Spring. Voronezh. The meeting of generations.
At the end of March a meeting of generations took place at the Voronezh production site of the Unitile Group of Companies (Voronezh Ceramics, LLC), which gathered (taking into account the specific features of production) the management and the employees of Unitile, representatives of the Union of Builders of the Voronezh region and the veterans of the region’s construction industry.
The visit to Voronezh Ceramics, LLC began from the company's store, where the participants of the meeting became familiar with the products of the enterprise. And, one should admit, they were more than impressed.
After that the guests of Voronezh Ceramics, LLC moved to production, where they examined the Facing tiles line and saw the results of the largest modernization in the company’s history, which was implemented last year and pushed it to the ranking of one of the most progressive enterprises in the industry of today.
“Sometimes one needs to reminiscence that many industrial enterprises were closed in Voronezh during the post-perestroika years, and there is no more former economic power,” V.I. Astanin, Chairman of the Union of Builders of the Voronezh region said after the visit to Voronezh Ceramics, LLC. “Indeed, this fact took place in the past. But in recent years, a large number of modern enterprises have appeared in the region, where talented investors work, who were not afraid to invest in their development and they have achieved significant success. We have visited one of these enterprises today. I have already exchanged views on this with my colleagues. I remember our ceramic factory 10 years ago and the things it made. The factory 10 year ago and the factory of today are two incomparable things. Today, the company manufactures ceramic products that meet the European level of quality and their diversity is amazing.
After visiting Voronezh Ceramics, LLC, the representatives of the Unitile Group of Companies, management of the Union of Builders of Voronezh region and the veterans of the construction industry, met with teachers and students of the Voronezh State Technical University (VSTU) for a business conversation about the development of the construction industry, participation of future specialists in it and cooperation between the company and the university.
In the beginning of the meeting Vladimir Astanin noted,
"We are all interested to understand how a business in the industry of construction materials works today in Russia and if it is possible to make the products that have recently been imported only from abroad locally. I hope this meeting will not just remain in the memory of everyone, but also will serve as a start for many new ideas and projects."
Having told in detail about the situation in the market and about the work of the enterprises included into the Group of Companies, Sergey Klykov, General Director of Unitile, noted,
“We possess the best recipe for manufacture of ceramic ware in Russia, and, as I have just learned, the Voronezh Technical University has good production facilities and laboratories. I think that we will certainly cooperate in this respect. We have already had a conversation with the rector about joint work in the nearest future. In addition, like all productions, we are in need of highly qualified personnel. We have a great need for process engineers, designers, internal service specialists. But it is important to remember that the requirements to the qualification of the working personnel that should be able to operate robots are increasing every day.
“What are the prospects for young specialists to work at your enterprises, if the entire production is automated? “ one of the students asked in this respect.
“The young generation of today has quite different ambitions.” HR Director Tatyana Fedchenko said. “The young people have a completely different view about the world, they have their own idea of how to build a business. It is not a coincidence that that we launched the “Mentor” project just a few days ago in this respect. It involves working with high school students. Why do we need it? Because today, a business needs, on the one hand, highly qualified personnel, on the other hand — its initiative, innovation and desire to work in a team. Today these qualities are especially valuable. Therefore, we are interested in communicating with students. We have expertise, they have irrepressible energy, and it is a good idea to combine their ambitions and desires with our expertise and the expertise of representatives of the Veterans Council, established by the Voronezh region Union of Builders.
Tatyana Anatolyevna Fedchenko elaborated on this topic and assured the students of the following,
“You can be sure that when you come to our company, you will not live a monotonous and boring life. One should admit that changes, innovations, some pressure are inevitable, because it is difficult to work under the market conditions. But there will certainly be a constant involvement in the common undertaking and participation in the creation of the product that is highly respected throughout the world. And it will be interesting, inspiring and cool to make it. We love our product and look forward to meeting enthusiastic and devoted people at our production.”
As far as other methods of forming strong, technically competent team are concerned, as the HR Director explained, beginning from this year, the company launches the so-called students’ projects. They are aimed at organizing (on the basis of concluded contracts) training of the company’s employees in order to improve their qualification. In addition, the specialists of the company have the opportunity to participate in various projects, to make innovation proposals, and additional remuneration is stipulated for this.
V. V. Vlasov, Chair of Construction Materials Technology, Products and Structures Faculty of VSTU, raised an urgent problem. Today, the situation has emerged in our university when students majoring in construction receive personal scholarships. The organizations that pay these scholarships to the students of the second and the third year are construction companies. They do this because they know that after graduation these students will come to work to them. But other faculties do not have such opportunity. In this regard, Victor Vasilyevich asked the General Director of the Unitile Group of Companies whether it was possible to envisage scholarships for those students who would come to work in the ceramics production after graduation.
“In case of the positive resolution of this issue, we would all benefit from the common undertaking,” V.V. Vlasov said. “Students will have the opportunity to visit enterprises, which will undoubtedly help to enrich their knowledge. And in general, the unity of science and practice always brings positive results. Unfortunately, in recent years, due to the existing economic situation, the university trains only one to three specialists for ceramic productions per year. And just a few decades ago there used to be powerful student groups, there used to be a period of "strong ceramics" major, and for instance, Alexey Vasilyevich Malinov, First Deputy General Director of Voronezh Ceramics, LLC, studied during that period at the Voronezh Civil Engineering Institute. It makes a lot of sense to revive all this.
Sergey Klykov replied to the scientist's question positively. The Unitile Group of Companies supports scholarship programs. For instance, schoolchildren from socially vulnerable groups of the population and low-income families, who show good results in studies, sports or art, get decent scholarships every month.
Besides, the company holds regular competitions for designers, and the winners are awarded with cash prizes, and this is undoubtedly a token of support for talented young people.
“We have already discussed such forms of interaction with the rector of VSTU,” the General Director said. “The issue of payment of scholarships to promising students will be considered in our company. Besides, the possibility to organize contests for designers is also under consideration. I think that we will establish partnership with the university in this regard. This is in line with our development strategy.
Tatyana Fedchenko, in her turn, added that the Unitile Group of Companies was striving to involve as many students as possible into various educational activities. Interesting programs, internships at enterprises, conferences and etc. can be organized for them. These issues will be discussed in April during the upcoming meeting of company’s management with rector S. A. Kolodyazhny.
The participants of the roundtable concurred that the discussion that took place was clear, substantive and promising, and such interaction between business representatives, future young specialists and veterans of the construction industry was useful.
(Based on the materials from the Construction and Real Estate in the Voronezh Region newspaper)
