OREANDA-NEWS. June 27, 2011. Last Friday, a representative delegation of JSC AVTOVAZ headed by Director General Igor Komarov visited KAMAZ to get acquainted with the company`s production system (PSK). The delegation was welcomed by First Deputy General Director – CEO of OJSC KAMAZ Yuri Klochkov.

The guests visited the most important facilities of the auto giant where PSK was successfully introduced. At Engine Plant, the visitors saw conveyors assembling engines made by KAMAZ and CUMMINS KAMA Joint Venture, a line processing cylinder heads at the joint venture. At Automobile Plant, the guests from Tolyatti were demonstrated information stands, a production meeting was held there too. The delegation also visited the both mother assembly lines of the plant and a shop for assembly of axles.

It should be noted that the enterprise has been implementing the principles of "lean manufacturing", on the basis of which Production System KAMAZ was formed, since the mid-2000s. Over these years, KAMAZ has accumulated great experience in this field. An economic effect from the use of lean technologies at OJSC KAMAZ in 2010 made several billion rubles; an effect from introduced kaizen proposals was more than 117 thousand rubles, which is twice as much as a year earlier. For example, last year, the number of complaints from consumers of Automobile Plant fell nearly by 40 percent compared to 2009, and the number of defects per one tested vehicle was reduced by more than a third.

According to Yuri Klochkov, the most important thing is a huge number of people engaged in this activity and showing a completely different attitude to work. "There was a transition from quantity to quality, there was a radical turn in the minds of KAMAZ employees,” said the CEO of KAMAZ. “PSK continues developing greatly. 10 years ago, “Lean Manufacturing” was introduced in Russia. Today, Production System KAMAZ is the best production system in Russia based on “Lean Manufacturing”. And it was organized even without foreign consultants’ assistance. The representatives of the auto industry and other industries, including banks, go to KAMAZ from other cities to adopt KAMAZ workers’ practices, technologies and work organization. People recognize our leadership. And we are proud of it."