CONTINUED

GROWTH
CKD Blansko Strojirny, situated in Blansko, Czech Republic, is a
company with a long and rich tradition, first-class design welding
and metal-working abilities and highly experienced staff. It is also
very competitive with regards to costs and, as it is medium sized,
it is much more flexible than most of its largest competitors, being
able to respond to the very specific niche requirements of its customers.
he companys core business is the
hydro industry, mainly the design and
production of water turbines and equipment for water energetics. The second very
important part of CKD Blansko Strojirnys
business is the development, design and
manufacturing of heavy-duty vertical lathes.
The third and smallest sector is the production of machined weldments. All its products
are manufactured and customised according
to the customers specific requirements.
The companys history goes back as far
as the 17th century when, in 1698, the
owner of the Blansko manor, the Count of
Gelhorns, established the first iron mill in
the Punkva river valley. In 1766 the noble
house of the Salms-Reifferscheidts bought
the iron works in Blansko. Since that time
the iron production has been continuously
expanded new machines, working procedures and the latest scientific achievements have been incorporated. In 1896
the Salms sold the iron and machine works
to the joint-stock company Strojirny
(Engineering works), formerly BreitfeldDanek. At this time a new engineering
plant with its own foundries was built.
In 1927 the Blansko plant became part
of the Czech-Moravian-Kolben-Danek
concern and began specialising in the
production of water, mill, food and wood
processing machines. In 1950 the company

46 Industry Europe

was nationalised and the national enterprise CKD Blansko was established.
Since that period, the plant has been specialising in the production of water turbines,
heavy vertical lathes and machinery metallurgy. In 1991 the firm was privatised,
giving birth to the joint-stock company
CKD Blansko, which was renamed CKD
Blansko Strojirny in 2001. The owner of
the company is the J&T investment fund,
which has a very strong position in the
energy industry.

Two main production areas

As for the hydro industry, the main focus
is on turbines, which have been produced
in CKD Blansko Strojirny for 106 years.
However, the company can also deliver
complete products, including accessories.
In other words, depending on the customers request, we are able to deliver
anything from the turbine wheel, which is
the most complex part of the turbine, up to
the comprehensive technology for water
power plants, explains Miroslav Klose,
CKD Blansko Strojirnys managing
director. The company delivers directly
to the main users, i.e. the water powerplants. It also supplies its parts to the
biggest players in the hydro industry.
As for the production of water turbines
energy output of which ranges from three to
Industry Europe 47

other manufacturers. The services are

delivered continuously, in the form of regular check-ups or on a one-off basis.

Bright prospects
300MW and other hydro equipment, the
company can take care of the whole
turnkey delivery process from beginning to
end. First the profile of the hydraulic turbine
is developed in the laboratories, next the
technical documentation is set up by the
designers and finally the turbine and its
accessories are manufactured and installed.
The vertical lathes, more than 1000 of
which have been sold all over the world
up to now, have been produced in CKD
Blansko Strojirny for approximately 60 years,
when production was moved there from
Skoda Plzen during the Cold War. They are
the largest lathes the company produces,
can be used for metal-working products
weighing up to 450 tons and are manufactured by only six companies in the world.

Providing services
After the equipment has been installed, the
company provides comprehensive services to its customers. CKD Blansko
Strojirny installs the product, puts it into
operation and provides customer support.
If malfunctions occur, they are solved by
an expert employed by the company. If
the malfunction occurs in a more remote
place and is a minor one, the service is
done by a local company which has an
agreement with CKD Blansko Strojirny to
provide this service.
However, these are not the only services
the company provides to its customers.
Recently it has started offering services
such as the maintenance and repair of
vertical lathes produced by itself or by

DSB Euro has rich and long-term tradition and good experience in
metallurgical production of grey cast iron, carbon and alloyed steel and
nodular cast iron. Another activities are pattern-shop production and testing
and analysis of materials. We have a lot of experiences in domestic market
and strong cooperation with companies in European market.
Grey Cast Iron
Cast Steel and Ductile Cast Iron
Artificial Castings Tests and Analysis of Material
Shop Production Pattern

