Home > News

Stadco targets expansion in Russia

Stadco Ltd, a leading supplier of body-in-white services and facilities to the automotive industry, is planning major developments in Russia as it continues its growth strategy in the country's fast-growing motor industry.

Stadco is engaged in a pioneering arrangement with Severstal-Auto, which is expected to lead to the establishment of world-class body stamping and assembly facilities in Russia. The initiative will see Stadco's proven expertise in Body-in-White (BIW) allied with Severstal-Auto's vehicle manufacturing experience, localised market knowledge, and existing facilities.

The objective of this arrangement is to offer the growing number of international car makers that are moving into Russia modern, high quality stamping and assembly facilities, backed up by Stadco's full engineering support services and established supply chain management processes. Stadco, an acknowledged leader in BIW engineering and manufacturing, with clients such as Ford and BMW, was the first European BIW company to start operating in the Russian market – with Stadco Russia LLC being established and with project teams having been heavily engaged in two major projects in Russia since early 2006.

The collaboration with Severstal-Auto initially involves Stadco leading the refurbishment and upgrading to international standards of Severstal-Auto's Ulyanovsk press shop, which is now well underway. This plant will then be able to supply medium and small BIW components to international OEMs who are starting up in Russia, as well as satisfying Severstal-Auto's internal needs and exporting components to Europe. The second major project involves the creation of new stamping and assembly facilities in the Tatarstan region.

Stadco anticipates that vehicle production in Russia by incoming international manufacturers will amount to over 200,000 units per year in 2007, representing well over ten million potential outsourced stampings, with strong further growth likely.

In addition to the collaboration with Severstal-Auto, Stadco expects to develop and establish new state-of-the-art BIW facilities in the St Petersburg and Moscow regions close to the assembly plants of international OEMs. These new facilities, which are being designed for modular expansion, in order to accommodate the expected continued growth of the Russian market, will feature fully automated press machinery and robotised assembly systems. They will focus on larger stampings and assemblies, including class-A skin panels. Start-up of operations is expected to be within two years.

Commenting on entering the Russian market, Andrew Morriss, Managing Director of Stadco, said: "We are delighted that we are establishing ourselves in this fast expanding market. Severstal-Auto has a growing reputation as a major automotive manufacturer, and is investing in new and upgraded facilities, supported by strong local market expertise".

Mr Morriss added: "Many vehicle makers are starting operations in Russia but none have the scale individually to justify large BIW investments. We realised that there is an opportunity for Stadco to offer OEMs modern facilities, featuring the latest automated processes, which would meet the international quality, cost and delivery standards expected by today's vehicle manufacturers, and we are now committing significant manpower to this".