Sergei Sobyanin tells about the support measures for machine-building enterprises in Moscow

Shcherbinsky Elevator Building Plant is to keep on modernizing, developing, and being competitive, especially in today’s environment. It was announced by Sergei Sobyanin during his visit to the  enterprise.

The enterprise needs assistance in terms of working capital, subsidies, etc., so today, of course, we will discuss and also create a special program in the sanctions environment, in conditions of uncertainty and inflation, for the plant to work properly, to pay wages,” said the Moscow Mayor.

The implementation of large-scale programs for major repairs of apartment buildings, reconstruction of medical facilities, and housing renovation makes Moscow the largest customer for lifting equipment. It was decided not to reduce these programs, which means that lifting enterprises will be provided with sustainable order flow for years to come.

“Major repairs have been and will always be a huge amount of supplies. Housing construction will also develop in Moscow: The President has adopted a decision on preferential mortgages, which means that the volume of housing construction will increase, and therefore the requirements and the volume of elevator supplies will also increase. And the renovation program in Moscow — which  is a big one, by the way, applies to Shcherbinka, New Moscow, and all the districts — will  also increase every year, so we will also consume your products. Well, and a big program related to major repairs of polyclinics. We have performed reconstruction of dozens of polyclinics that also create additional demand for lifting equipment. So the plant will definitely continue its operations,” Sergei Sobyanin said.

The Moscow Mayor held a meeting with the heads of machine-building enterprises at Shcherbinsky Elevator Building Plant, one of the largest lifting device manufacturers in Russia. 

Regional support measures

Under sanctions pressure, Moscow’s machine-building enterprises can take advantage of a wide range of city support measures.

Sergei Sobyanin noted that Moscow’s subsidy program was launched for some enterprises that were not covered by the federal support programs.

“Several medium-sized businesses, so to speak, didn’t get into either small business or big business. And, of course, they have serious problems with working capital, investment loans, and so on. We created our foundation to fill this niche. We have established the caps for the banks, so they are now beginning lending to this kind of enterprises, so they get a decent rate for working capital and investment loans,” the Moscow Mayor said.

Moscow provides subsidies of interest rates on loans to replenish working capital of up to 500 million rubles and the implementation of development programs of up to one billion rubles. For the ultimate borrower, the loan rate is 15 percent. Ten billion rubles are allocated for the initiative’s realization.

Moscow also allocates land at a rate of one ruble per year for the construction of production facilities or technology parks.

An online service, “Selecting Alternative Suppliers,” operates in Moscow, enabling industrialists to quickly find the components needed for the production cycle among city suppliers and partners in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). The resource is planned to be scaled up to Asian countries.

Federal support measures

A package of support measures has also been adopted at the federal level while the development of new federal-level packages continues.

The period of regional income tax benefits is extended. Thanks to this, Moscow’s industrial complexes will retain in full all the tax benefits they have enjoyed in recent years.

Systemic companies can receive preferential loans.

The certification procedure for products imported into Russia has been simplified, and some import duties have been abolished. It will allow forming alternative supply chains for the required raw materials, equipment, and ancillary equipment.

The tax and administrative burden on businesses has been reduced, including a moratorium on inspections and other measures.

In addition, the offsets mechanism is being improved: the minimum investment threshold for offsets has been reduced from one billion to 100 million rubles. The measure will enable the creation of specialized production facilities in Moscow, which will manufacture goods required by the city.

Shcherbinsky Elevator Building Plant

The company is located in Shcherbinka at the following address: Pervomaiskaya Street, Estate 6. It was founded in 1943 and today is part of DOM.RF, a state company. Shcherbinsky Elevator Building Plant is one of the largest manufacturers of lifting devices in Russia.

The area of production facilities is 55.5 thousand square meters. It employs over 1.3 thousand people with an average salary of 84 thousand rubles.

The plant produces passenger, freight, small freight, panoramic, and hospital elevators as well as lifting devices for physically challenged citizens.

“I believe that the elevator that we have been creating here over the past few years is capable of replacing its imported counterparts. Its characteristics are not inferior, and sometimes even superior, as compared to the others,” said Anton Artemyev, General Director of Shcherbinsky Elevator Building Plant.

