Plans have been made to fully substitute the import of hydraulic equipment with domestic products within three years. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko was informed about the plans as he visited the Dzerzhinsk-based hydraulics manufacturer OOO Saleo on 27 March, BelTA has learned.

The head of state was told that the company uses premises of the Dzerzhinsk engine repairs factory. The company was founded by OOO Interservice and OOO PMI Engineering. The new owners are busy implementing a two-stage investment project to manufacture hydraulic equipment. In October 2013 the company started batch manufacturing import-substituting products and has reached the designed output capacity since.

Alexander Shakutin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of OAO Amkodor, the managing company of the holding company Amkodor, underlined that the enterprise had managed to reach the designed output capacity within only six months while similar enterprises in Western countries may take up to two years to do the same.

The second stage of the project is scheduled for implementation in 2014. The relevant investment contract with the Minsk Oblast administration has been signed. As many as 28 units of equipment worth a total of $21.3 million will be delivered. They will allow greatly increasing the volume and the choice of manufactured products. The manufacturing efficiency will once again exceed that of similar enterprises in other countries.

The main customers of the products the company manufactures are Belarusian mechanical engineering enterprises that had to import the equipment up till now. This is why the chief production engineer of Minsk Tractor Works and the chief designer of OAO MAZ, the managing company of the holding company BelavtoMAZ, have been invited to attend the event. They confirmed that the products made by the Dzerzhinsk-based company are on par with the world standards and meet the quality requirements of the Belarusian manufacturers. The human factor that can influence quality has been virtually ruled out, with hardware failure rates less than 0.1%.

Alexander Shakutin also remarked that in addition to its high quality the equipment is 30-40% cheaper than imports. Moreover, the founders of OOO Saleo are busy setting up a major holding company to make hydraulic equipment for the Belarusian mechanical engineering. The holding company will unite several enterprises in various regions of Belarus and will be able to fully substitute the import of hydraulic machines within three years. It will fully satisfy the demand of Belarusian mechanical engineering companies for high-quality modern components. Besides, the company plans to export about 40% of the output.

Alexander Shakutin said that the total volume of investments will exceed $200 million, with the recoupment period as short as five years.