Vladislav Ovchinsky spoke about electric cars, sausage and medicines made in the capital

The Moscow industry coped with the negative scenario caused by the departure of foreign companies. This conclusion made the city authorities, summing up the results of 2022. What makes it possible to talk about it? And in general, what place do plants and factories occupy today in the city, which until recently was predicted to become a purely business, financial and cultural center, but by no means a place for the development of various industries? The correspondent of "RG" talks about this with the head of the department of investment and industrial policy of Moscow, Vladislav Ovchinsky.

Sausage is being sold for yuan

— Vladislav Anatolyevich, contrary to pessimistic forecasts that the industry of the capital will stop after the departure of foreign companies, has there even been an increase in production at the enterprises of the city?

— Yes, in almost every respect. The index of industrial production is growing at a good pace. Light industry, food enterprises, microelectronics – all finished the year with a plus. Revenue from manufactured products has grown, but if skeptics can explain this by rising prices and inflation in general, then an increase in the shipment of goods is indisputable evidence of the growth of Moscow industry. What else pleases? Increased investment activity in the industry. For 31 large-scale projects since the beginning of 2022, the city has approved the allocation of more than 180 ha of land, on which investors will build various production facilities. They will give Muscovites over 19,000 new jobs. I confess that under the sanctions we were very worried about non-commodity exports. However, were able to quickly shift from unfriendly countries to supplies in friendly. As a result, exports even grew, and foreign exchange earnings from our products did not fall.

— And what does Moscow now supply abroad?

— Moscow manufacturers of food and processing industry products are actively increasing deliveries not only in the developed markets of friendly countries, but also opening up new export destinations in Latin America, East Asia and Africa. The capital's food products, in particular pasta, confectionery flour products, are in the greatest demand. Moreover, we even bring sausages, other meat products, and dairy products to China, despite very strict standards for everything that this country buys for domestic consumption. In addition to food products, cosmetic products are popular in foreign markets, namely, make-up and skin care products and dental hygiene products. Buyers from the CIS countries buy them most actively.

Moskvich and Muscovites

– The only industry that sank in the capital is the automotive industry. This is connected, as is known, with the departure of the Renault Company, whose plant in Moscow was the locomotive of the automotive industry. However, its restoration is now actively underway: only seven months have passed since the restart of the renovated Moskvich plant, and the first cars have already gone on sale. It was possible to restart the enterprise so quickly, primarily because the city retained the most valuable thing – the team, qualified personnel.

— Moscow had considerable experience in the automotive industry. It produced a huge number of "Moskvich", trucks ... But that was so long ago! How realistic are the new plans?

— I'll make a short historical digression. During the Soviet Union, the industry consisted of several large car factories and many individual productions of auto components scattered throughout the country – not only in Russia, but also in the republics. In the early 2000s, most of them closed. It became cheaper for foreign enterprises that came to Russia to import auto components from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, China, even from Latin America. Now, realizing that with such dependence on the West, on unfriendly countries, we will not get far, we have chosen a different logic in principle – the development of the automotive industry in the city and adjacent regions of the Russian Federation. Existing production facilities are not included in the reorganization program. Industrial enterprises are modernized, but not closed.

— Is it still a question of making Moscow the capital of electric vehicle building in Russia?

— Yes, an intersectoral cluster of electric vehicles based on the Moscow Innovation Cluster to develop new technologies and organize mass production of passenger electric vehicles, electric trucks and electric buses. It brings together 40 research, production and other organizations. Let me explain why we rely on electric vehicles. The whole world is now refusing internal combustion engines. The most obvious and understandable reason is the environment. However, there are other purely economic reasons as well. Building an electric car is much easier and cheaper. The internal combustion engine is the most complex part of a car and is incomparably more expensive than an electric battery. In addition, electric vehicles are much easier to maintain, plus electricity is cheaper in itself – both its production and sale. As a result, not only manufacturers will bear less costs, but also Muscovites who will buy these cars and drive them.

— Does Moscow intend to establish the production of electric batteries?

— Yes, we will create a plant in the city that will produce the main element of an electric car. So far, there are no such full–fledged production facilities with the quality we need on the territory of the Russian Federation. The Moscow government has already signed an order on holding a competition among investors who will take up the organization of deep localization of the production of electric batteries for both electric vehicles and electric buses. We need not only the encapsulation of batteries, but also the domestic production of all the materials necessary for their production – cathode, anode and other components. The winners of the competition, in turn, will receive the main thing – the city will undertake the obligation to purchase their products within a guaranteed period.

There are no indispensable on the market

— The intersectoral cluster of electric vehicles is not the first in the capital. Why are city authorities betting on clusters?

