We want a smart plant with tradition

INTERVIEW We want a smart plant with tradition Mr Jan Czudek – Chairman of Board of Directors, CEO of Třinecké železárny (Třinec Iron and Steel Works) and member the Board of Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic; graduated from Brno University of Technology (Telecommunications) in 1983 and has worked in Třinecké železárny since. In 2000 he became a member of the Board of Directors of Třinecké železárny and the CEO of Management System Development, seven years later the Investment CEO, and in 2012 he became the top CEO of the company. He is married, with two adult children. His hobbies include sports and amateur drama (he and his wife have written a few plays). For years he has been a functionary of HC Oceláři Třinec (current: Vice President of the ice-hockey club). Třinecké železárny in basic data now and 100 years ago: Třinecké železárny is the greatest Czech ironworks with home capital who produce the largest amount of steel in the Czech Republic. With Moravia Steel and dozens daughter companies, it is one of the most important industrial groups in Central Europe. Its tradition of steel production dates back to 1839 when the first wood coal blast furnace was lit. It will have worked for 180 years in 2019. Třinecké železárny annually produces 2.5 million tons of steel. The products include cast and rolled semiproducts, rails and railway fixtures, wire rod, rolled bars, seamless pipes, drawn steel. The products are exported to over 60 countries on all continents. Exports make over 60% of the company’s production. Třinecké železárny employ over 7,000 people (including branch operations in Ostrava – Vítkovice, Bohumín, Staré Město and Kladno). Comparing the basic data of the company 100 years ago and now, what are the key differences and status of ironworks and steel production nowadays? Třinecké železárny a hundred years ago was basically a very different company in the view of technologies, scale of product portfolio and volume of production. In 1918 the company produced nearly 200 thousand tons of iron while nowadays it is the annual average of 2.5 million tons of steel. Our ancestors had different ways to treat their employees, and they undoubtedly made business with customers at a shorter distance. However, I have to admit that the company development in historical context has not changed that much. Třinec ironworks had the first electric rolling mill in Europe in 1906, more than a hundred years ago; internal phone networks started operation in 1882, energy grid was introduced in 1885. POSITIV ǀ 3/2018 13