SGC: change while maintaining traditions

Interview with Alexander Vladimirovich Bykov, Administrative Director of SGC CJSC.

Recently, the SGC has taken a course for changes. What changes have taken place inside the plant?
First of all, the changes affected the commercial department. Because this is exactly the locomotive that drives the entire plant. A new team came to SGK with a new vision and new ideas. The marketing service has been strengthened. And this gave an impetus to the next stage of transformation-expansion of production and capacity building.
Of course, the development of production is the core of the company's work. Therefore, a serious block of work is associated with its expansion. For example, for a long time, many operations in production were performed manually. Now a significant part of them is mechanized and automated. Although some manual labor remains, we continue to gradually modernize production. One of SGK's strategic objectives for the coming years is to increase capacity in all product lines.
Another important area is logistics. Due to the fact that our company is changing the format of communication with its customers, it is becoming more customer-oriented, one of the ways to get closer to the client is to reduce the delivery time due to the introduction of a system of "third-party" warehouses.
In order to facilitate communication with customers, at the end of last year, the plant launched a new state-of-the-art PBX, which, in addition to the autoinformer, has a huge range of functions that allow you to quickly contact the right employee and quickly resolve all necessary issues.  
Finally, we have changed our strategy for our employees. As you know, human resources decide a lot, if not everything, and therefore we attach great importance to working with employees.

How have your staff qualifications changed and what are you doing in this area?
We ourselves are focused primarily on results and to ensure the effectiveness of our work, we regularly organize various types of training for all categories of personnel. We conduct trainings and seminars for commercial specialists – including with the involvement of well-known experts. A special training program has been developed for new employees, both IT specialists and workers. A system of mentoring has been introduced at the production site, and when a new person arrives, they are "supervised" by a specialist for three months, who guides them and provides comprehensive assistance to the new employee. Thus, we have achieved a significant increase in labor efficiency.

Which specialists are most interesting for SGK?
We are interested in specialists in all areas-both experienced and novice. Production is growing, its needs are growing. Today SGK has a huge number of plans, and we need people who can implement them. We are interested in technologists, because they create something that the company cannot exist without – a new product. We need working specialties – locksmiths, electricians, technicians: the company has a lot of modern technological equipment, and it needs maintenance, prevention, and adjustment to ensure stable operation. Today, in search of new personnel, we cooperate widely with universities, invite students to internships and internships with the subsequent employment of the best. We employ many young and ambitious specialists who see their future together with SGK.

How can SGK be of interest as a student's place of work?
SGK is a large enterprise. We have been on the market for a long time, they know us. And we can provide what few people can offer and what is so valuable in our time – stability. All our employees receive an official "white" salary, which is paid on time, twice a month. We regularly monitor the market and strive to ensure that the level of salaries at the enterprise corresponds to the market average or is slightly higher. Everyone working for the SGC has a social package – paid leave, sick leave, etc. We pay great attention to safety and try to make our workplaces as comfortable and efficiently equipped as possible.
There are also additional bonuses. For example, the plant has signed contracts for medical care with major medical centers, and our employees can be served there at discounts. Recently, we launched a new project - "honor board", which allows you to identify and reward the best employees in online mode: every three months, the best employees from different departments are selected, and everyone who gets on this board gets an additional paid day to their annual vacation. And, of course, on all Russian holidays, as well as on the Builder's Day, we hold corporate events. 
In addition, we have a certain system of bonuses for achieving strategic results and for participating in important and promising projects that help the company achieve its goals, and employees – to realize themselves professionally and improve their material well-being.

What is participation in projects?
When a new product is launched, we form a working group that includes specialists from different departments and services. This group leads the project from beginning to end: from the idea of what kind of product is needed, what its characteristics should be, to the development of this product, its testing, obtaining documentation, putting it into mass production and selling it on an industrial scale. When the product starts to be in demand in accordance with the tasks specified in the business plan, the group is disbanded, while receiving motivation for achieving the set indicators. Currently, such groups work in several product areas of the SGC.

Are there any creative opportunities at SGC?
A Russian-scale production enterprise is a system that requires coherence and clarity. But this system is not permanent – it changes thanks to people, that is, each of its employees. Creativity can also be different. For some people, creativity is changing the configuration of the supply air, and for others-writing a song about the company. We have a system of rational proposals that allows you to change the company from the inside thanks to the people themselves, who are rooting for the cause, want and know what can be improved and how. In 2013, more than 100 such proposals were received, of which ~50% were implemented or are currently at the implementation stage. Each of the "innovators" who made a contribution to the development of the company was also awarded on behalf of the SGC management.
Creativity in the truest sense of the word is also not alien to us! We try to offer our employees a variety of interesting projects. For example, for the New Year, a contest was held for the best song-congratulations to the plant. Any SGK employee could take part in it. People chose music, came up with words. Then we selected the most original greetings, invited musicians, made recordings on professional equipment and posted them on the Internet. As a result, the contest brought a lot of positive emotions to everyone, and companies interested in the development can watch videos on http://youtu.be/KcMuSwROdLA. For our professional holiday - Builder's Day-last year we held a competition for the best loader driver, and the guys on their cars showed the highest level of skill!