Page 28 - trends in automation 1.2013

R ussia is quite simply enormous. Spanning 9,000 kilo-
metres from east to west and 4,000 kilometres from
north to south, it is the biggest country in the world –
almost as big as Europe and Australia combined. Russia
straddles two continents, Europe and Asia, has temperatures
ranging from minus 60 degrees to over 35 degrees, an endlessly
rich natural landscape and, with a total population of around
142 million, the average population density is just over eight
inhabitants per square kilometre. Russia is also a land of water.
An estimated 120,000 rivers flow into two million lakes and five
seas. Russia has the world’s largest and deepest inland lakes –
the Caspian Sea and Lake Baikal, which is 1,642 metres deep and
contains around one fifth of the country’s entire fresh water
reserves.
Solid growth rates
The riches provided by nature are Russia’s economic back-
bone. Sixteen per cent of all the earth’s mineral resources are
located between Belgorod and the Bering Sea. Russia owns
the world’s biggest natural gas reserves, has over 50 per cent
of all known coal deposits and 12 per cent of all oil reserves
worldwide. This makes the country extremely wealthy, but also
dependent on rising oil and gas prices, as commodities account
for around 80 per cent of all Russian exports. According to
the German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations,
the Russian economy recovered extremely well from the global
economic and financial crisis thanks to rising commodity
prices. Following negative economic growth of 7.9 per cent in
2009, the Russian economy grew by 4.3 per cent in 2010
and 2011, and 3.6 per cent in 2012. For 2013, the IMF, World
Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
are predicting growth of between 3.3 and 4 per cent.
Integration increases security
The accession of the Russia to the World Trade Organization
(WTO) on 16 December 2011 should also boost the Russian
economy. It also lays the foundations for creating a free trade
zone with the European Union. According to the German
Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, the World
Bank expects that this will contribute to an increase of 11 per cent
in GDP by 2021. Accession should ensure greater integration in
the global economy, open up the market to goods and increase
investment security. Russia took another positive step forward
by joining the OECD anti-bribery convention in February 2012.
Qualification improves quality
Festo recognised Russia as a future market at a very early
stage and has been a partner to Russian industry since 1971,
providing high-quality automation and training solutions.
Festo’s success today is thanks in no small part to ever stricter
requirements for quality and energy efficiency for Russian
machinery and plant manufacturers. In addition to factory
automation, process automation plays an important role, too.
More than 9,000 automation customers and 3,000 Didactic
customers are served by Festo’s Russian national company,
headquartered in Moscow, and six sales offices located in
St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Tscheljabinsk, Irkutsk, Samara and
Rostov-on-Don, as well as other agencies in a total of 21 cities.
Machine building aims for the global market
Alexey Vititnev, General Manager of Festo Russia, has observed
two persistent trends in the machine building sector: “On the
one hand, Russian machine builders from the processing indus-
try, including sectors such as food and packaging, automotive
and rubber/plastic, are trying to enter the global market with
their products. A typical example is pasta machine manufacturer
KB-NS from St. Petersburg. With accession to the WTO, com­
View of the Kremlin: The oldest part of the city of Moscow and its historic centre stands on the Moskva River.
Hanover Trade Fair 2013
International sign
of national strength
Russia’s role as partner country for the Hanover
Trade Fair 2013 is a sign of its increasing involvement
in international economic activity. At the same time,
the Russian government is pushing ahead with the
expansion of nationwide structures and strengthening
the domestic economy. So-called ‘priority programmes’
are encouraging activity in areas such as agriculture,
housing and infrastructure. These should see the creation
of up to 25 million skilled jobs. This of course means
new opportunities for European companies. The condi-
tions are favourable because the structure of European
companies operating in Russia is similar to that in
Western Europe. Over 90 per cent of these companies
are SMEs.