One group – many possibilities

Metal Technology Group (MTG) is a corporate group consolidating three Bulgarian foundries, specialising in the production of different types of castings. Each member company has its own specific knowledge and production technology. Prior to its establishment in 1997, the three foundries had their own separate and independent activities. However, when Bulgaria’s metallurgical sector was privatised they became part of the holding group. Piotr Sadowski reports.

MTG was founded by Krasimir Dachev, a lawyer who used to work at a state-owned space exploration agency during the Communist years and from 1990 to 1997 headed the corporate finance department at the local International Bank for Trade and Development. “Next year, we will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of our activities, which will be an important moment to reflect on the achievements as well as look forward to further development in the coming decades,” says Rossana Dacheva, daughter of Krasimir and executive director and member of the board of directors. “Today, the three companies which form part of MTG – Alucom, Centromet and Ossam – employ around 560 staff and we have more than 4000 products in our portfolio.”

Dynamic exporter

MTG’s activities expand over different continents, with customers in more than 20 countries. This is not surprising as MTG is a truly exportorientated company. “We currently export more than 70 per cent of our products, mainly across Europe, but also to more far-flung destinations, such as Mexico or even New Zealand,” explains Ms Dacheva. “In previous years, in fact, the figure was as high as 95 per cent; however, since there is currently a lot of demand from the military industry in Bulgaria, we are supplying more in that sector on the domestic market.” The competition comes, however, mainly across export markets, although MTG is able to successfully fend off its rivals through its ability to offer its customers sustainable high quality, strict adherence to agreed deadlines and an entire product development lifecycle.

The group supplies a number of important industry sectors. Within the energy sector, MTG supplies some of the biggest operators in the world, including renowned names such as ABB, Arvos Group and Siemens. In the water and gas industry, it delivers mainly iron castings with customers including Hawle Group as well as GE. MTG also supplies the railway and automotive industry (in the area of off-highway), as well as the ceramics, food and shipbuilding industries, with products from a range of cast iron materials and centrifugal steel castings for the chemical industry.

Combined strength

The three foundries which form part of MTG work through joint collaborations between their own production teams and the customers’ teams. Alucom was established in 1973 and until 1990 supplied aluminium castings for the military, engine trucks and machinebuilding industries in Bulgaria and the countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. Centromet was established in 1977 as

a scientific-production enterprise and specialises in the production of metal castings created by the method of centrifugal casting. The production range includes parts for the chemical, metallurgical, mining, machine building and other industries. Cylinder liners, furnace rolls, double-layered roller shells and bimetallic items are only part of the wide-ranging product offer from Centromet. Retaining its original activities, the company was privatised in 1999 and joined MTG.

Last but certainly not least, Ossam is a sand casting foundry for grey cast iron castings, ductile cast iron castings and austempered ductile iron (ADI) castings. The company is able to manufacture both blank castings and fully-machined parts. Originally, the foundry was created for the casting of malleable cast iron – a material with complex technology that consumed high levels of power in production. From 1985 onwards, Ossam has become the biggest plant for the production of ductile cast iron castings on the Balkan Peninsula. It joined MTG in 1997.

“Another important recent achievement in the foundry was a more than €2 million investment, which made Ossam more efficient.” says Ms Dacheva. “The upgraded production began in February this year and we are currently in the maintenance and preparation process, which is typical for the scale of such an investment.” It is important to note that in May 2016 Ossam was elected as the ‘Investor of the Year’ for 2015 in the Lovech region of Bulgaria.

Expanding in the future

As part of its growth strategy, MTG is developing subcontracting operations with Bulgaria’s neighbouring countries, as opposed to buying up plants. This has proven to be a much more efficient and effective avenue for expansion. “In addition to developing the subcontracting chain, our primary focus is on attracting quality people to our businesses, investing in education and looking for collaborators in this field across different sectors,” concludes Ms Dacheva. “We are also investing in energy efficient technologies and reconstructing production buildings originally created in the 1970s – and thus combining production in one, rather than several, building spaces. We are expanding the range of our key clients and looking forward to many more successes in the future.” n