On site in Kamaz

A lighthouse shines right across from Gate 39. As tall as the workers at the plant, it is ringed with red and white stripes. The bright, revolving light on top flashes down the giant hall every second. “We want to keep getting better,” says Kadirov Rinat. “That is what the lighthouse is there to remind us of.” The Deputy Head of Cab Assembly has also pinned the symbol to the collar of his gray work coat. Around him, the 800-meter hall is humming with activity. Dominated by a 240-me- ter cab assembly line, it is where each shift 140 workers turn out the latest batch of Kamaz’s heavy trucks – the classic cars of the Russian commercial vehicle market.

Straight from the drawing board

The manufacturing structure and supply of workers in Naberezhnye Chelny has grown since Kamaz was founded almost 40 years ago. Without Kamaz, there would be no Naberezhnye Chelny, which is now the second largest city in the Republic of Tatarstan. In the mid-1960s there was a large demand for heavy trucks in the Soviet Union. Working with computer analysis, state economic planners calculated the ideal manufacturing location: Naberezhnye Chelny on the Kama River – a central transport hub in the heart of Russia easily accessible from all major land, air and water routes.

This governmentled plan envisioned an essentially self-sufficient factory for trucks and buses: from 1976 onwards, Kamaz made everything under one roof, guaranteeing that the factory would always be able to meet production targets. The only things that were not made at the factory were standard components like screws, nuts and washers. The state government determined what would appear on the market and three models went into production: a flat bed truck, a tractor unit and a dump truck. At its peak, the plant turned out more than 160,000 vehicles each year, making Kamaz one of the largest makers of commercial vehicles in the world.

Then, in 1990, the Soviet Union collapsed, plunging Kamaz into a profound upheaval of its own. It became one of the first state-owned companies to be converted into a joint-stock company. But during the first decade of the new millennium, Kamaz took advantage of the global upswing in the commercial vehicle industry to forge new product alliances and was able to triple the number of new trucks sold. Today the company from Tatarstan lists itself as the eleventh-biggest maker of commercial vehicles worldwide, and the eighth-biggest maker of diesel engines. Kamaz employs 45,500 workers in its 96 plants, 13 of which are large-scale factories.

The former state monopolist has long since integrated outsourcing and its own subsidiaries into its production and supply chains. So much so, that a new industrial park has sprung up around Kamaz with close to 100 different supply companies. “We use the best components the automotive industry has to offer. That puts Kamaz in a very good position on the global market,” says Sergej Kogogin, General Director of Kamaz. “Quality assurance is writ large here,” emphasizes Rinat.

Strengthening ties

It is this dedication to quality that has enabled ZF and Kamaz to work together so successfully since the mid-1990s. In 2005 the partnership was further strengthened with a new, enduring foundation: ZF Kama. Since its founding, the joint venture from Kamaz (49 percent) and ZF (51 percent) has produced around 11,000 Ecomid and Ecosplit truck transmissions at the 4,000-sq m plant in Naberezhnye Chelny. Rolf Lutz, Executive Vice President, responsible for Commercial Vehicle Technology, sees ZF Kama as a further step in implementing the company’s internationalization strategy: “ZF has taken a decisive step in penetrating the market in Russia and has now gained an optimal position in a growth market with the market leader.”

“The plant has a similar layout and structure to a comparable production line in Friedrichshafen.” A mechanical engineer, Pastushenko completed his doctorate in Germany before returning to Russia to set up a new production line with 60 workers to manufacture ZF transmissions. The installations and equipment all came from Germany.

For Pastushenko, this top-level technology goes hand in hand with an ambitious goal: “We ensure consistent quality through standardized designs, processes and tools. ”Pastushenko sees this as a continuous, dynamic process, which is why he has hung ZF Kama’s motto in a prominent place outside the door to his office: “We won’t stay good if we don’t con- stantly strive to be better.”