Machining the future KOVOSVIT MAS

MACHINING THE FUTURE

KOVOSVIT MAS, a leading European supplier of machine tool technology, is now capitalising on its extensive investments over the past few years. The company is going through substantial expansion, in terms of both its markets and its product portfolio. Romana Moares reports.

KOVOSVIT MAS boasts a 75-year tradition in machine tool production and has, over the years, received many awards for its technical contributions to machine tool development in the Czech Republic and abroad. Long service life, solid workmanship and stable and accurate performance are among the attributes that have won the company many prestigious customers around the world. Some of its machines installed worldwide in the 1950s are still in operation today. MAS has also the edge over its competitors thanks to its sophisticated hi-tech products and deliveries of complex turnkey engineering projects, capitalising on rising demand for such machines in global markets.

Kovosvit’s financial performance has improved steadily in recent years; forecast figures for 2015 are in the range of around four billion Czech crowns, higher than ever before. Roughly 60 per cent of production output is sold in export markets, mainly Russia, the CIS, Poland and the EU.

Four pillars

The company’s business has been divided into four divisions. The first is the MAS MACHINE TOOLS division, representing Kovosvit’s core offering and covering R&D as well as the production of traditional and innovative machine tools and technologies. Next comes MAS HYDRO, specialising in deliveries of turbines and technological units for the hydraulic power generation sector, with a particular focus on low-flow locations where conventional turbines cannot be deployed.

The third area of business is the MAS FOUNDRY division. Kovosvit MAS is one of the very few Czech companies which has had its own foundry from the very beginning. Its castings are supplied not only to the company’s other divisions but also represent a highly sought-after article for the automotive, railway and power industries. 60 per cent of castings are exported. The newest division is MAS AUTOMATION, the core business of which is delivery of robotic workstations and automated production lines tailor-made to match specific customers’ requirements for highly efficient and economic solutions.

Good year

“In 2015, the company achieved several important milestones, such as the completion of the aforementioned MAS AUTOMATION division. We have now achieved the first important acquisitions in this segment,” says commercial director František Švec.

MAS HYDRO, supplying turbines for the hydraulic power sector, has also grown rapidly and expanded to new markets. “A typical turbine utilises hilly terrains. Our solutions are universal – we can produce and install turbines even at lower altitudes including extreme geographical locations, thus saving investors up to 30 per cent of investment costs, while maintaining the required power generation outputs,” he explains.

MAS HYDRO has succeeded in winning customers in important markets such as Germany and Italy, and has also completed a substantial delivery to Japan. “Currently we are in the process of negotiating four new projects in Italy and an extensive project for Egypt. The latter will involve the delivery of four large pumps for a water treatment plant and the refurbishment of 15 older pumps,” says the commercial director.

MAS FOUNDRY has also expanded to Western markets. As a result of a CZK 100 million investment and timely diversification of its production, the division now supplies its castings mainly to Germany, Switzerland and the UK. The oldest and largest MACHINE TOOL division has

experienced similar growth: it has recently won new projects in India and hopes to succeed in Poland and France in the power, railway and automotive sectors. “We are also negotiating several major turnkey deliveries for the defence and aerospace sectors in Russia,” adds Mr Švec.

Leader in its sector

Since 2011, when the company changed hands, an extensive investment programme has been implemented with the aim of introducing innovative production technologies, restructuring the production and administrative premises, as well as staff and student training. “This trend also continued in 2015,” says the sales director, mentioning new investments worth €140 million in R&D and various product innovation and development projects. These include the acquisition of the latest sophisticated grinder for the production of precise multi-functional machine spindle units worth €30 million, the €20 million modernisation of the testing room and modernisation of both the production halls and heating system.

As mentioned earlier, the company’s success has been boosted by the introduction of sophisticated new products. Its latest product development projects included the MULTICUT 630 and MCU1100V5X machines, innovation of the SP 280 machining line, the SP 630 prototype and several others. Now the main emphasis has shifted to deliveries of tailor-made complete engineering assemblies, which include robotic units and offer buyers substantial cost savings and more efficient production processes.

In the future, the company will support the further development of all four businesses. “We expect growing sales in all our divisions,” confirms Mr Švec. “The main focus will be on changing the MAS MACHINE TOOLS portfolio in line with a growing emphasis on hi-tech machines to provide customers with sophisticated machine tools, as well as on increasing the volume of turnkey deliveries from the MAS AUTOMATION division. These are our main tasks for the near future,” he concludes. n