In his book "Hidden Champions: Erfolgsstrategien unbekannter Marktführer" (Hidden Champions: Success Strategies of Unknown Market Leaders), the renowned German management consultant Prof. Hermann Simon has tried to find out what the key factors of the German economy are as an export world champion. Behind the success are not so much the well-known large corporations such as Bayer, Daimler or Siemens, for example, but a network of small and medium-sized start-ups and often family-run traditional companies that offer innovative solutions for specific markets that make them world market leaders in their sector. These innovation leaders have no spotlight; they are not listed on the world's stock exchanges. This phenomenon is not unique to Germany. In Uralsk, in western Kazakhstan, the construction company Bolashak-T, founded by Kaidar Koshchanov, has been operating very successfully for more than 25 years.
Quantity does not always come before quality
In 2014, Kaidar Koshchanov also came to Baden-Württemberg against the background of announced housing subsidy programs in the construction industry of Kazakhstan. In search of new technologies in the construction industry, he visited Vollert, a concrete plant specialist. "At the time, Bolashak-T was focused on ready-mix concrete and on traditional construction mainly with bricks" describes Koshchanov. "However, we wanted to take the next step and had a vision. Multi-storey residential and industrial buildings based on precast construction systems will be the answer to the high demand of Kazakhstan's growth, I was already sure of that at that time."
High daily output quantities of walls and slabs are not the only decisive factor in order to be competitive and sustainably successful with his customers. During a plant tour together with Vollert experts at fdu's precast concrete plant in Öhringen, Kaidar Koshchanov was impressed. Compared to the mega-factories of the Soviet era, which produced thousands of cubic meters of reinforced concrete and hundreds of thousands of square meters of housing each year, the fdu plant seemed almost like a mini-cosmos that nevertheless produced concrete products of the highest quality tailored to the market. "The compact plant concept, the small number of employees and the extremely smooth, very efficient processes were impressive. " A small, successful hidden champion, and that despite the fact that there are numerous such construction companies located within a radius of 200-300 km, which also specialized in floor slabs and individual structural elements such as stairs and balconies.
In mid-2014, Bolashak-T decided to enter the market on the basis of the precast construction system. "The entry into precast concrete production first requires clarity about what type of houses will be built and what the construction costs will be," describes Igor Chukov, Executive Sales Director Russia/CIS at Vollert. "This is the basis for the preliminary planning of the plant concept and the degree of automation of the machines and processes." Within the next few weeks, ELTICON from Belarus was selected as the main contractor for the construction system and the first prototype houses were built. Involved in this was the renowned construction planner Roman Kuzmichev. The German plant manufacturer Vollert was chosen as the technology supplier for the new precast concrete plant, which started solid and sandwich wall production at the main site in Uralsk in western Kazakhstan at the beginning of 2015. In addition to a high quality level of the precast concrete parts, the focus was on the degree of automation in order to achieve the desired plant productivity. CAD/CAM large-scale plotters, an energy-efficient, fully enclosed curing chamber with CureTec heating system, and state-of-the-art machinery for surface finishing set a new technology standard in Kazakhstan's young precast concrete industry. And yet, the overall project has always been driven by Kaidar Koshchanov, his visions and his entrepreneurial risk-taking.
The vision continues
Within 6 years, Bolashak-T has created more than 300,000 sqm of living space and 26 nine-storied residential buildings have been built. A real success story that has made Bolsashak-T a hidden champion in Kazakhstan's construction industry. However, it is not only dry facts and statistics such as the residential area built that count. "It is more important to us that our customers appreciate the high living quality of the houses. Then a pure vision becomes real living reality" reports Koshchanov. Today, production is 120% above the planned target value, and the plant's capacity utilization is secured until the end of 2021.
You could congratulate each other now, take a break and take it easy as a technology leader in the region. But that's not the case for visionary Kaidar Koshchanov. In fact, he is not only working on further increasing plant productivity, but is currently developing new 5- and 9-storey residential building types together with his construction planners and architects. Many guests from Kazakhstan and neighboring countries now visit Bolsashak-T as a showcase company in Uralsk to learn about industrial house construction. Due to its geographical location, Bolashak-T today maintains its leading market position not only in the Uralsk region, but also in the neighboring Russian region around Samara in the premium-class construction segment. A true hidden champion has been created.