The company supplies 18 percent of its products to the Moscow market and the remainder — to all regions of Russia and nine foreign countries: Abkhazia, Belarus, Georgia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan, and Cuba.

The company is engaged in the implementation of municipal programs to replace elevators with expired standard operating life (25 years), including a regional program for apartment building major repairs. From 2011 to 2021, more than 39.1 thousand elevators were replaced in Moscow; 13.6 thousand of them (about 35 percent) were supplied by the Shcherbinsky Elevator Building Plant. It is planned that the city’s major repairs program will require about 2.9 thousand lifting devices annually.

Besides, the company’s products are installed in houses built under the renovation program. Currently, they already have 220 lifting devices operating, and 900 new elevators produced by this manufacturer will be installed in new buildings this year.

In 2019, the plant received industrial complex status, which allowed it to allocate additional funds for modernization.

More than 1.2 billion rubles were invested in the development of the enterprise in 2020–2021. Thus, they created a single warehouse of raw materials and supplies and installed a flow line to optimize the work of the pick-and-pack departments. An air purification system and safety guards were installed in the welding shop; obsolete equipment was replaced. Harmful production — electroplating and thermoplastic molding — was eliminated. The complex façades of the factory buildings have been renovated, and the territory has been landscaped.

Support for the Moscow machine-building complex

The stable development of Moscow’s machine-building complex is ensured by the systemic support that the Moscow Government provides to the industry.

According to the city authorities, payments for changing the purpose of granting land plots intended for the industrial facilities construction have been canceled or substantially reduced. The decision stimulated the reconstruction and new construction of production shops.

Four machine-building enterprises have the status of an industrial complex: Shcherbinsky Elevator Building Plant, Gidromash Research and Production Association, Bakor Research and Development Center, and MTZ TRANSMASH. They receive benefits on tax and land payments. Savings on regional taxes could reach 25 percent. Just in 2021, the total amount of benefits amounted to 93.5 million rubles.

The preferences include a reduction in income tax from 20 to 16.5 percent, property tax — by half, land tax and land rent — by 80 percent. The industrial complexes allocate the money they save to upgrading existing facilities and launching new ones.

Three industrial enterprises (Bitrobotics, Sovelmash, and RT-Bartholet) became residents of the Technopolis Moscow special economic zone. It allowed them to implement investment projects in mechanical engineering for a total of 962 million rubles.

Since 2012, industrial enterprises in Moscow have been entitled to subsidies from the city budget to reimburse part of the cost of interest on loans, compensation for leasing payments, and other purposes. Four producers received a total of 104 million rubles.

Moreover, the city provided two enterprises with soft loans for a total of 350 million rubles. The funds were used to upgrade production, including the introduction of IT solutions and the development of exports.

Russian engineering products are supplied to satisfy Moscow’s needs. In 2021, Moscow purchased goods for 228.4 billion rubles, mainly, from Moscow manufacturers. The main customers were housing maintenance and utilities and landscaping complexes of Moscow.

Mechanical engineering professionals

The system of training specialists in the field of mechanical engineering in Moscow covers specialized secondary and higher educational institutions.

Four colleges educate students in such majors as “Technology of Mechanical Engineering” and  “Technical Operation and Maintenance of Robotic Manufacturing.”

Eight universities, including Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Moscow Polytechnic University, Moscow State Technological University Stankin, train specialists in such majors as “Design of Technological Machines and Complexes,” “Design and Technological Support of Machine-Building Production,” “Engineering,” “Technological Machines and Equipment,” and “Applied Mechanics.”

In the 2021/2022 academic year, 1,213 people are being educated in these specialties at colleges and universities.

Last year, the Moscow Government, the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, and the state corporation for development VEB.RF signed an agreement on cooperation and interaction to support the Moscow Technical School project.

The Moscow Technical School is a network of centers for technological and industrial competencies based on institutions of higher education. All of them have modern engineering and technological infrastructure for advanced training to meet industrial demands. It trains specialists in seven areas, such as “Robotics and Sensorics,” “Artificial Intelligence in Industry,” “Additive Technologies,” “Digital Twins,” “New Production Technologies,” “Unmanned Transportation,” and “Communication Technologies.”

In February 2022, the Moscow Technical School graduated its first students — 78 engineers in the field of “Communication Technologies” obtained training there. The second area, “Additive Technologies,” will be launched this April.