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The Project is alive and kicking and continuing to develop

One CNCP project which is directly linked to the use of radiation technologies on a production scale has been completed in the Closed City of Ozersk. A new company was established to bring it about – the “Urals Factory for Polymer Technologies, Mayak”. The General Director of the Company, Dmitry Alyavdin, who is actively involved in CNCP.

Mr. Alyavdin, what basically are the advantages of this technology and how did the project begin?

Radiation modification of polymers is one of the most interesting technologies to have emerged into the commercial manufacturing from previously secret development work. The technology is based on the fact that many materials change their characteristics if they are irradiated. For example, when irradiated, the quality of polymers improves: they become 3 times harder, more chemically durable, they can be used in a significantly wider range of temperatures, and, the feature which is most important in terms of commercial demand, they take on a so called “memory effect”. Irradiation, as it were, imparts a memory of the shape the object had at the time of irradiation, the practical applications of this property involve the production of heat-responsive products, which can be used in a wide range of applications.

As far the organisation of our business is concerned: we are a conversion project of the Rosatom facility MAYAK, where manufacturing of these products established as long ago as the early 1990s. This activity created the existing market niche. But conditions change, the status of the Closed City changed as did the situation in MAYAK. It became necessary to working in the open market. The restructuring of the nuclear complex was also a factor. Hence, what CNCP had to offer seemed extremely relevant and made it possible to transfer this technology to an alternative site. It was certainly necessary to do this. In this connection, the choice of Mayak as the name of the company was not a coincidence. This places a heavy responsibility on us.

With the arrival of CNCP, our conversion production project took on a new life. CNCP provided funding and MAYAK transferred the technology needed to carry out the project. Our task led to the creation of a new business and new workplaces. In my opinion, this provides an excellent example of partnership.

How did you find out about CNCP and what do you think about the Programme?

From open media available in the City of Ozersk, and when they wrote about projects which were being supported. It was interesting to find out more about international cooperation – the specific features of the closed cities left their mark, but real English people arrived here! Yes and they even offered support for the development of business projects.

Without any doubt, the Programme is excellent! I don’t know of a better enterprise support programme in Russia. All the more so for the closed cities, where the development of small and medium sized businesses has only begun in the last few years, and the existing programmes are, of course, not so complex in terms of their range of activities.

What difficulties did you face in implementing the project?

Before we could launch ourselves on the market we had to go through all the stages of development, including mastering the technology and building a team. People arrived without professional skills, we had to train them, so to speak “right now, and on the spot”. Some of them were not able to adjust to the new situation and left. And the market also knew nothing about our arrival, we drew on all of our experience and took every opportunity to promote our name and our products. And now, in 2009 alone, we have already concluded some 350 new sales agreements.

I want to stress that, that through the whole timespan of the implementation of the project we felt the supporting presence of our partners, the CNCP supervisors and managers, close at hand - and for that a big thank you. We were constantly in touch and it was clear that our problems were of real concern to them. Moreover, we were able to find out about similar experiences in other Closed Cities. In part as a result of the advice of the CNCP specialists, John Berry and Roman Tertychnyy, we paid a great deal of attention to creating an Internet Site. And they turned out to be right: today we are selling more than 90% of our production through advertisements on our Web Site ().

How the relationship with MAYAK shaping up?

The relationship was one of partnership right from the beginning of the project. The General Director of MAYAK, Vitaly Sadovnikov, proposed the venture as a defence conversion initiative, and for its part, the management of MAYAK provided full technological support to all aspects of the project. We are deeply integrated with MAYAK in terms of the technology needed for the radiation modification of polymer materials. The provision of radiation services is covered by a long term agreement.

We have already discussed the future development of our production activities and the prospects for establishing new irradiation facilities with the new leader of MAYAK, Sergey Baranov. It is good to take stock of what has been achieved. As you know, I and many of our colleagues formerly worked in MAYAK.

How is production faring now, and what are the prospects?

We have entered the market, we are living in it and, indeed, are feeling its ups and downs - for example, the crisis. Orders fell, but we found an optimal solution to the issue of what to call company when the business was to be spun out of MAYAK and used the resources of the Internet and now we are even working two shifts and are planning to take on more staff.

Every project has its own life, its own fate. Radiation modification of polymers is an innovation-based business. I believe that continuing expansion of production and, most of all, the further innovation is essential if the project is to have a future. Already, today, we are working on bringing an interesting new product to the market: soil heaving –resistant piles using heat-shrinkeable sleeves. A patent application is being prepared for the Russian patents agency. In June, the CNCP Steering Group approved an Outline Proposal. And we very much hope that the CNCP Programme will once again help bring a new product to the point of production in Ozersk. And that shows that the project is alive and is continuing to grow.

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