Business news

FANIPOL, 10 February (BelTA) - Stadler Company plans to invest €4-5 million in the plant in Fanipol in 2016, Stadler President and Chairman of the Board Peter Spuhler told a press conference at the company Stadler Minsk on 10 February, BelTA informs.

“This year we plan to invest €4-5 million in the plant in Fanipol. The funds will be used to buy equipment for mechanical processing of aluminium shapes. Besides, specialists will be trained to work with the equipment,” noted Peter Spuhler.

According to him, some 30-40% of the company’s capacity is used at present. The plant is designed for 900,000 manufacturing hours. In his words, the reason behind it is the crisis in the post-Soviet space triggered by low prices for raw materials, the weakness of the Russian ruble and sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and the EU. “Instead of 1,000 workers we currently employ 600. We plan to reach 100% of the capacity by the end of the year. We have been undertaking serious efforts to increase the sales. Besides, we want to transfer some orders and projects from other plants to the plant in Belarus,” noted Peter Spuhler.

As for cooperation with the Belarusian company Belkommunmash, Peter Spuhler stressed that the difficult economic situation has led to the liquidation of the joint company. “We maintain both corporate and personal ties with Belkommunmash. It is quite possible that we will be buying some component parts from the company in the near future. It is, however, largely depend on the situation with orders,” he explained.

“We came to Belarus only two years ago. Such a company needs time to reach its designed production level. The plans for the future are obvious. We need orders. We are doing our best to get these orders from the CIS countries first of all,” Peter Spuhler said.

Stadler was founded about 75 years ago. Headquartered in Bussnang (eastern Switzerland) the company offers system solutions in railway transport. Stadler operates branches around the globe: Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Belarus, Algeria, and the United States. The company employs about 7,000 professionals.