The founder of the Almaty Fan Plant called government incentives for industry “an ideologically correct tool.” According to Marat BAKKULOV, gratuitous support from the state allows enterprises to develop progressively.

At the beginning of April, a team of QazIndustry specialists visited the enterprise in the village of Koyankus, 30 km from Almaty, and got acquainted with the production process. As it turned out, the history of AVZ began in 2008 with... a small garage, one employee and 10 million tenge in profit per year. Now the manufacturer of advanced industrial ventilation systems earns 4 billion tenge per year and exports products to the world market.

“Our plant produces 50 thousand units of air conditioners and fans per year. In 2020, we opened a plant in Kazan to serve the CIS market. We are currently producing central air conditioners for the Kazakh LG. This is an air conditioning system designed for cooling, heating, ventilation and air purification in large rooms - offices, shopping centers, government agencies, hospitals. The plant employs 140 local workers and 40 foreign specialists,” says M. Bakkulov.

The operation of the enterprise is fully automated. The equipment here is the most advanced: from Germany and Italy. The plant's employees were trained to manage it abroad.

AVZ is proud to have exported its products to the UK. Kazakh fire valves for the oil and gas industry in England can withstand fire explosions and high temperatures for several hours.

The plant's most serious client is LG, for which AVZ produces cooling parts for refrigeration equipment. The company has been preparing for the production of such parts for three years. As M. Bakkulov noted, “LG forced us to change, because these are world standards, high technologies.”

Part of AVZ's costs for increasing labor productivity and introducing digital technologies was reimbursed by QazIndustry, for example, for the implementation of two Tru Laser and Tru Flow machines. They are designed for 2D laser cutting. The TruLaser has the advantage of very low operating costs and simple operation.

“Our plant has been cooperating with QazIndustry since 2012. The measures to stimulate industry provided by the center are the most effective mechanism for supporting enterprises. Cost recovery encourages them to adopt new technologies. Many small businesses do not have sufficient financial resources for digitalization. And the possibility of cost recovery allows them to decide to take such a step, and purchase high-quality and expensive equipment. Compensation measures also encourage the attraction of foreign specialists who train workers and improve their competence. Or to the implementation of the Kaizen system, which allows saving human and material resources. The National Institute of QazIndustry reimburses 40 to 50 percent of costs. This is an ideologically correct tool,” the entrepreneur believes.

The company plans to purchase an Italian automated warehouse management system, which will replace several stages of the technological process. The automated control system will make it possible to place components on shelves without losing them, as with human error, and will greatly speed up the technological process. This is artificial intelligence. I often travel to European factories and study foreign experience. We plan to reimburse part of our costs for the purchase of an Italian automated control system worth €179 thousand euros through QazIndustry.

“There is a shortage of educated technical personnel in the country. It takes a long time to train them, so most of our enterprises are forced to switch to process automation. And they should do it. Robots are replacing low-skilled labor. Competitiveness increases - products are manufactured faster and in larger volumes,” says M. Bakkulov.

The entrepreneur also intends to relocate his plant in Kazan to the UAE, and these are other possibilities. In this case, the products of the Kazakh enterprise will be even more recognizable on the world market.

“Government support is very important for start-up businesses. This way they can develop and expand. I recommend contacting QazIndustry for government incentive measures. This is free help. There is only one obligation - you need to increase your income. And in the case of modernization of production, part of the costs of which will be reimbursed to you, this is inevitable,” the entrepreneur concluded.