INVESTORS IN MSK

Stadler,

Swiss Quality

on Czech Raildays

Swiss manufacturer of rolling stock, Stadler, has been operating on the Czech market for almost

thirteen years. Its products can be encountered when traveling on Leo Express trains or on trips

to the mountains of the Liberec region. But Stadler does not forget about the needs of public

transport either, where, especially in Ostrava, the Tango NF2 tram has become one of the symbols

of new travel comfort. In this context, we asked the director of the Czech representative office,

Bohumír Kráčmar, to share his experience with us.

In 2009, the owner of Stadler, Peter

Spuhler, decided to set up a design

office in Prague. The goals were clear.

To connect Swiss values with the Central

and Eastern European market. Why was

the Czech Republic chosen?

The creation of Stadler Prague is closely

linked to the global crisis that occurred in

2008. At that time, Siemens decided to

close its Prague production plant due to

a decline in order intake and to move its

rail technology activities to neighbouring

Austria. Since the first double-decker

trains for the Swiss Railways were being

produced here, Peter Spuhler made an

interesting offer to our engineers, to try it

elsewhere and a little differently. As a result,

thirty Siemens engineers decided to make

a change. A newly emerging, dynamic

company, still finding its place in the market,

was an interesting challenge. At the time,

Stadler had nearly 3,000 employees and

big plans. Today, it has more than 13,000

employees worldwide. This shows that the

company is succeeding in its original plans.

The establishment of the Prague design

office was also part of the company‘s

overall expansion strategy in Central

Europe. Two years earlier, a production

plant had already been established in

Siedlce near Warsaw. The Czech design

office was able to gradually replace

the design support provided by the

headquarters in Switzerland. Today,

more than 150 qualified designers and

development staff work in Prague,

accounting for approximately 10% of the

total development capacity of the entire

Stadler Rail Group.

What is the work of the design and

development office? And where does it

stand in terms of its expertise within

the holding?

The Stadler Prague Design Office is

the main development centre of the Central

Europe Division. Our job is to handle the

complete engineering of railway vehicles

for the Central European region. But above

all, thanks to our high qualifications and

experience, we are involved in projects

almost all over the world. The Czech

engineering footprint can thus be seen on

Stadler trains from Cordillera to Ural. Even

on our flagship, the EC 250 high-speed

electric unit, you can come and refresh

yourself in a restaurant car designed in

Prague. The comprehensiveness of our

professional skills puts us on a par with our

Swiss partners.

How difficult is it to maintain its high

quality in these times of shortage of

skilled workers?

Skilled workers are a problem in any era,

not only this one. If you just wait and

hope that things will improve, you will

simply miss the train. And the next one‘s

not coming. So we have no choice but to

use the time-honoured method and start

educating them ourselves. It is necessary

to devote yourself intensively to guiding

them

professionally.

Unfortunately,

today‘s society is more oriented towards

generating strong individuals than

collective players. But the future belongs

to strong and stable teams.

We are trying to build one of these in our

company. And I think we are succeeding.

Mr Kráčmar, thank you for the interview.

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