Ruscam Expansion

completed

The project entails the installation of a furnace with 315 tons/day of glass making capacity and bottle-forming lines. The venture will address the rapidly growing demand in Russia for beverage bottles manufactured to international quality standards. Currently, most of the bottles which are manufactured domestically suffer from a high breakage rate when utilized on higher-speed filling lines which, with the beverage industry''s investment in improved filling technology, have become increasingly common in Russia. Some bottling operations have had to rely on foreign bottles, which are expensive to import due to bottles’ high bulk/low value character. The role of IFC in the project includes: being one of only very few sources of long-term, limited recourse finance to projects in Russia; and leveraging of IFC''s relationship with Sisecam to facilitate this partner’s establishment of a solid and productive base in a challenging, overseas business environment.In addition to strengthening Russia''s manufacturing base in order to domestically meet the demand for quality bottles, the project is expected to have the following benefits to the local or regional community:- Job Creation. Ruscam has been the only large-scale investment in the Gorokhovets area since the Soviet era and the surrounding area offers very few other employment opportunities. The project is expected to generate approximately 200 incremental, sustainable jobs of which over 110 would be direct employment by Ruscam. - Investment in Human Resources. Sisecam has been transferring best technical practice to its local employees at the shop floor-level and international cost, managerial accounting and financial control know-how to the local management cadre it is developing. In addition to on-the-job training, Sisecam routinely trains local staff at Sisecam facilities in Turkey. - Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). The company is well integrated into the local economy. The project will continue to offer new opportunities for raw materials and service providers (some of which are locally-owned SMEs) and help foster a more competitive market for such materials and services.