Vladimir Kuznetsov, co-founder of Beshtau Group of Companies, told RBC TV South about the tasks of the interregional radioelectronic cluster

Vladimir Kuznetsov, co-founder of Beshtau Group of Companies, told RBC TV South about the tasks of the interregional radioelectronic cluster and how the production of domestic radio electronics will develop in the South and North Caucasus.

Vladimir Kuznetsov

This fall, a radioelectronic industry cluster was created on the basis of the enterprises of the southern computer equipment manufacturer GC Beshtau. Nine companies from the Rostov region, as well as the Stavropol and Krasnodar territories became its participants. Vladimir Kuznetsov, co-founder of Beshtau Group of Companies, spoke about how export development would help in solving this problem.

– At the end of the summer, it became known that Beshtau Group of Companies was planning to create an interregional radioelectronic cluster. What was the prerequisite for its creation? What tasks of the company will it solve?

– First of all, we would like to define the term “cluster”, as there are different opinions on this issue. There is an official definition, which reads as follows: a cluster is a set of economic entities in the field of industry, which are related to each other by virtue of their territorial proximity and functional interdependence. Also, the key difference is that these entities are distributed territorially. They can be located on the territory of several constituent entities of the Russian Federation, and this is a significant difference between clusters and technoparks or industrial parks, where companies operate on a limited territory with the appropriate infrastructure.

The main goal of the cluster policy and industrial development model is to create import-substituting goods with the maximum degree of localization. This goal is fully correlated with the objectives set by our company. This was the reason for choosing this type of development.

If we talk about the peculiarities and advantages of the cluster, it is worth noting that the creation of a finished radio-electronic product is a very complex task, which requires the coordination of various scientific and production processes. It is not possible to set up these processes within a single enterprise. Moreover, it is often impossible to do so even within the framework of an entire state. Therefore, in this case, GC “Beshtau” will use the potential of various leading companies and direct joint efforts to a common result. This approach to the production of a domestic product will be as efficient and competitive as possible, and will contribute to achieving a high degree of localization.

– Is it known which companies will enter the interregional radioelectronic cluster?

– Many people expect that there will be companies producing only radio-electronic goods and components. Of course, there are such manufacturers within the cluster. These companies specialize in the production of power elements – transformers for power supplies, components for communications and even industrial production equipment. But at the same time, the final product of the cluster, such as a server or a monoblock, also needs cardboard packaging or expanded foam for making spoons. Such companies are also needed to optimize the production cycle, which is why they are also included in the cluster. We hope that over time the number of participants and the range of products they produce will grow.

– Does the heterogeneity of specialization of the companies in the cluster allow them to manage the final cost of production?

– Sure. The cluster approach ensures optimization of logistics costs, which in turn has a positive impact on pricing. Also, not the least role is played by state support. Those companies that are officially part of a cluster registered by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation can receive certain benefits. Such forms of support as: subsidizing the first product batches, special loan rates, special tax conditions. Thus, everything is aimed at increasing the efficiency of work, both for each enterprise individually and for the cluster as a whole.

Evolutionary principle

– Vladimir, you mentioned that your main task is maximum localization. This is very much in demand, primarily in the public sector. At the same time, I would like to understand what parts are the most difficult to import at the moment, what exactly the Russian electronics industry is lacking?

– There is a certain criterion for recognizing goods produced in the territory of the Russian Federation as domestic. This criterion is the presence or absence of a certain product in the register of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. As of today, this means that the government recognizes a product as Russian only if it is in the register. The criterion for including a product in the register is a point system. The point system determines the minimum threshold value, upon reaching which a product is added to the register. Points are awarded for technical documentation and localization of certain technological and production processes in Russia.

At the moment, such a system does not impose excessively high requirements, which allows a wide range of companies to enter their products into the registry. Today, in order for a product, a notional computer, to be included in it, a company simply needs to have the rights to the documentation and perform surface mounting of components on the board of one or more computer components. Such a system has led to the fact that there are quite a large number of companies operating in the market and their products are included in the registry.

The point system has such a key property as evolutionary, increasing its complexity. With each subsequent year, the threshold value of points should increase. This is what stimulates companies to invest in production and development, so that at the end of the year their products can score more points. Accordingly, if this policy is maintained, in a couple of years we can talk about a fairly high level of localization of our devices.

– What are the most successful areas of development and what are the challenges to more effective development of the industry?

– The industry of mounting components on printed circuit boards has been developing quite successfully over the last few years. New SMT assembly lines are built and bought, and thus we get motherboards or SSD boards, etc. There are several manufacturers that are producing and developing specialized controllers. There are also several manufacturers of textolite boards. But at the same time, the key problem at the moment is the lack of high-tech capacities for the production of microcontrollers, electronic component base and, of course, processors.

