion dollars was recognized as a medium-sized business, since it was not a monopolist and did not determine prices in the market.

About customs

— The laws under which our customs operates are now the main brake on the development of Russian business. Here they introduced a zero duty for the import of equipment, but at the same time imposed such rules that foreigners draw pieces of paper for two months in order to bring me equipment here. And I'm scratching my head. The spare part costs $50, and the person there has to write papers on it for two weeks. What are these laws?

We buy paint for 10 euros per kilogram, it is in alcohol, and it occurred to someone that I could drive vodka out of it and sell it. And now they supply us with special paint, obviously more expensive!

The lion's share of raw materials used in industry is imported from abroad. But at the same time, this raw material is subject to huge duties. Moreover, in many cases, it is much cheaper to import finished products.

We have to change our minds now. Here we are recruiting young people, many have already spoiled the views of bureaucratic earnings.

I heard that Medvedev wants to cut officials by a certain percentage, but in my understanding, they need to be cut ten times. Then the best people, entrepreneurs will come to us. Now there are no physical people.

About traffic jams

- In Yekaterinburg, even if three cars remain, they will stand in traffic jams: logistics and Russia are incompatible things. I solved the issue of logistical decoupling around my enterprise, invited a specialist from Turkey, who dealt with these issues in many cities around the world. He sat with video cameras for four days, and wrote in his resume: incorrectly adjusted traffic lights, turns in the wrong place, the wrong number of lanes, the number of parking lots.

So you say that in Moscow they were obliged to equip each house under construction with a parking lot, but everything remained on paper. Well, let's look at this poor man who decided to build a building. He came, they say to him: not a question, there is a design institute. And they overestimate the price tag three times. Then you will pay everyone for a piece of land, for communications, and then about parking ... Yes, he thinks: “Come on, I’d rather give the “cabbage” on my hand - and no parking”. Because you still need to make money.

About the security forces

Have you seen so many police abroad anywhere? No. But we have young guys there, with arms and legs. And they stand on the streets, degrading. Although the former police lawlessness is already in the past. Earlier, for example, a person from the UNP came to me, the largest taxpayer in the region, directly for negotiations and demanded some documents.

Now there is no such thing. As long as it doesn't come back, of course. But they continue to believe that "these steal": “What is he doing there? Is the company developing? Bastard! And from whom “they steal”, they don’t think - am I stealing from myself?

About newspapers

I have almost completely stopped reading newspapers. After all, what do they write? "Entrepreneur raped a schoolgirl". Not a criminal, but an entrepreneur! Then you look at what kind of businessman he is, and he has one kiosk. Well, what is your opinion about business? In the West, people's faces are different, but ours are tense, because they are fed with this cheap farce, a stream of negativity is rushing from the screens.

About Russia from the outside

- I am a man of peace and labor, I have no attachment, I live where I work. And I spend my holidays on a motorcycle, on a golf course, on skis. I have a Honda and a Harley, both road builders. I traveled almost all over the world, sometimes with a company, sometimes alone.

From abroad, Russia is visible at a glance. In Africa, I discovered, for example, that Russians and Africans are very close in mentality: a Russian person would get everything by himself without working.

And I'm still trying to understand what Russia's mission is. And I came to the conclusion: to always be in a spare convoy. As soon as development begins, someone appears who pulls us aside. And now there is a chance to send all advisers and catch up with the development of the state. A lot of work, but realistic, because our market is empty - there is so much to rebuild. (Points to the dilapidated unpainted fences near the same unpainted log houses in the suburbs of Yekaterinburg.) Actually, that's it! What other country has such a buzz in the development and application of knowledge and ambitions?

Alexey Torgashev