IZHEVSK, Eastern European Russia. Feb 13 (Interfax-AVN) - Director General of the Izhmash holding company Vladimir Grodetsky denied on Wednesday that Izhmash was planning to reduce its personnel in 2002.
On the contrary, the company is planning to employ more people, Grodetsky told Interfax-Military News Agency. "In 2001, the personnel of the enterprise grew by 2,800 people from 24,700 to 27,500, and the payroll grew more than 1.5 times," he said.
Director General of the Russian Conventional Arms Agency Alexander Nozdrachev visited Izhevsk in late January and informed the Izhmash personnel that the holding company had a real chance to better the results of 2001 in the current year. Nozdrachev, who heads Izhmash's board of directors, said the board had praised activity of all component parts of the company.
The Izhmash press service told Interfax-AVN that the enterprise registered a 19.7 percent growth in the production of hunting rifles in 2001. Production of tools grew by 69 percent and of automobiles by 74 percent.
An average production volume per person increased 28 percent last year, Nozdrachev said. Izhmash invested RUB1.5bn (USD48.58m) in capital construction, renovation of basic production facilities, repairs and reconstruction. The figures are extremely high for the Russian defense industry, he noted.
As many as 140 employees of Izhmash were part-time students of higher educational establishments in 1999, but at present almost 1,500 people are studying at the request of enterprises forming part of the holding company. Many factories included in Izhmash, namely those making instruments, arms and automobiles, are employing third-year students. 25 percent of the company's employees have undergone retraining or mastered a new profession in the past 12 months.
According to Nozdrachev, "it makes no sense to discuss a staff reduction when an enterprise is conducting a staff policy like that."
"Nevertheless, personnel restructuring is underway at Izhmash, in particular, duplicate posts are being abolished in the company's management," the press service said.