Employers of Moscow Region: “Bureaucrat”

Correspondent of Rjob.ru  discussed the issues of manufacturing of office chairs and armchairs with Sales Manager of branch “Furniture” of MERLION company Olga Dyakonova.

How long ago was this production moved to Russia?

Trade mark “Bureaucrat” started out in 1997 with the establishment of the same-name company. There were wholesale supplies of office chairs from the countries of Southeast Asia. By 2003 the scope of deliveries of finished chairs became so large that it was decided to set up a project on local content of finished chairs manufacturing on the territory of RF. The demand in facilities for appropriate and high-quality assembly grew, that’s why the decision was taken to construct company’s own industrial warehouse in Moscow region. In 2008 in Chekhov in Moscow region this industrial warehouse was put in service. For today “Bureaucrat” is the largest manufacturer of office chairs, armchairs and stationery materials made of plastic.

Which staff members are in demand in the company?

More than 1,000 staff members are employed at production site, among them high proficiency specialists: 30 engineers, 7 designing engineers, 5 quality engineers. The manufacturing equipment includes more than 1,500 units. Production site in Chekhov includes both cabinetry and plastic stationery production. Furniture manufacturing consists of several production departments: metal production (cutting, bending, painting, pressing, welding works etc.), sewing and upholstering production and assembly lines. That’s why register of specialities contains more than hundreds of positions.

What demands do you make on applicants?

Everything depends on the speciality. We engage both people without any work experience and train them on site and grown professionals. In this regard all qualities of an applicant are important, but we pay attention on the desire to develop their knowledge.

What is the geography of living of company’s employees?

The major part of staff members live in Chekhov. The small part (narrow focused specialists) come to work from Moscow. But there are also the specialists who moved to Moscow from other regions.

Among thousands of staff members there are only 42 engineers, the rest are operating personnel members. What are the peculiarities of employees’ engagement?

Engagement of frontline employee differs from filling the vacancy of the specialist with specialized higher education and work experience. In these cases we can ask outstaffing companies for help. However, the main difficulty for us – seasonal factors of capacity utilization and demand in temporary engagement of some specialists.

How do you train the staff? What is the procedure of the new staff members onboarding? 

The specialists who are engaged in operation with complex equipment work with the experienced specialist for a month at least. Production supervisors are responsible for adaptation of new members. They are trainers, business-coaches at the same time, who devolve their knowledge and build capabilities of newcomers during close cooperation with them. They have the number of procedures of new staff onboarding both in production area and in office.

Is there any possibility of career growth?

In such companies as ours there is always a possibility of growth, not only career growth but also a personal growth. It’s worth mentioning that the major part of the present senior staff includes the members who built a career at the production and raised from minor staff members.

How do you get senior and minor staff motivated?

We have several forms of payment for labor at our enterprise, most of which are focused on achievement of measurable results. For minor staff it is a piece-work payment system, when each separate operation has its own determination. 

Another system is for senior staff: the pattern of their motivation is focused on direct earning yield of entrusted divisions: from indirect aggregates to direct net profit of the section or workshop. But we define problems correctly and are proud that pay honestly for the labor of our workers at production site.