Top quality from Šroubárna Kyjov

Over the years, Šroubárna Kyjov has become the largest specialist manufacturer of fastening materials for railways in Europe. Nowadays, it also focuses on higher value-added products for use in the automotive sector and in engineering. Its answer to today’s unpredictable market situation is simple – innovation. Romana Moares reports.

When the former state enterprise Šroubárna Kyjov was set up in 1950 with screw manufacturing as its core business, its founders could not have predicted that they were starting the development of the important company that Šroubárna Kyjov has become today. Their task at the time was to develop an industrial concern in a mainly agricultural area. Production from other screw-making factories was then gradually transferred to Kyjov. By concentrating the production of fastening materials in the Kyjov factory the foundation was laid for its key manufacturing programme, using heat-forming technologies as well as applying modern technical approaches, mechanisation and production automation.

With the change in the political system in Czechoslovakia after 1989, Šroubárna Kyjov was privatised with 38 owners, all of them employees of the firm. In 1997 Štěpán Holešínský became the sole owner, and with his arrival the process of transformation and restructuring began. In order to meet its strategy for production integration, the companies of the TŘINECKÉ ŽELEZÁRNY, a.s. group became the new owner in 2008.

“In the Moravian-Slovakia region Šroubárna Kyjov is one of the oldest and largest industrial companies and also one of the largest employers,” says managing director František Červenka. “Our responsibilities are a key commitment both to the present generation and to future generations.”

In 2010 the company, which employs 300 people, manufactured 25,000 tonnes

tel.: +420-569 430 950 fax: +420-569 624 217 e-mail: indukce@roboterm.cz www.roboterm.cz

COMPLETE EQUIPMENT FOR INDUCTION HEATING

• Development, design, manufacture, repair, reconditioning and servicing • Induction heating billets and bars for forging • Induction heating for special applications • Induction furnaces

• Contactless measurement of temperature • Static frequency converters 20 - 2000 kW, 0,2-25 kHz

• Sorters of heated billets with the temperature record

of product to achieve a turnover of €30.5 million. Approximately 80 per cent of its output is absorbed by export markets.

A reputable manufacturer

The company’s portfolio includes products for the railways, mining industry, construction sector, engineering and car manufacturing industries. Its core activities are represented by the manufacture of sleeper and clip bolts, construction bolts and special bolts for rail tracks. Another important programme is the manufacture of nuts and forgings, whilst a third group of products includes mining clamps and special-use parts such as rivets, tighteners, anchorage bolts, isolator hooks and so on.

All the company’s engineering equipment and technology is located at its only site. For hot forging, special automatic forging lines are used, which manufacture products from steel wire or bars using electric midfrequency heating. Threads are produced cold by cutting or rolling, both internal and external, but also hot on special lines of the company’s own design. As a result of the expansion of its range of products, the company is modernising its manufacturing technology by acquiring a new line for forging and annealing forgings for bearing rings.

Quality for world’s railways

According to the latest research, the outlook for the railway industry and the production of bearings, a target for Šroubárna Kyjov’s products, is good and is forecast to grow continuously over the next few years.

Worldwide, both freight and passenger rail traffic is expected to grow. “At the same

time the global demand for bearings is great, and relates to the automobile and engineering sectors,” says the managing director. “On the other hand, one should add that the competitive environment in these sectors is very demanding and Šroubárna Kyjov must muster all its forces in order to be competitive.”

The company is certified according to the ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO TS16949 standard by Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance. In the railway products sector it is one of the group of premium suppliers to German Railways DB AG (a Q1 supplier). A number of products are also approved by other European railway networks, such as Spanish RENFE, Swiss SBB, French SNCF and British NETWORK RAIL. “Through our major German customer Vossloh Fastening System, Šroubárna Kyjov supplies its railway product range throughout the world,” František Červenka states.

Innovation – the route to the future

Šroubárna Kyjov, like most industrial concerns in Europe, is now feeling the global economic recession and facing competitive threats from the East. “Dealing successfully with this difficult situation is one of the main tasks which the management and employees at Šroubárna Kyjov must take on board. No one else can do, or will do, it for us!” the managing director stresses.

Šroubárna Kyjov has worked its way up to being one of the leading European fastenings companies with a specialist focus on railway products. In order for the company to survive the global recession, it must put a great deal of effort into maintaining its technical lead in the production of fasteners for rail tracks. “That is the current number-one priority for our company,” František Červenka confirms. “Our second priority is innovation in our product range, including the further development of bearing ring production and finishing. Our third priority focuses on staff training.”

Šroubárna Kyjov’s management sees the current market situation as a challenge. “The presence of unpleasant barriers to successful business is a reason to make a deeper assessment of their causes and to seek out advantageous and effective ways of overcoming them. This can best be done through successful innovation. If a company’s management wishes to secure its future, it must start preparing successful innovation right now,” concludes František Červenka. n