— Cooperation between investments and personnel within intersectoral clusters makes it possible to form full-fledged industrial chains, stimulates companies to search for new technologies and release new products. A good example of such work in Zelenograd is that a traditional microelectronics center is also becoming a center for pharmaceuticals. The largest players in the domestic pharmaceutical market are not only creating production sites there, but also building large pharmaceutical plants. Moscow signed the first offset contract with Biocad in 2017. In September 2020, it put into operation the first phase of the pharmaceutical plant on the territory of the Technopolis Moscow Special Economic Zone, and the second phase in September 2022. This allowed us to guarantee the provision of medicines to thousands of Muscovites, including those in preferential categories. And this is not the only offset contract under which the city is already creating its own chemical compounds, its own medicines. An analysis of the pharmaceutical market for possible import substitution, conducted last year, helped form proposals for new offset contracts for the production of over 80 more completely different drugs that are required for the treatment of oncological, cardiological, neurological and other diseases that were previously supplied to Moscow exclusively for abroad. In the very near future, competitions for their localization will be announced, and I have no doubt that in a short time new enterprises will appear in the city to produce drugs that the citizens need. That is why we are more calmly accepting the statements of international pharmaceutical companies about leaving the Russian market.

— More than 3.500 production sites are already operating in the capital, while new ones continue to appear. What are these enterprises? Do they find their niche in the market?

— A variety of enterprises – both in scale and structure. Moscow has always been famous for its willingness to help good entrepreneurial initiatives. There is, for example, a service for localizing production. For those who want to organize their own production, he helps to rent, as a rule, a small site, where you can quickly start working. Very often, medium-sized and sometimes large ones grow out of such small enterprises. I visited one of these recently – I won’t name it, I’ll just say that it deals with passive photonics – an alternative to microelectronics that transmits information with a light flux. The guys grew up from a small enterprise and, in fact, in the second year it became a medium one for them. Now they supply their products both to our telecommunications companies, and also export to Latin America, Africa, and the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. In just two and a half years of the company's existence, the revenue reached RUB 5 bln. Why are we betting on electric vehicles? Not only because of the environment. Building an electric car is much easier and cheaper.

— And Zelenograd, which you called the center of microelectronics, how does it feel in the new conditions? What does he give to the city?

— Zelenograd is still remains the center of microelectronics. Not only the leading enterprises of the industry are located here, but also four sites of the special economic zone of the capital, where high-tech companies localized. These enterprises provide the city and regions of the country with the necessary products. Take at least the social card of a Muscovite. Previously, the chip on it was imported, but now ours, made in Zelenograd. The new card does its job just as well as the old one. Such factories as Mikron in Zelenograd are equal to the microelectronics of the whole country. In Moscow, thanks to its products, all domestic industries that produce radio electronics and household appliances continue to operate successfully. Previously, they bought abroad the microelectronics they needed. Now deliveries from some countries are closed to us. However, not a single enterprise ceased its activities because of this! Here it is, the very import substitution, which outwardly can not be noticed. And take the regulation of automobile traffic in the city? Everything that is creating in Moscow for the transport complex is based on domestic chips made in Zelenograd.

— How do demand and supply for land plots and production sites compare now? Will all interested investors be able to get them?

— For those who are engaged in real production, it will definitely be enough. Firstly, within the framework of the same offset contracts, we do not have the task of localizing everything on the territory of the city. We can do such localization in any subject of the Russian Federation according to the needs of our customer – our legislation allows us to implement such formats of interaction. For those who want to increase their production capacity in the city, we offer a wide range of tools. We have technology parks, a special economic zone, just land plots owned by the city. These plots can also be obtained after confirming the possibility of building production facilities. Therefore, we do not have a shortage of instruments; on the contrary, we are conducting a fairly serious information campaign to attract investors.

— There was another problem in the country last year – with packaging. How did Moscow cope with it?

— When the crisis arose in the economy, Sergei Semenovich Sobyanin paid great attention to meetings with the heads of industrial enterprises. I remember very well such a meeting at one of the meat processing plants, where they just talked about packaging. The situation was indeed assessed as critical, however, the crisis did not occur. Why? It turned out that many of our manufacturers did not see at their side products similar to those they imported from abroad. As a result, many simply changed suppliers. However, the event of a possible shortage prompted the Moscow government to decide on the transfer of land for the construction of its own plant for the production of packaging – an analogue of tetrapak. The investor came to us with ready-made technology. A lease agreement was concluded with him, the design of the enterprise is underway. At the same time, it was decided to provide a site for the construction of a new plant for the production of spices. It is important for us not only to replace foreign counterparts, we want to be independent even from friendly countries and therefore we are localizing production, for the products of which we have a capacious sales market.

