The main activities of the companies in the Russian Profile group are connected with the production and sale of decorative material and accessories for the regional market. The grant from CNC P helped the Company to take a serious step forward and to achieve a stronger position on the market.

In summer 2005, the management of Russian Profile holding carried out a fundamental analysis of the retail market and came to the conclusion that practically all economy class bathroom furniture on offer to customers in Siberia and the Far East, was sourced from outside of these regions – from central Russia or from abroad. Because of the cost of transport, such furniture was sold at higher prices than in other regions. Hence the idea emerged of setting up a manufacturing operation in Krasnoyarsk, gambling on convenient logistics networks for deliveries to retail and wholesale markets.

Finally, it was decided to establish a factory in the City of Zheleznogorsk, some 30 kilometres from Krasnoyarsk. By then, a factory belonging to the holding was already operating in Zheleznogorsk, where aluminium frames and fixtures for steps were manufactured. The fact that it was functioning satisfactorily, experience of production, and the skills and education of the staff helped clinch the decision to locate the new factory there. In October 2005, the holding moved its production base to Zheleznogorsk, purchased the necessary equipment and in December 2006, the first furniture came off the production line.

Sales developed successfully. Contracts were signed with wholesale clients and furniture production increased from 50 assemblies a month to 500. Beyond that, it was essential to widen our access to the market so we embarked on a big task: developing our technology, changing our designs, increasing the number of shipments and extending the client base. But at a particular point it became apparent that without a serious breakthrough, without the investment of further resources, and without improving our business processes, we would simply continue to mark time.

Certainly, a lot had been achieved, but we understood that it would be all too easy to remain a small company, not managing to exploit our full commercial potential, not looking at what might be possible, but just treading water. Extending the resources and the scale of the production department became critical. No less crucial was the issue of logistics.

Help in resolving these problems came from CNCP: in February 2006, Russian Profile received a grant to increase the scale of production of bathroom furniture and to establish a logistics service and a sales department. That was a real breakthrough!

Today, up to 3,000 square metres of facades are being produced a month, and production and assembly of furniture units is running at 5,000 a month. Lorry loads of goods go every day to Krasnoyarsk and Novosibirsk. Every week containers go by rail to the Far East. The marketing department’s data base includes clients from Khabarovsk, Komsomolsk-on-the-Amur, Vladivostok, Omsk, Tomsk, Barnaul, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, and that’s still not the limit!

Our experience once again demonstrates that calculating the possibilities for market penetration correctly leads to real results. It is possible to set up production and organize sales not just in or around Moscow. It is also possible to do this in Siberia, so providing people with work and putting inexpensive, good quality, products on the market.

Sergey Petrov,
Director General, «Russian Profile» company