March 26, 2010
In the age of information technology, it may seem that people only work by pressing keyboard buttons and that managers are the most in-demand professionals. In reality, this is not the case. Skilled turners and milling operators are in short supply and held in high esteem. Our city has manufacturers that show a successful example of development in defiance of the crisis. One such company is ZAO NOTIS.
Commercial director Vladimir Plekhov explained how the company has managed to combine the best achievements of the Soviet past, cutting-edge modern technologies, and effective business solutions, while giving a newspaper correspondent a tour of the production facilities.
The vast premises are buzzing with activity: men in blue workwear and safety glasses turn knobs and levers on machines, peering intently at the parts being turned and milled. Despite the metal shavings around the machines and the noise, a purposeful order and sequence of processes is evident throughout.
— We provide a full production cycle, — says Vladimir Plekhov, — from design to assembly of finished equipment. We also develop our own electronics and software. However, it is impossible to do without imported components entirely. Microchips, semiconductors, resistors — we purchase all of these abroad; unfortunately, Russia has no electronics industry to speak of today. And Chinese components — having learned from unsuccessful experience — we try to avoid.
NOTIS manufactures machines for dosing and packaging various products, primarily food products. Everything we see in stores is packaged using equipment like ours. One of the company's largest customers — with whom it has grown side by side — is Sibirsky Bereg, the producer of the well-known Kirieshki crackers.
Packaging machines come in two types: vertical and horizontal. Vertical machines are designed for bulk products such as crackers: the product is fed in from above, portioned, dropped into packaging, and sealed. Horizontal machines work as a conveyor and are used for packaging individual items — bakery products, biscuits. Currently, for example, NOTIS is fine-tuning equipment for an Altai vitamin manufacturer: tablets are fed in, placed on edge, arranged in sets of ten, and packaged in film.
How are the machines born?
In the assembly shop, teams work on models under testing: equipment adjusters verify how a machine assembled from a drawing performs in practice, checking that all parts and mechanisms are precise. But a new unit is not born here — nor even in the design bureau — but in the commercial department.
— To start producing something, you need to know for certain whether there will be demand for it, — explains Vladimir Nikolaevich. — That is why the starting point of our work is gathering information, studying demand, and having the commercial department specialists communicate with potential customers. For this same purpose, we regularly participate in exhibitions in Moscow and other cities. The product range is then formed jointly with the design department. Sometimes the developers come up with something that does not yet exist on the market. We have many proprietary know-how solutions, registered inventions, and patents — which are not gathering dust on shelves, but have been implemented and are working.
We produce serial products, but work to order — meaning we adapt existing designs to the specific requirements of each enterprise. And these requirements differ for everyone, from ceiling heights to packaging dimensions. That is why each incoming order is processed by design department specialists. Then the process engineers determine the materials and components needed to fulfill the order. The procurement department supplies everything required. Only after this does the order enter actual production, which encompasses several work areas.
We produce our own metal and plastic blanks, paint, process, and assemble them. The only thing another company does for us — namely BEMZ — is galvanic coatings: nickel plating, chrome plating. Assembly area specialists build finished machines from drawings; these are mandatory tested and calibrated before delivery. But even after shipment to the customer, our cooperation does not end. Equipment installation, personnel training, warranty service (for two to three years) and post-warranty service — some of our machines have already been running for ten to twelve years — are also our responsibilities.
Machinist and innovator
The production shops of NOTIS are a harmonious union of people and machines.
Mechanical assembly fitter Viktor Tyurbeyev has been with the company for six years:
— I work here with pleasure and pride. Because we build equipment from scratch, and at the end we get finished machines that work reliably at dozens of facilities from Belarus to Kamchatka.
Milling operator Evgeny Sulimov, briefly stepping away from his machine, shared that he has been working here for nine years and brought his son along too:
— Here you can apply all your professional skills and creative drive, because we are constantly making something new — there is no hint of routine. Many newcomers cannot last even three days; not everyone can or wants to work at this pace. But those who do get into it, stay for a long time. The pay also matters — the situation here is stable.
— Our company has around 200 people, — continues Vladimir Plekhov. — Building a professional team and creating comfortable conditions for work and development are very important things. Our core workers are machine operators, and a good machine operator has always been hard to find. The work is demanding — on your feet all day.
To make working more comfortable and pleasant, we opened our own canteen where cooks prepare lunches for our staff from the freshest produce bought at the market. A full three-course meal here costs around 30–50 rubles. To keep workwear clean — each worker has two sets — a laundry and drying room has been organized. And of course, we provide shuttle transport to and from work for employees from Berdsk and Iskitim.
Since 2005, the company has operated an employee suggestion scheme. This means any employee can submit a proposal for improving a process or design, receive a bonus after commission approval, and see their idea put into practice in the near future. In our practice, around 95% of approved suggestions are implemented in production.
Perhaps the most outstanding proposal came from equipment adjuster Vladimir Migulyev (who now works in the commercial department): he suggested modifying the program of a packaging unit, which increased productivity on 1-kilogram doses from 35 to 55 bags per minute. For this, the innovator received a bonus of 15,000 rubles. But the main point here is not even the economic factor — it is the understanding that our well-being, both the company's and its workers', depends on everyone and on each individual.
For reference:
ZAO NOTIS is a manufacturing company founded in 1992. Its product range includes horizontal packaging machines, automatic filling and packaging machines, dosers with unique self-calibration algorithms and high-level software, and electronic units for various weighing systems and multi-component dosing systems. The company is among the top five packaging equipment manufacturers in Russia.