Industrial Engineers Wanted

— I cannot help but ask how things are with personnel in the industry. Have the workshops been emptied by sanctions, partial mobilization?

— As I said, not a single enterprise stopped, including due to a lack of employees. At the same time, personnel have been and remain the number one issue for our industry at all times. Especially in two key categories – first of all, we always need an engineering staff, as well as good mid–level specialists. The flow of applicants to technical universities has recently increased significantly. And if not so long ago everyone wanted to become lawyers and economists, now there is hope that more and more engineers will be graduating. For our part, we actively support the training of an industrial engineer. To this end, a wonderful project "Moscow Technical School" was launched, which brings together enterprises and, it seems to me, all the leading federal universities in Moscow – MSTU. Bauman, MEPhI, Stankin, NAMI, Moscow State University and others. In two years, we have trained almost 600 communications and additive technology engineers as part of the project, and this work to train applied specialists will continue. We are also trying to make up for the shortage of mid-level specialists lost when vocational schools were closed not only in Moscow, but throughout the country, and instead colleges appeared, focused on graduating all the same lawyers and economists. Specialized colleges are now being set up in Moscow to graduate workers for production.

— Is the total number of 700.000 employed people in the industry preserved?

— Yes, but within this quantity two processes take place. The first is robotics. I recently visited, for example, a sewer pipe factory that struck me very much. There is something like that in the city. There are practically no people there. Due to robotization, of course, the demand for workers is declining. But at the same time, the need for narrow specialists of very high qualification is increasing. The Moscow Technical School, which I have already mentioned, is preparing such personnel for us. The task of selecting the necessary specialists for industrial enterprises is also solved by the Industry Support Center established last year. Employees transfer personnel issues received from our industrial enterprises to specialists in employment centers and interact with Moscow colleges. Thanks to such collaboration, young engineers come to the production facilities, who do their internship there and often stay there to work after. This is very similar to the system of training and distribution of personnel that existed during the Soviet Union.

— Capital enterprises are included in the online guide to industrial tourism of the country. However, Moscow itself is actively engaged in the regular holding of the Open#Mosprom campaign, within the framework of which Muscovites can see with their own eyes what the city's industry is like today. What explains such attention of the authorities to her?

— We launched the Open#Mosprom project in 2019. Over four years, more than 11 million people have become its participants. First of all, the project introduces everyone – children, schoolchildren and adults – to the work of the capital's industry. Tours allow you to become part of the production process, see how everyday goods are made, as well as innovative developments, for example, for the rocket and space industry. In addition, guests can taste the products that came off the assembly line and take part in master classes. The second, no less significant task is to attract young cadres. Show that modern industry is automated production, clean and modernized workshops. As well as an interesting job with the possibility of career growth and a good stable salary – on average, it is 86 thousand rubles. However, enterprises are still experiencing a shortage of specialists, they need young people. Industrial companies are looking for specialists in various fields: mechanical engineers, food or clothing production technologists, pharmaceutical chemists, agronomists and IT specialists.

— Renovation, which began five years ago in the capital, is increasingly capturing not only residential areas, but also industrial zones. Housing, social and cultural facilities are being built on the territories of former factories and plants, parks and squares are being laid out, and, well, business and office centers are somewhere there. Does it scare you that this limits the opportunities for industrial development and will ultimately lead to a decrease in jobs?

— Absolutely does not. Urban planning regulation in the city is very balanced. Existing production facilities are not included in the reorganization program. Industrial enterprises are modernized, but by no means closed. The key task of the renovation of industrial zones is to create not only a production potential, but also to make the territory comfortable for life. Is it normal when a person gets two – two and a half hours from home to work from one end of Moscow to the other?

— For the city, there is an extra burden on the transport infrastructure, and the company does not benefit from an employee who is already tired in the morning. The Moscow real production anti-crisis package includes about 80 support measures. Which of them do you think were the most useful?

— At the very beginning of the crisis, when the key rate of the Central Bank rose sharply, the most popular measure was to support revolving lending. The city then began helping to offset part of the interest rates for revolving loans. Thanks to this, many industrialists paid their employees on time and maintained the liquidity of enterprises. When the situation stabilized, the head of the city made a wise decision to transfer the financial resources of business assistance to the development of production capacities. Therefore, in the second half of last year, investment lending became the most popular type of financial assistance, which gave impetus to the implementation of new projects and the development of industrial sites.

— Summing up, how would you, Vladislav Anatolyevich, formulate the main task facing the Moscow industry in 2023?

— Last year, 2022, was for us under the slogan: "We invest in the future." However, that future, 2023, is already here. So it's time to wait for the return on investment.

Source: RG.RU