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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