M+S Hydraulic Plc

M+S HYDRAULIC

2 | EME Outlook issue 42

MANUFACTURING

FROM BULGARIA TO THE WORLD

Vladimir Spasov, Managing Director at M+S Hydraulic, discusses his company’s place in the world’s hydraulic manufacturing space Writer: Sean Galea-Pace Project Manager: Matthew Taylor

Vladimir Spasov, Managing Director, M+S Hydraulic

Bulgaria’s manufacturing industry is very exciting today.”

Indeed, Bulgaria is regarded as a major player in the production of lead, zinc and copper and produces approximately 10 percent of the world’s hydraulic machinery. As a result of its geographic location,

Bulgaria is based at a crossroads between Europe and Asia and is ideally placed for international transport. It’s an advantage that Vladimir Spasov, Managing Director at M+S Hydraulic, is well aware of.

“Since becoming a member of the European Union, there have been quite a number of investments in Bulgaria and the country has a long tradition of manufacturing hydraulic products. But we’re not tied to the overall industry in Bulgaria,” he explains. “More than 98 percent of our production is exported and we’re selling worldwide, with more than 40 distributors around the globe.”

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M+S HYDRAULIC

Production overview M+S Hydraulic is a leading manufacturer of hydraulic orbital motors, steering units, brakes and accessories in Europe and across the globe, and operates with a strong customer-centric mindset. In a bid to differentiate itself from competitors, Spasov acknowledges the importance of being agile and quick to respond to customer demands.

“This gives us an opportunity to increase our market share and we have about 70 percent which are sales to OEM customers and only 30 percent which is aftermarket,” he explains. “We have around 1,200 employees and are manufacturing everything ourselves. Of course, we have some sub-contractors that we are working with, but the company has production capacity that can guarantee the possibility to make everything ourselves. We are wellorganised, structured and we always strive to respond quickly to customer needs at ease. It’s a key advantage over our competitors.”

Although operating primarily with one centralised headquarters, M+S Hydraulic has three smaller workshops nearby where it makes preliminary machining.

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COMPANY MISSION M+S Hydraulic has a drive to win the trust and respect of its customers, investors and employees by reinforcing values every day through the management, production, marketing and sales of high-quality hydraulic products as well as providing safe working conditions and environment care.

Company Aims • Customers’ satisfaction by providing the best products and services on time and on budget.

• Increasing the M+S brand evaluation, brand control, monitoring and brand protection.

• Continually improving performance and effectiveness.

• Encouraging creativity, decision-making and co-operation.

• Earning sustainable financial results that enable continuous profitable growth.

• Expending opportunities for qualification and career growth of its employees.

• Meeting its broader responsibilities to the community and the environment.

• Investments in industrial innovation, development and regeneration in order to meet with changes in demand and supply and to consolidate its position.

• Establishing close relationship with suppliers that promote open and honest communication.

MANUFACTURING

Teknosan Machining Co. operates out of its modern plant with 3,500 m2 closed area, within a total area of 8000 m2, in the Kirac Industrial Zone.

Teknosan manufactures parts for customers in various industries including the automotive and tractor fields.

The product range offered includes transmission boxes, shift frames, clutch hubs, as well as various hydraulics parts, differential hubs, reduction hubs, lock plates for various engines and ball bearings, pulley types.

teknosanmakine@teknosanmakine.com.tr

www.teknosanmakine.com

Manufacturing hydraulic cylinders of all types

Head office

8600 Yambol, Bulgaria, 1 Pirin str.

Tel. +359 46 661 464 | Fax +359 46 661 456 | e-mail info@hes-co.com

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M+S HYDRAULIC

Progamming “What we’ve done in the past few years is improved the organisation because we’re growing year by year,” explains Spasov. “At the end of 2018, we began to build another new workshop. It’s a very interesting project at 8,000 square metres. We move part of the machines that we have internally, and the idea of this workshop was to have additional space. I’m really proud of this investment and today it’s working at full capacity.”

The coronavirus pandemic impacted organisations and industries across the globe. However, despite its seismic impact worldwide, cases in Bulgaria were few.

“With the vast majority of our products exported, in April 2020 we began to experience issues with cancelled orders because of the pandemic,” explains Spasov. “We continued to work during COVID-19 for the subsequent two or three months with decreased workload, but during that time we did receive support from the government, and this helped us to ensure we could retain all employees within the business. The positive aspect is that our products are used across different sectors so there is a diversification of the risk.

“We took all the safety precautions we could to ensure the workplace was 6 | EME Outlook issue 42

Heat treatment area

M+S Hydraulic’s workshop as safe as possible. We immediately switched to work on shifts to decrease the number of people working at any one time and today, we can say that we didn’t stop working for even one day because of COVID-19. In some different countries like Italy and the UK, they

had to stop working completely but fortunately for us, this wasn’t the case.

COVID-19 is a challenge, but we are dealing with it well.”

Developing key, strategic relationships is a vital part of achieving long-term success at all organisations.

For Spasov, he recognises the value of a robust supply chain and points to its importance within M+S Hydraulic.

“We value each and every partnership and it is key for future success. We normally work with at least two suppliers for every material that we’re delivering in order to diversify the risk. Our quality

MANUFACTURING

Student training

Research laboratory and training centre

department is making audits of our suppliers and we are trying to develop all of them in the right direction. Our aim is to have a long-term relationship with suppliers and to grow together.”

Looking ahead, Spasov reflects on a challenging 2020 and is optimistic about what the future could hold for M+S Hydraulic.

“Last year was difficult for us all, and we are beginning to see an increase in demand for our service which can only be a good thing,” he explains. “We have an aim to recover and bounce back from a difficult year and I am expecting to see around a 25

An aerial shot of operations at Kazanluk

percent increase in sales.

“We are working and preparing a new strategy for the next phase of the company. The aim is to increase the production capacity for our existing products and our philosophy is to add new products to our portfolio.

With the new workshops in mind, we plan to expand and diversify where possible.

“M+S Hydraulic fully accepts the statement of the European Economic and Social Committee on the European Industrial Strategy for sustainable transformation and transition to a carbon-neutral

economy. Ahead of the expectations, we have already implemented with our own funds a project for electricity from clean energy sources entirely for our own needs and we have set many more large-scale actions in the medium-term plan.”

Tel: +359 431 65167 msh@ms-hydraulic.com www.ms-hydraulic.com

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M+S HYDRAULIC PLC Head Office & Production Kazanlak, 6100, Kozloduy 68 Str. Bulgaria.

Tel: +359 431 65167 / +359 431 64271 / +359 431 64114 msh@ms-hydraulic.com www.ms-hydraulic.com PRODUCED BY EME OUTLOOK MAGAZINE