CKD Blansko Strojirny is a major player

within central and eastern Europe, being
one of only a few companies in these regions
to be active in its particular field. The majority
of the products are exported from the Czech
Republic. Depending on the year, we
export between 70 and 90 per cent of our
products abroad, mainly to central and
eastern Europe, says Mr Klose. This is
the case for both hydro technology and
lathes. Currently we are in competition for
some projects on the Czech rivers. If we are
successful the percentages for hydro can
change; however, the percentages regarding
exports have been valid for several years
now. Moreover, there are not nearly as
many opportunities in the Czech Republic
as in other parts of the world, so perhaps
the numbers will not change significantly.
As Mr Klose suggests, both main pro-

Prochzka MP s.r.o
Po 2137/20a , 678 01 Blansko , Czech Republic
Tel: 516 414 111,

Fax: 516 413 536, Mobil: 602 531 834

E-mail: info@manipulacni-prostredky.cz
www.manipulacni-prostredky.cz

duction programs of CKD Blansko Strojirny

have excellent prospects. The European
Unions aim is to have eight per cent of
the electric energy produced from renewable energy sources in 2010, coming from
wind power plants, hydro power plants,
biomass or biogas. The most promising
areas out of these four are water and wind,
notes Mr Klose. Nowadays, three per cent
of electric energy produced in the EU
countries is renewable. In four years this
is supposed to rise to eight per cent, so a
lot of opportunities lie ahead for our industry.
Moreover, as the surrender price of electric energy keeps going up, after many
years it once again makes sense to build
hydro plants. Other opportunities in
hydro and lathe manufacturing industries
occur in Asia, especially in India, China,
Pakistan and the Philippines.

A new manufacturing segment

DSB EURO s.r.o., Gellhornova No. 18, 678 01 Blansko, Czech Republic
Tel: +420 516 427 106 - Fax: +420 516 417 820
foundry@dsbblansko.cz

48 Industry Europe

Schwer Fittings s. r. o.
Listanska 499
CZ-330 33 Mesto Touskov
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 377 923 030
Email: info@schwer.cz
www.schwer.cz

Based on the market developments, the

company is currently taking steps to add
another significant segment to its activities the production of wind energy
plants. This should also be a very promising
segment, especially in central and eastern
Europe, and the company hopes to make
its first delivery in this area at the beginning of next year.
Major investments will be made in this
new segment in the near future with the
aim of building a whole new production
line. Focusing on the new sector will also

require investments in the training of

employees an area in which the country
is already very active. Currently, for
example, we are carrying out a project
with the support of the European Union
aimed at the training of designers and
other employees, notes Mr Klose.
In addition to all this, the company is now
going to invest in building a paint shop.
Similarly, continuous investments are aimed
at the constant modernisation of all the
machinery, including the largest NC machines.

Highest quality processes

The companys big advantage is its competitive prices as a result of the low cost
of its workforce, sleek processes and high
productivity of work. Another advantage,
which is very important for the customers,
is the delivery time. Here the company
keeps up with even the biggest players
and sometimes wins tenders thanks to
being able to manufacture products faster
than its competitors.
Quality is also of the highest standard, as
the products need to last for 30 to 100 years
in very demanding conditions. The company
is ISO 9001 certified and also possesses
certificates proving the quality of its welding
and metal-working according to DIN 18.800,
DIN 19.704 and EN 729-2 norms. As for
environmental protection, CKD Blansko
Strojirny fulfils all the norms laid down for
environmentally friendly production, and
plans to get ISO 14000 certified soon.

Plans for expansion

As mentioned above, CKD Blansko
Strojirnys main markets for both hydro
equipment and vertical lathes are central
and eastern Europe. Nevertheless, in the
future the company would like to not only
defend its position in these markets, but
also expand to other countries. The first
steps have recently been taken to this
end. We have started delivering to
Scandinavian countries, says Mr Klose.
We see this as a big success as these
are markets with which we have never
cooperated before. Now we are supplying
our first major overhaul to Sweden and
hope to sign further contracts. After not
delivering to the country for many years,
the company has just signed a contract
to deliver to India as well.
As for the vertical lathes, the company
has returned to markets with which it
stopped cooperating 1520 years ago,
such as Russia and the Ukraine. These are
large markets which have now started to be
lucrative, and I am glad that we were able
to return to these countries and make the
most out of the potential openings there.
We will need to refresh our Russian,
remarks Mr Klose.
And the company would like to
expand to other continents, too.
Tens of years ago we had a good
position in Africa and South America.
These are regions to which we would
like to return, concludes Mr Klose.
Industry Europe 49