This problem lies on several planes: first of all, it affects the lag in technology, the lack of domestic high-performance equipment, for example, lithographers. However, there is another side to the problem – economic. Several hundred components can be mounted on a radio electronic board, each of which requires its own equipment for production. And each equipment has a rather high productivity. Thus, to ensure full replacement of the ECB, the company will need hundreds of production lines, each of which will produce the annual demand of the company in the component in 2-4 weeks. And the rest of the time these lines will be idle. Naturally, no company, no matter how large it is, can bear such a load.

A reasonable solution may be to distribute this load to different enterprises, each of which will choose its own specialization in the production of ECBs and, selling the surplus of its products, will purchase the missing components.

Export potential

– What countries are Russian manufacturers cooperating with today to supply those components that are in short supply?

– Most often it is China, in 90% of cases. There is, of course, equipment that is not available in China, and most often it is in those countries that support the sanctions regime. But again, there are mechanisms for parallel imports, friendly countries, that is, these issues can be solved. In this case, we rely heavily on China.

There is also the other side of the coin. There is an objective need to develop the export potential of domestic REP. To create a full-fledged, competitive radio-electronic industry, we need a market with a total population of 300 million people. The USSR met these requirements, but now we need to develop the market of friendly countries within the framework of, for example, the EAEU and the expanded format of BRICS. I believe that it will be possible to ensure competitiveness in these areas systematically in 2-3 years, while non-systematic supplies of domestic computer equipment for export still take place today.

– Many Russian manufacturers are still oriented towards the public sector. What is the potential of domestic products on the mass market in your estimation? Is domestic competition among Russian producers great?

– At the moment, the main objective is to meet the needs of the state. There are situations when this equipment is sold on the retail market, including Beshtau products sold through some retail channels. It shows its competitiveness even in comparison with imported products, but we cannot talk about serious representation of domestic radio-electronic products in the mass segment, before satisfying all the needs of the state.

The total volume of production in domestic radio electronics has not reached the level of demand for these products at the moment, so it is premature to talk about competition between domestic companies.

However, there is serious competition from foreign, particularly Chinese companies. This is due to the fact that there are some gaps in the legislation, due to which Chinese equipment seeps into the market of supplies for state needs. For example, an automated workstation (AWS) based on a Russian system unit can include imported peripherals. These include a monitor, keyboard, mouse, uninterruptible power supply, printer, copier. Accordingly, this significantly slows down the pace of development of companies that manufacture these products. There is no point in commissioning production lines, training personnel when these goods can simply be brought in. However, given that the Russian government and the Ministry of Industry and Trade are actively engaged in analyzing the market situation, I am confident that these gaps will be eliminated in the near future.

Company strategy

– How do you see the further development strategy of Beshtau Group in the South and North Caucasus?

– The policy of industrial development through clusters allows GC Beshtau to develop in three directions. The first is the extensive way, expansion of the assortment. At the moment the Beshtau Group of Companies has more than 70 positions in the register, these are: system blocks of different form factors, monoblocks, notebooks, monitors, keyboards, mice. Server equipment and data storage systems will soon appear in the register. In the active phase of development of printing equipment of GC “Beshtau”, also in the register you can find components of our company. In the near future we plan to close the entire range of user and corporate equipment.

The second direction is strategic. This is the development of in-house developments and production facilities for the production of individual elements of the component base, textolite, lithium-ion batteries.

The third direction is contract development and production. As part of the functioning of the Beshtau cluster, we will be able to offer third-party companies services in the development of radio-electronic products, from technical design to serial production. We are open to such cooperation and are ready to help other companies develop the industry.

– Production of textolite by Beshtau Group of Companies is planned to start in 2024?

– Yes, if we want to meet the criteria of the ballot system for next year, producing our own textolite is a logical and obvious step. The peculiarity is that the equipment we plan to purchase for the production of textolite is domestic and, moreover, it is produced by a company that is part of the cluster. That is, it will be cluster cooperation and thanks to this, we will be able to reach a new level, we will be better prepared for the requirements that await us next year. I have already talked about raising the minimum threshold for entry into the register, and this is a clear confirmation of the effectiveness of this approach.

I believe that both the cluster policy of industry development and the ballot system are very effective tools for industry development. Both the government and companies in the industry will have to work very hard and intensively in the next few years. We are prepared for the fact that new players will enter the market, and at the same time a number of companies will cease to be represented on the market as separate vendors, due to the fact that they simply cannot cope with the competition and will not provide products with a certain number of points. However, their competencies, which they will have developed by that time, will still be in demand. The situation is quite constructive and good prospects for the market are opening up.

Authors: Yulia Smolyanova, Anna Sukhareva

https://rostov.rbc.ru/rostov/interview/13/12/2023/65787c5b9a79475383f8eb21