TSC Group Corporation: High Business Technology
Baurzhan Ospanov, Chairman of the Supervisory Board at TSC Group Corporation, answers the questions by our magazine
Biographical note. Ospanov, Baurzhan, born 12 March 1968 in Zhylandy, Taldy-Kurgan Oblast. Kazakh. Graduated from Almaty Energy Institute (Electric Stations and Substations); Kazakh State Academy of Management (International Economic Relations). Awarded the Shapagat Medal. Married with three children.
Mr Ospanov, we know TSC Group Corporation as a large integrated company that has been active in the industrial and financial sectors in Kazakhstan for 12 years. Its business relies on the latest technology, long-term planning and efficient partner ties with leading foreign and domestic companies. What projects can you name as milestones in the development of TSC Group Corporation?
It’s correct, we have never confined our activity to any one segment of the market. Now our core business is expanded to cover science-intensive technology, power, logistics, services in the oil industry, building and agribusiness. In recent years we have been focusing on investment projects. I should mention one of them in which we have invested somewhere in the order of $30 million. We made a purchase contract with the U.S. ?I? Industries Inc. in July 2002 for the UBM universal building machines which are absolutely unknown in the CIS. A special thing about this transaction is that the Americans who own a converted military technology had never dealt with the private sector before, and it was TSC Group Corporation that became their first private partner. In my opinion, their choice of our company is a serious recognition of our progress and that of Kazakh business in general.
Could you tell us a bit more about that building technology?
A UBM system is a mini-plant mounted on wheels, capable of computer-aided generation of architectural and engineering solutions and producing up to a thousand square metres of metal structures a day.
These frameless arch sheet-mill structures can be used easily in industrial, communal and residential buildings, from hangars and vegetable stores to supermarkets and sport and recreational facilities.
The technology allows construction to be speeded up by 20 times and the cost to be cut down by 30-40%. Just imagine: a trained crew of 10-12 people can erect a building with an area of 1,000 square metres in just a week, not to mention excellent strength, heat insulation and a fifty-year guarantee!
Two UBMs are already in use in Kazakhstan, and we have been awarded a number of building contracts in Aktau and Atyrau.
How do you explain the fact that most of your company’s projects are concentrated in the power industry?
The explanation is simple. We have a power industry background, and from the very beginning our main interest has been with this sector. Our company has built up a long-standing expertise and finally emerged as a nationwide leader. In recent years we constructed or repaired over 2,000 km of high-voltage transmission lines. A plant has been set up in Moscow which now manufactures protection equipment for the power industry challenging the best overseas designs. Currently we fully supply the demand for these items in Kazakhstan and export them to other CIS countries. We have also embarked on the production of polymeric insulation materials and personal equipment for the power and other industries.
You’ve mentioned a plant in Moscow; could you elaborate on co-operation between TSC Group Corporation and its international partners?
Our projects grew up to the international scale years ago. As a recent example, in December last year our company co-founded the Kazakh-German Bent-Fosslo which now produces railway sleepers with flexible fastening using German technology. This facility has an annual capacity of 600,000 sleepers and is the sole manufacturer of this product in the CIS. To date it has received enough orders to support high-rate production for a year ahead.
Just a few days ago we signed an agreement establishing a Kazakh-Polish-Ukrainian venture, TSC-Telefonika-Enei, which will manufacture self-bearing insulated cables using the technology of Tele-Fonika, a European leader in this sector.
While putting the main effort into expanding our own production assets, we maintain long-standing partnership with renowned companies such as ABB, Siemens, Taiko Electronics, KLF, Lukro, Moscow Electric Works and others so that we can exchange the latest information on process optimisation.
Another field of active international co-operation for our company is agricultural technology. Our branch, TSC Agro, introduces modern innovation solutions and research results together with experts from the Netherlands, Turkey, Italy and Germany. Several varieties of cereals which TSC AGRO had developed for Kazakhstan’s agroclimatic conditions were included in the European register of green-labelled products. We have crop and animal production in the western and southeastern regions of the country and export 80% of the produce. TSC Group Corporation became the first Kazakh company to supply maize to Iran.
Tell us please about the activities of TSC Group Corporation in the oil industry, the mainstay of Kazakh economy.
Our activities in the oil sector are based on long-term arrangements. Presently we are implementing a number of investment projects and carrying out research in the fields of auxiliary technology and oil recovery improvement. This work is being done in partnership with authorities from ChevronTexaco, Agip, Tengizchevroil, Sibneft and other oil companies.
As to fuels and lubricants, our customers are the Kazakh Ministry of Defence and the National Companies Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, KazTransOil, KEGOC and Kazatomprom. For a more distant future we are planning to purchase promising oil fields and open representative offices of large Russian manufacturers in Kazakhstan.
The history of TSC Group Corporation is a story of success. What lies behind the company’s brilliant performance at all times?
Firstly, we have always worked for the future and never sacrificed our long-term interests in pursuit of instant gain.
Secondly, experience and professionalism are the backbone of any sustainable business partnership, and we have both. Our highly qualified staff have scientific degrees and upgrade their skills under overseas programmes on a regular basis. On the whole, our big company – some 4,000 people – can rightly be called a strong and friendly team committed to common goals. And we make every effort to keep abreast of international quality requirements in production and management alike.
Table of contents
Innovative Strategy for Industrial Development in Kazakhstan: the First Phase Adilbek Dzhaksybekov
Karachaganak’s Day Has Come Boris Zilbermints
TSC Group Corporation: High Business Technology Baurzhan Ospanov
Quality Management at Bogatyr Access Komir Dennis C. Price
Developing Law for Nature Resources Use in Kazakhstan in the Context of Industrial Development Gulsara Edilbaeva
Recent Developments of Regulatory Framework of Doing Business in Kazakhstan Aigoul Kenjebayeva, Yuliya Mitrofanskaya
New Land Code is the Centerpiece of Agriculture Reform in Kazakhstan Zhaniya B. Ussen, Zarina S. Umerbayeva
