On June 15th 2016, during a special celebration event, Ukrainian company Hydrosila marked the delivery of its 100th Haas CNC machine tool. Several VIP guests attended the event, including Mr. Jens Thing, Haas Automation Europe managing director, Mr. Wojciech Ratyński, member of the board at Abplanalp Engineering, Mr. Nikolaj Skripnik, general director of Abplanalp Ukraine, and Mr. Vitaliy Khnustudinow, managing director of Haas Factory Outlet in Ukraine.
Hydrosila is made up of five factories located in Ukraine, three of them in Kirovograd, 250km south from Kiev, and the other two in Melitopol, in Sourthern Ukraine. All of the factories are owned by Hydrosila Group, which currently employs over 4000 people. The holding company has been a Haas customer since the purchase of its first two machine tools, in 2000. By mid-summer 2016 it had increased the number of its Haas machines across all factories to over 100 (currently 114). All the machines are supplied and supported by Abplanalp Ukraine Haas Factory Outlet (HFO), a member of Abplanalp holding company, the most successful Haas supplier in Central and Eastern Europe.
“We are very proud to be the supplier of Hydrosila and its affiliated companies,” said Mr. Jens Thing. “The facility and operations we have seen during our visit are extremely impressive. The company is very well organised and motivation is excellent. In fact, Hydrosila is one of the best volume-manufacturing plants I have ever seen, anywhere. We look forward to a common, successful future together. And, through the local HFO, we also look forward to supporting the growing Ukrainian manufacturing economy with our very reliable CNC machine tools.”
Hydrosila’s general director, Mr. Yuri Titov, emphasized the importance of cooperation with Haas for the development of the company’s business: “Global market conditions require all manufacturing businesses to be competitive in terms of productivity and the quality of their products” he states. “We began a full, technical modernisation of our company in 2000, by purchasing our first machine tools from Haas. The decision to invest in Haas turned out to be a very good one. We have a very reliable manufacturing base and we can make parts to consistently high standards. The support we receive from the HFO is excellent.”
During the event, Mr. Wojciech Ratyński said that the Hydrosila group, with its excellent technical abilities and its exceptional organisation, is able to manufacture very complicated products, which will enable the company to grow in Western European markets and beyond. “We look forward to coming back again when the company has 200 Haas machines,” he said.
Hydrosila is specialised in the manufacture of gear pumps, hydraulic cylinders, high-pressure hoses and other agricultural spare parts. The products are not only exported, but also used to assemble complete machines, including drills, cultivators, seeders, sprayers and more in the historical Chervona Zirka factory. In 2011 the company met a milestone by reaching production capacity of over 1 million pumps per year.
The company’s long history began in 1874 when British brothers Robert and Thomas Elvorti established the factory, which many decades later became the largest and oldest manufacture of agricultural parts in Europe. Across two centuries, the Chervona Zirka (Red Star) factory has successfully made its way from simple mechanical workshop to the leading supplier of fluid power machines and hydraulic system components for agricultural, construction and road-building equipment.
