20 August 2003 06:42
EUROPEAN BALL BEARING CORPORATION TO CUT STAFF TO 9,000 PEOPLE
European Ball Bearing Corporation (EPK) plans to reduce its staff to 9,000 workers in 2003, Artyom Zuyev, general
director of OAO EPK, the management company of the same name, said at a press conference in Moscow.
He said that at the end of 2002 plants belonging to EPK and its other structures employed 11,366 workers and at the
end of 2001 - 14,500 workers.
He said that investment in 2002 amounted to $5.4 million.
Zuyev said that this year one of the main areas of the company's
EPK plans to set up a joint venture with Harbin Ball Bearing Plant
in China by the end of 2003 using equipment that has been freed up
Zuyev noted that the corporation plans to continue staff cuts in the future. He explained that workers in the main
production unit are practically not being cut and the staff cuts are mainly taking place in auxiliary services and also
in engineering-technical departments, due to their ineffective operations.
EPK plans to invest almost $19.9 million in its companies in 2003, he said.
activity will be to reconstruct AO Moscow Ball Baring, in which about $15 million is being invested in 2003.
following the restructuring of EPK, he said.
He also noted that it planned to mainly send to China equipment that has been freed up due to the restructuring of
Moscow Ball Bearing, in which EPK owns controlling shares.
EPK investment in the joint venture will involve reconstruction and report of this equipment and also its
transportation to China.
Zuyev said that the equipment has already been removed. There are about 200 items.
EPK structures own controlling shares in Moscow Ball Baring,
Volzhsky Ball Bearing Plant No. 15 (Volgograd region) and also
In response to a question about cooperation between EPK and the German company INA, Zuyev said that at the moment the
two companies are taking a break in their relations.
He said that EPK has not dropped plans to set up a joint venture with INA, however the German side is concentrating
on internal processes connected with the acquisition of FAG. Zuyev noted that the German side proposed to buy part of
EPK and also to set up a joint venture to produce large ball bearings.
He noted that these figures include VAT.
The general director said that in the first half of 2003 sales
He also said that a Japanese ball bearing producer NSK has approached EPK with a request to hold talks to establish
possibilities for joint business in Russia.
Stepnogorsk Ball Bearing Plant (Kazakhstan).
EPK plans to increase sales to not less than $150 million in 2003 compared with $120 million in 2002, Zuyev said.
amounted to $75.4 million compared with $50.7 million in the same period last year.
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