interview
For us,
business
does not end with sale Speaking with general manager of Česká zbrojovka a.s. (CZ), Ing. Lubomír Kovařík, MBA, not only about new generation of CZ weapons | You have been general manager of Česká zbrojovka for almost 8 years now. With what vision did you come to CZ in 2006? And have you ma naged to fulfil it? One of my primary objectives I was resolved to achieve was to reintroduce into the production portfolio of CZ automatic weapons, whose production had, naturally, seen a recession since the fall of the Iron Curtain. We have managed to achieve this objective, and at present, we are one of few producers in the market to offer a comprehensive range of duty
4 | The best of CZ
weapons, from the numerous family of pistols led by our entirely new polymer models CZ P-07 and CZ P-09, to our submachine gun CZ SCORPION EVO 3 A1, simplified in a revolutionary way, to our modular assault rifle CZ 805 BREN A1/A2 with grenade launcher CZ 805 G1, up to sniper specials. In addition to that, we must not forget about our wide range of accessories and supplements. Today, we are able to attend to almost any order from armed or security forces, with an exception of machine guns, which is, of course, a special product, not designed for an ordinary combatant. | You have returned to production of automatic duty weapons at the time when armed forces all over the world face significant reductions of their budgets, which is reflected, among
other, in lower quantities and fre quency of realized purchases. How do you tackle this situation? The situation in the armed forces market really is not easy, but there is still an interest in high quality firearms. Our indisputable advantage is our offer of the entire range of top quality modern firearm models for prices that are not exorbitant, and this fact is reflected in the demand. In addition to that, it is clear that there are ever harder requirements imposed on producers. The top quality is no more the only decisive fact, as it is expected automatically. It is the degree of flexibility for individual customers, the price, naturally, the ability to supply demanded goods fast and, above all, other additional services that matter today. It means that our business does not end by selling a weapon, it must be accompanied by top after‑sale service or even training.