Building effective partnerships Končar

BUILDING EFFECTIVE PARTNERSHIPS

Leading Croatian rolling stock producer Končar Electric Vehicles has recently signed a contract worth €220 million to deliver 44 low-floor multiple units for Croatian Railways Passenger Transport. Vanja Švačko spoke to Mr Ivan Bahun, president of the managing board, about this deal and other current projects.

The main product range of Končar Electric Vehicles comprises electric tramcars, locomotives and electric and diesel multiple units. The company was established in 1970, when the first locomotive was produced. In four decades, the company has expanded its products portfolio, offering in addition modernisation and maintenance of electric vehicles as well as development and production of their associated equipment and components.

The company employs between 240 and 350 workers, depending on the project and structure of the deal. Since it is a part of the Končar Group, altogether more than 1000 staff are engaged in dealing with transportation and towing.

Competitive edge through synergy

From the beginning, Končar Electric Vehicles kept on improving its portfolio and delivered a modern thyristor locomotive. Soon after, a

Electic multiple unit production Low-floor multiple unit cockpit Electric locomotives class HZ 1141

solution was found for converting old diode locomotives to the thyristor type. In parallel the company took over development and production of tramcars and multiple units, which in 2005 resulted in the serial production of low-floor trams and in 2010 with production of low-floor electric trains. The company delivers vehicles for regional, urban and suburban traffic.

All Koncar’s work is carried out in compliancy with the latest European and international standards, including ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004.

“We are part of the Končar Group, which represents our business strength,” explained Mr Bahun. “In development and production we rely to a large extent on our partner companies within the Group. Through that synergy we achieve a strong competitive advantage because in all stages of our work we are able to monitor and improve the development and production process.”

Koncar Electric Vehicles works in close collaboration with its partner companies within the Group which provide major subsystems such as transformers, traction motors, power electronics and microprocessor control systems, bogie frames etc.

Intuitive investments

Končar Electric Vehicles focuses its investments in two directions. The first is to support continuous technological progress and to process innovations required to maintain the highest quality of products and shorten delivery time. Mr Bahun said, “We have an up-to-date factory that needs to be modernised on a regular basis. The second category of investments is aimed at market and customer-driven product improvement to add flexible features. For the last seven years we have been investing in innovations in order to make our business fit for a new era.”

Electric low-floor tramcars and low-floor trains are new products that demand a lot of investment to reach a viable market share. The company is also concurrently hard at work on projects of multi-system electric locomotive and vehicle power systems focusing on greater energy efficiency.

Riding high

In January this year Končar Electric Vehicles signed a €220 million contract for the

Tramcar Production

delivery of 32 electric multiple units (EMU) and 12 diesel electric multiple units (DMU) to Croatian Railways Passenger Transport.

“Our client wanted both trains to have the same platform in order to keep down maintenance costs. With this new contract we have not only ensured an excellent deal in a financial sense, but have also guaranteed employment security for a large number of employees in the coming five to seven years,” said Mr Bahun. “Our job does not end with selling our products. It is a longterm partnership with clients in which we continue to offer services and maintenance of the products throughout their lifespan.”

Limitless prospects

Membership in EU has erased some formal barriers and given more room for expansion outside the region and improving the sustainability of the business. Končar Electric Vehicles serves mainly the Balkan market (former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Turkey and Romania). However, plans are set to go beyond that region, where the competitive advantages can come to the fore.

“The main advantages of our products lie not only in their quality, but also in flexibility to meet special requirements with the implementation of new technologies,” stated Mr Bahun. “Places

to expand are those where we can look for greater localisation of production and technology transfer and where we can connect with other companies as partners. Europe is not our limit. Although on a global scale we cannot be compared with large companies, in certain segments of our work we have a very attractive offer, years of international market experience and excellent references to act globally.”

One of the ways that brings the Croatian company closer to well-known European producers is being part of programmes for the development and production of main subsystems for rail vehicles.

Some of the components (wheels, doors, windows, air-conditioning) are purchased from leading vendors such as Henschel, IFE, Scharfenberg, Knorr-Bremse, Voith etc. Končar Electric Vehicles also cooperates with Siemens and other large companies. Mr Bahun explained, “Our key strategy is to take advantage of these high-profile connections and to turn them into knowledgeexchange relationships that enable us all to become more competitive together.” n

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