Dr. Albert Zimmermann is managing director of Uhde’s Russian subsidiary OAO Uhde. An interview on changing roles in a growing market.
Dr. Zimmermann, you will be moving shortly. That’s true, at least as far as work goes. I was appointed director of sales at OAO Uhde at the beginning of the year. So far I’ve been based at the Moscow Representative Office of ThyssenKrupp AG and also worked at our headquarters in Dzerzhinsk. In June OAO Uhde opened its own office in the Russian capital. As I’ll be head of this office I’ll be working mostly from Moscow in the future.
Why is OAO Uhde opening an office in Moscow? Russia remains a highly centralized country: Most of our customers are in Moscow, this is where most of the decisions are made. Although OAO Uhde can already work independently handling application procedures, detailed engineering and orders with a manageable procurement content, to date we have mainly worked for Uhde GmbH, as a kind of extended workbench of the parent company. But now the market for raw material processing in Russia is expanding rapidly. We want to profit from this. And we can do so best if we can operate more independently on a local basis, i.e. if we can market our technology, win orders and conduct more extensive negotiations on our own. We will not be able to handle major orders single-handedly - these will still be managed from Germany. But we want to offer and sell Uhde’s entire range of products within a manageable framework. Our new office in Moscow is a key element in this move towards increased independence.
What tasks will be carried out there? The focus is on marketing and sales. We will start out with 15 employees and will manage the activities of the entire Uhde group in Russia from Moscow. In the medium term we may transfer purchasing activities from Dzerzhinsk to Moscow. But that’s very much in the future.
OAO Uhde was established back in 1994. Since then, other companies in the segment have also started operating in Russia. How much do you help them? With the current boom in the market and very good prospects, we are benefiting more than ever from our long experience. We are now sought after not just as a technology partner but increasingly also as a consultant - also by other companies in the segment. Polysius and ThyssenKrupp Fördertechnik are particularly active here. We are happy to help them when necessary, especially as this can give rise to synergies and fruitful collaborations.
OAO Uhde has grown quickly and now already employs 340 people. What is the biggest challenge for the coming years? Staying ahead of the game, i.e. increasing our know-how, expanding our structures, recruiting, retaining and increasing the number of skilled employees. It’s an ongoing process in which we have made good progress in some areas but still have a long way to go in others. The aim is to ensure that Russian customers see OAO Uhde as a competent partner for all aspects of the plant construction business.
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| Sales expert | Dr. Albert Zimmermann will spend most of his time in Moscow in future. |
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