"Thank you for believing in me"

Today, the terms "market turbulence conditions" and "constant changing of market conditions" have become almost commonplace. For commercial specialists, these conditions stand between them and the fulfillment of their tasks. We talked with Mr. Andrey Kubasov, Deputy General Director, Commercial Director of Metadynea LLC, about his path to chemistry and prospects for professional development in the current conditions.

Andrey Kubasov is currently the head of the commercial department of the "Metadynea" Company. His competence includes the functions of ensuring of business processes. Thesefunctions include the purchase of raw materials, equipment and materials, sale of finished products to the market, working withlogistics issues, preparation of materials and reports at all levels, including the Board of Directors. And, as a result, and as the main objective, this is the formation of the Company's income - the final figure in the lower right corner.

- Andrey Borisovich, please tell us how didyou come into the Group of Companies and how did your way into chemistry begin?

- I started working in 1997 as a credit inspector in a bank, and I worked there for three years. I issued loans to the people, legal entities, including Metafrax. At some point I understood that the issuance of loans can continue indefinitely and nothing will change. I decided to change my activity area. These were the years when Russia was just entering the economic platforms. I lived in the Gubakha town and the only company, whose employee could look to the future with confidence, was Metafrax. Therefore, in fact, without thinking twice, I called the HR department, introduced myself, and literally three or four months later I was accepted to the position of the sales manager. From that moment my work at Metafrax began.

- How did your career develop further?

- The developmentof the career was interesting. For two years I worked as a sales manager, selling polyamide and paints. The experience in terms of developingof sales practices and understandingof business processes was quite positive for me.Then there was a project to implement the Oracle program for the sales unit. Metafrax was the first Company in Russia, thatimplemented this program. I was one of the participants of the working group, described business processes and subsequently formed regulatory documents. It was quite difficult, but we implemented the program. After that, I had two options – to stay in the Oracle working group, or to go somewhere else. In 2003 I was offered to move to the "Meakir" brick factory in Berezniki (Perm Region). In two years my team and I have promoted the factory to the level of the design capacity of 5 millionbricks per month and organized sales, which was very problematic in conditions of oversupply on the market.

- Please tell us how did you get into "Metadynea"?

- Metafrax acquired the "Karbolit" Companyin Orekhovo-Zuyevo. In October 2005 I moved to work for this Company as a commercial director. It is also a rather difficult stage of formation. Sales of "Karbolit" were insufficiently systematized, the process of purchasing raw materials was inefficient. But during 2006 we brought the company to profit. During the first year of full-fledged work, we have already received a net profit of more than 100 million rubles, although before that "Karbolit" worked at a loss. From the same period the stage of work with Metadynea begins in the form of the first three reactors at the Orekhovo-Zuyevo site. In the position of commercial director of "Karbolit" my area of responsibility included the procurementof the construction activities of "Metadynea". In April 2007 I joined the Company als in the position of commercial director. Actually, until today I have been working here for more than 15 years.

- How did all the previously described experience affect you from a professional point of view?

- To be honest, in general, the experience I have gained working at "Metafrax", at "Karbolit" and at "Metadynea", is very individual. I am gratefulso much for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to realize myself. Today, of course, the number of relations with business entities, with officials is very big. This allows you to work efficiently, quickly solve tasks and issues, and find the best solutions in the shortest possible time.

- It would be interesting to talk about the interaction within the Group of Companies. In your opinion, how did it develop during your work?

- Despite the fact that we work for the generalresult, each company has its own budget. Every company tries to achieve the best result. Now we are moving towards increasing the effectiveness of our relationship. This is already reflected in the work of the price committee. I think in the future, with the adjustment of the work of the Management Company, we will get an additional model of end-to-end accounting for achieving profitability at each stage of the redistribution.

- If we turn from the internal situation to the external one, how has the chemistry market developed during your career period?

- If we are talking about the raw materials market, it has become civilized. New technologies have come, production efficiency has increased, and the quality of chemistry has improved. Sales of the main raw materials, which are quoted on world markets, during this period become tied to the export parity. Domestic products by means of derivatives of the final products are also trying to integrate into the world price range. Withintwenty years the chemical industry has made a big step, especially in the field of petrochemistry. Completely new types of chemical raw materials appeared on the market, which made it possible to open further and subsequent processing and products. The level of automation and production efficiency has increased, general expenses on production are reduced.

- Is the trend towards automation also observed in the production of resins?

- Absolutely. The technology of resin production has become more modern one. For example, when the agreement on the establishment of a joint venture between "Metafrax" and "Dynea" was signed on March 3, 2004, the main task was to obtain new technologies for the production of resins. They were implemented with the most modern equipment at two sites, which allowed our company not only to automate the resin production process, but also allows us to obtain the stability of resin quality from batch to batch and in the volumes, required by the market.

- What professional development prospects do you see for yourself in the Group of Companies?

- For 2023, from the professional development point of view and in connection with the creation of the R&D center, it is interesting for me to immerse myself in science and organize the process of developing of new resins. Perhaps this is the study of low-tonnage chemistry developments, the study of analysis issues, laboratory equipment, control methods. This task will be the first one. Today we understand the market of our traditional resins, we understand what shall be given to the market. We have the potential that the current situation has caused – it is the provision of new types of products to the market, that are in demand on the Russian market. Our task is to reproduce an analog, comparable in quality or being even better than foreign ones, and to close the need of the Russian market for new types of products. The next stage is to study the market of the East and Asia. This will require additional professional growth, because the market of the East and Asia has its own culture with its own business laws.