DRESSTA in Kazakhstan: proved over time!
Mr. Wieslaw Jakobik, Sales Director of DRESSTA Co Ltd., answers questions from Invest Kazakhstan.
Mr. Jakobik, could you please introduce DRESSTA to our readers?
DRESSTA Company Ltd. is a joint marketing company of Huta Stalowa Wola S.A. a major Polish manufacturer of earth-moving, road construction and mining equipment, and its partner Komatsu America Corporation (USA). We are also engaged in product development and the procurement of imported components.
The main objective of our company is a worldwide marketing and product support of construction equipment manufactured in Huta Stalowa Wola S.A. plants. In addition, we supply components for production, imported from the USA and Western Europe.
The board and the headquarters of the company are located in Stalowa Wola, Poland, on the territory of Huta Stalowa Wola (HSW) plant, one of our shareholder with whom we closely cooperate in each field of our business activity. HSW was founded in 1937 and formerly specialized in producing military equipment. Following improvements in East West international relations the plant has gradually reoriented to manufacturing construction and mining machinery.
I would like to point out that HSW was one of the first major Central European industrial enterprises to enter into co-operation and license agreements with well-known Western European and American companies such as Jones Cranes Ltd. (1969), Stetter GmbH (1970), Coles Cranes Ltd. (1971) and Clark Equipment Co. (1972).
The agreement with International Harvester Co. (IHC), signed in 1972, radically enhanced the ensuing development of HSW.
This was a forward-looking decision by HSW’s management, which enabled the company to become one of the leading Central European manufacturers of world-class equipment. The plants, included now in the big holding company has been manufacturing 97-415 hp rubber tyred wheel loaders, 70-520 hp crawler dozers, and pipe layers of 33-100 tonnes lifting capacity.
In early 1980’s the American party IHC who granted a license and signed co-operation agreement, was replaced by its successors Dresser Industries and Komatsu America International Company, which have both become partners of HSW. Consequently, HSW’s technical capabilities and production standards have not only been maintained at high level, but, even further developed. Very active marketing of DRESSTA, as well as established good relations with customers, ensure steady growth of sales of products.
How long have you been supplying equipment to Kazakhstan?
Kazakhstani customers have know STALOWA WOLA construction machines for over 20 years. The best known in your market are the L-34 and L-34B front loaders that were supplied under intergovernmental agreements with the USSR. Many of these are still being operated despite low quality of fuels and lubricants after the breakdown of the Soviet Union. In all, over 600 machines were sold to Kazakhstan.
Starting from 1998, the traditional STALOWA WOLA logo on machines manufactured by HSW and marketed by DRESSTA was supplemented or replaced by a new brand name, DRESSTA, that was composed of DRESSER and STALOWA WOLA. In 2000, with this trade mark, we resumed supplies of our equipment to Kazakhstan and these are now increasing year by year. Your country now is among the major purchasers of DRESSTA products worldwide, being the second largest customer in the CIS after Russia.
Would you please tell us about the development of the DRESSTA distribution network in our country?
The first leading distributor of our equipment in Kazakhstan is AVIA which we have been co-operating with since 1998. The head office of this major equipment supplier is in the centre of Rudny Altai, Ust-Kamenogorsk. Another distributor of our equipment is METEX based in Almaty. These companies interact closely with the Kazakhstani customers throughout the country. The extensive marketing and service network created by them employs DRESSTA-trained and certified personnel, as well as service cars, tools, and parts stores. Being directly supported by DRESSTA and HSW service engineers, our distributors can provide both warranty and post-warranty technical services.
What are the opinions of Kazakhstani customers concerning DRESSTA equipment?
In view of the annual growth in number of units supplied, we can say with a fair degree of confidence that clients are satisfied with our equipment. Moreover, many of them repeate purchases after some time again and again.
As of today, the most popular DRESSTA machines in Kazakhstan are 534 front wheel loaders. These are mainly purchased by extractive industries, particularly gold mining, and also by road construction and reconstruction companies, and the manufacturers of construction materials.
There is also an increase in supply of big crawler bulldozers of 320 and 520 hp, as they are well suited and tailored to work in Kazakhstani mines. The quality of assembly and reliability provide these machines with undeniable advantages over “cheaper Eastern-produced” equipment. At the same time, our equipment is quite competitive compared with well-known foreign manufacturers represented in the Kazakhstani market.
According to our clients, DRESSTA has a good record among Kazakhstani operators due to the versatility, simple design, ease of use and daily maintenance of its applied specialised working equipment. We regularly receive letters of thanks from our customers and good reports on the quality and timeliness of the service and repair provided by our distributors.
Despite this evident success, we never neglect the further promotion of our equipment in the Kazakhstani market. To that end, DRESSTA participates annually in international industrial exhibitions in Almaty, Astana, and Atyrau, such as KIOGE, TRANSIT-TRANS KAZAKHSTAN and KAZMIN. These high-level events provide us with a unique opportunity to meet potential clients and to show them our newest models of equipment which, incidentally, are also sold directly at the exhibitions.
What are DRESSTA’s prospects?
Our main objective is not just to hold onto our position as the major supplier of equipment to international markets, including Kazakhstan which is very important to us, but to strengthen it.
For that, we are determined to improve our equipment constantly according to trends of development in the industry and to meet the standards of the European Union which Poland joined in 2004. In addition, we need to take account of the special requirements of local clients, providing potential customers with more favourable conditions for purchasing equipment. It is our aim for Kazakhstani customers to be confident of their choice when they buy machines and parts from DRESSTA and to feel completely satisfied with their purchase.
And finally, as the American technology has been completely assimilated and paid for by the Polish side, which is now co-owner of the technology, we plan to stand firmly on our own two feet and to start implementing our new marketing strategy that will be better tailored and focused onto the requirements of CIS markets.
Table of contents
PetroKazakhstan: Transforming Subsoil Energy Terrance J. Powell
Legal Environment for Service Companies Saule Akhmetova
DRESSTA in Kazakhstan: proved over time! Wieslaw Jakobik
Black Gold of Bogatyr Dennis Price
The Kazakh Upstream Tax Regime: Comparative Analysis Gerard Anderson
A Public Shell, or How to Enter the US Stock Market Oleg Batratchenko
