Personnel competition, high salaries and a shortage of workers - how a Brovary-based specialty equipment manufacturer operates during the war
Kyiv • UNN
How a special equipment manufacturer from Brovary works during the war.
In Ukraine, although many businesses were forced to shut down in the first months of the war, they managed not only to resume production but also to raise salaries for their employees. This is especially important for small towns, where every job is worth its weight in gold in such a difficult environment, and operating enterprises mean revenues for the community budget. In particular, in Brovary, TDS Ukrspetstechnika, a company specializing in the production of special trucks, continues to operate successfully, UNN reports.
"TDS Ukrspetstechnika has been one of the leading industrial enterprises in Brovary for more than 20 years. It produces more than 650 types of special equipment, including mini and front-end loaders, backhoe loaders, motor graders, various attachments, etc. The company has its own design bureau working on the production of machinery.
The company has representative offices in Lviv, Khmelnytsky, Dnipro, Odesa and Kharkiv regions, as well as several special service points across Ukraine, and operates in Poland and Moldova.
This was the case before the full-scale invasion, and all of this is gradually being restored now.
Like many other Ukrainian companies, TDS Ukrspetstechnika was also forced to cease operations after the full-scale Russian invasion. This was especially true as Russian troops were rushing toward Brovary.
"We were in the same situation as everyone else - when the enemy is at the gates, what kind of production can we think about? No one understood what would happen next. Our employees, like many other people, were leaving the city.
For the first month, we did not work at all. When the situation stabilized, we gradually started to resume work, and people gradually returned to production.
But resuming work is only half the battle. Our products are targeted at a specific consumer: these are mostly construction and agricultural companies, and they also shut down their operations at that time. Our sales stopped completely, and we went through that period very hard. Only when our customers resumed their business activities did we manage to stabilize the situation," recalls Mykola Didov, the company's CEO.
This kind of production requires highly qualified specialists, who cannot be trained in one day. That is why he believes that the company's significant achievement today is that it managed to retain the team and avoid staff reductions.
"We currently employ 150 people in production. There have been no layoffs. The labor market in our industry is quite competitive, so we raised their salaries to prevent our employees from leaving for competitors. As for production, of course, we have not yet reached the level of February 2022 - there are objective reasons for this: not all of our customers need our equipment now. But there are still positive developments. In January-March of this year, the company's net income from sales more than doubled compared to the first three months of 2023," adds the head of TDS Ukrspetstechnika.
The company's CEO is convinced that in a time when businesses are forced to survive because of the war, the state should interfere with the economic activities of enterprises as little as possible. At the same time, he emphasizes that the Brovary authorities are constantly monitoring the industrial life of the city, taking an interest in the problems of enterprises and helping to find ways to solve them.
"Our cooperation with the city council is excellent. Before the full-scale invasion, Mayor Ihor Sapozhko gathered the heads of the city's enterprises once a month, asking what were the problematic issues, whether there were any misunderstandings with officials. We discussed everything and reached an understanding. Now such meetings are held a little less frequently. In the difficult conditions we live in, this is normal. But we constantly feel the support of the city authorities," says Mykola Dedov.
Optional
As of the beginning of 2024, since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the assets of more than 400 Ukrainian large and medium-sized enterprises have been damaged or destroyed. Total direct losses are estimated at more than $13 billion.
According to experts, this is only an estimate, and the actual number of destroyed industrial facilities and the amount of damage is much higher.
Many of the companies that lost their assets were unable to recover and were forced to cease operations.
In view of this, the mayor of Brovary, Ihor Sapozhko, notes that the city has been and remains a priority for the preservation and normal operation of business.
"It was and still is important for us that business in the city works, that enterprises produce their products, and that new working places are created. We are in constant contact with managers and owners of enterprises, discuss all problematic issues, and jointly look for solutions," said Brovary Mayor Ihor Sapozhko in a commentary to UNN.
