40 years old: Experience brings positive future outlook Eurocarbo

Pressure vessels Components for power plant industry Different welded steel structure

Nasipi 50, 1420 TRBOVLJE, SLOVENIJA Tel.: +386 (0)3 56 67 200 | Fax: +386 (0)3 56 67 212 | www.kovit-projekti.si

The company is very proactive in the scientific community, cooperating with Končar – Institute for Electrical Engineering Inc. and the University of Zagreb (the faculties of electrical, mechanical and chemical engineering).

Overcoming technological gap

The key prerequisite for the company is to invest, especially in technology. However, during the war in the former Yugoslavia Končar was under-investing and hence the plants and fleet were not renewed.

“Now we are trying to compensate for the technological and investment gap with the competition. Since in our production there are technologies that need to be upgraded, our long-term investment plan is to try to bring up every year one of the technologies to a higher level of quality and productivity,” added Mr Nota.

However, apart from the stagnation caused by the civil war, the continuation of the global economic crisis did not affect the company on a large scale. Since the generators are always produced according to the customer’s specification, there was only a mild slowdown in orders and delay in the beginning of projects. Another reason for the company’s sustained production is the stability of the hydro business. “Each country that has electricity today,” said Mr Nota, “requires the update and replacement of old plants with new ones. And this is what keeps our business alive, even in times of economic uncertainty.”

Working with the best

Končar sells motors to the industrial sector and generators to government and public electrical industries, as well as to private investors in countries all over the world. When ordering generators, customers call for a long-life quality product with 40 years warranty. To fulfil that requirement, the company has to procure the best materials. All the key components for the active part of the generator like the dynamo sheet metals and copper products (wires and insulation materials) are purchased from the best European manufacturers; for example bearings for the rotary machines are imported from Germany. According to Mr Nota, this is one of the main reasons why Končar’s customers keep on coming back, recognising the combination of the best materials and superior technologies that make its products consistent in performance and reliability.

In pursuit of new partnerships

Končar’s generators are selling on all continents, but its main markets are Croatia and the neighbouring countries Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. As far as participation at other markets is concerned, the company in this moment has a lot of ongoing projects within the EU and Europe e.g. Austria, France, the UK and Scandinavia.

“As for other markets,” added Mr Nota, “we are present in Turkey because a huge amount of hydropower resources means continuing opportunities for business projects. With some of our partners, we also work in the Philippines, the USA and Costa Rica. We are also interested in expanding our business in Africa, India and the countries of South America.”

Končar has already built its generators into some of the largest hydropower and thermopower plants in Nigeria, Zambia, Iraq and former Yugoslav countries, and its motors are sold to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria and it has performed different kinds of servicing in Scandinavia. Together with with the Slovenian company Litostroj Power, Končar has performed a number of successful projects and each well-done job has opened a new door for new projects and partnerships.

“Končar has historically grown on the strength and hard work of people who were living with rotary machines and accumulated the knowledge that we possess today. We have never bought or borrowed someone else’s knowledge or capacity. However, what we value most are fruitful partnerships, mainly with turbine manufacturers which are essential for our business,” concluded Mr Nota. Excellence achieved so far in production and performance is the result of synergy between a carefully nurtured technical culture and wisely chosen partnerships. n

Visit: www.koncar-gim.hr

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