The CEO summed up the results of the outgoing year and spoke about plans

Over the past year, ALD Engineering and Construction has done a lot of work and made a significant contribution to future development.

The end of the year is a traditional time to sum up, admit mistakes, celebrate achievements, draw conclusions and make plans for the future.

The main results of our company over the past year are facilities that we have built with high quality, which have been begun operating today, and are already showing their real efficiency. And given that most of our projects are aimed at improving the environment, their importance for the country increases significantly.

Summing up the results of the outgoing year, General Director of ALD Engineering and Construction Aleksey Lebedev noted that 2021 was a good, productive year, but there were also some unfortunate moments.

- Speaking about the overall assessment for the company, you can give us a rating – «good», - said Aleksey Sergeevich. - We have to admit that we did not always manage to meet the deadlines. There are several reasons for this problem. Internal reasons include the personnel aspect. The fact is that, given the rapid growth of the company and the acceleration of all processes, we did not always have time to provide a resource for the implementation of projects on time. At the time of the company's growth, we had to hire not very highly effective specialists. Unfortunately, it is difficult to determine this solely from the resume. To figure it out, you need to hire a person, where he already demonstrates his abilities, showing strengths and weaknesses. And if these people do their work poorly, we have to say goodbye to them. This does not happen quickly and takes time. Therefore, our project deadlines suffered. However, we are primarily focused on ensuring that we employ the maximum number of highly effective people in our company.

There were also external factors that influenced the timing of projects. The pandemic largely limited people, it was necessary to take certain measures to combat the virus and comply with all quarantine rules and regulations. People could get sick, there was no getting away from it, and then work had to be suspended. And the second point is the semiconductor crisis, which was caused by the pandemic. Deliveries were disrupted by suppliers and this affected all global manufacturers, which seriously affected us, slowing down the implementation of some tasks.

- Despite the difficulties, the company managed to implement a number of large-scale projects ...

- Yes, despite the difficulties, this year we managed to make several breakthroughs and achieve serious results. For all projects that were completed this year, we managed to invest in the budget set by our customers. The main thing is that we managed to ensure a high-quality completion of the work.

- During the year, 3 aspiration units were built: at the tail sections of sintering machines No. 1 and No. 2 at the Zaporizhstal. We also completed an aspiration project at SevGOK. In the pellet production shop, bag filters were installed at two sites. Aspirations are included in the work and are working successfully. We are engaged in the implementation of environmental projects that Metinvest Group, as our main customer, implements at its enterprises. We have an extensive geography in the South-East of the country. This gives certain advantages, but, of course, imposes certain responsibilities.

- In order to implement such a list of projects in the company, has the staff increased, respectively, and the amount of tax deductions has increased?

- Yes, the staff of the company has grown significantly. At the beginning of the year, we had 224 people, and at the end of the year, total number of employees is already 357 people. We are a confident company with our own principles and achievements, therefore we consistently pay our employees decent wages. At the beginning of the year, the company's salary fund for the month was UAH 5.8 million, and at the end of the year it was UAH 10.1 million. For 2021, our company paid all taxes to various authorities about UAH 13 million. This money is used to implement important city programs. We conduct all our activities transparently, in accordance with the law.

- Are you planning to increase the staff next year?

- We set the task to increase the staff of working specialties up to 30% next year. All this is within the framework of our planning and taking into account the implementation of new projects. To do this, we are working hard in different directions to find qualified personnel. This year, we began close cooperation with technical specialized educational institutions.

Students of such colleges underwent practical training, and let's hope that these guys will come to work with us later, we are ready to have on board them. The overall result of such production practices is very important, because the trainees show their skills and learn in real conditions of the construction site, and most importantly, they are ready to work. And we, for our part, show them that in Ukraine it is possible to work and earn money without leaving its borders, and at the same time receive a respectable salary.

- This year you began to replenish your fleet of special equipment. What is the reason for this?

- During the year we purchased six units of special equipment. And further this work will continue. First of all, we decided to purchase equipment to ensure safety at the construction site.

Of course, in our region there is special construction equipment that can be rented, but we are faced with the fact that this equipment often is not up to labor protection standards. We cannot know exactly how it was followed, repaired and checked. And since we, like our customers, have very high safety requirements, we cannot put our people at risk, so we decided to purchase our own fleet of special equipment. These are high-quality cars, which we will personally monitor and carry out all the necessary technical inspections.

- Staff increase and purchase of new equipment, are you surely preparing for the implementation of serious projects next year?

- Yes, we will continue to implement Metinvest's environmental projects at various enterprises of the Group. Now it is under construction, and next year large projects will be completed - this is the modernization of aspiration at the bunker room DP-4 at PJSC Iron and Steel Works «Azovstal», modernization of the aspiration of the foundry yard of PJSC «Zaporizhstal», modernization of aspiration at DP-5 of PJSC «Zaporizhstal» and modernization of the aspiration system of the under-bunker room DP-12 of PJSC «Dneprovsky Coke-Chemical Plant». Also, two aspiration units will be built at PJSC "Zaporozhogneupor". These are just a few of the main projects that we are planning to implement.

- Сan you call the strong point of the company which helps to implement such large-scale projects?

- Our strong point is our people. All our team that works to achieve a common result - a high-quality result, I emphasize. We have responsible employees who coped with all the tasks and withstood the volume of tasks that were entrusted to them in 2021. Thanks to each professional from our team for a serious approach to work. And we will all do better next year, I am sure.