HYUNDAI TRANS KAZAKHSTAN NOMADS: FROM DREAM TO GLOBAL GOAL

In cooperation with Astana Motors, Informburo.kz highlights the way the Kazakhstanis who produce modern ‘iron horses’ live and work and what they strive for.

“In a quality and reliable manner” are the main operating principles of Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan. The plant workers strictly respect high standards of Hyundai Motor Company and feel certain of the quality of vehicles they manufacture. This is confirmed by the warranty period equal to 5 years or 100 000 km, as well as an increasing demand for vehicles produced by the domestic enterprise. 

First of all, we would like to tell a few words about the first stage of development undergone by Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan and then we are going to meet the ones in charge of the vehicle manufacturing process.
 

In 2022, Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan runs at its full rate, 45 thousand cars per year.

 

Since its launch, Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan has mastered over 1,300 process operations under the Hyundai Motor Company standards and has produced more than 30 thousand units of Hyundai Accent, Elantra, Sonata, Creta, Tucson, Santa Fe and Palisade.

 

During its first year of operation, Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan paid over 2.5 billion tenge in taxes.

In the new year, the company will head over to CKD production of Hyundai global best-seller, the Tucson SUV. Therefore, Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan will weld and paint the body of two models, Hyundai Accent and Tucson.

In fall 2020, Astana Motors announced the launch of its subsidiary, Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan. In fact, the plant has been operating since April 2020, while its history started in April 2019, when a capsule was laid in the Industrial Zone of Almaty for the construction of Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan.

The project implementation coincided with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Having successfully got through the challenges, the plant’s team is currently increasing the output of seven models by the global automotive brand Hyundai.

The year of 2021 will be remembered by the world community as one of the most hard periods when all venues of human activities, including the car market, were stricken by a deep crisis. Due to a heavy shortage of spare parts, broken logistics chains, a significant spike in prices for automotive components, steel and logistics, automakers in Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and the US freeze or reduce their production by 30–40%.

Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan has accepted a new challenge. The plant’s initial goal was to achieve a production output of 45 thousand vehicles per year. Now the enterprise will expand by 14.5 thousand square meters, with Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan’s capacity increasing to 75 thousand vehicles per year.

“The number of customers willing to purchase a new Hyundai car in Kazakhstan is growing, and our current main task is to ensure the production progress rate at our enterprise. We are negotiating with Hyundai Motor Company to raise quotas for components supply for the plant in Almaty. On top of that, due to goods being persistently delayed at the border with China, we are developing alternative routes for components supply,” Beknur Nessipbayev, General Director, Astana Motors, says.

The main principles Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan follows in its work are “high quality and reliability”. Plant workers rigidly observe the high standards of Hyundai Motor Company and are confident in the high quality of their cars. This is confirmed by both a 5-year or 100-thousand-mileage warranty and a growing demand for cars produced within the country.

With the evolution of Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan, the Hyundai brand and car travel are more actively growing in popularity, the latter of which has become a trend during the pandemic and has become loved by Kazakhstanis who have highly appreciated the beauty of their native nature.

The lifestyle of the ancient nomadic people inspired the founders of the local brand of children’s apparel Mimioriki to create a family brand called Global Nomads to demonstrate to the world the cultural and historical heritage values of our ancestors. The employees of the Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan plant hit on the idea and took on the role of nomads by going on a trip in cars they produce at the enterprise in Almaty. The colleagues with their families enjoyed the last warm days of the golden fall of 2021 in the Zailiyskiy Alatau foothills.

“Astana Motors and I share common values, so we have tried to convey them in our collaboration project. We put the values of a true nomad — freedom, mobility, conscious consumption, harmony with nature, family priorities, love for the land and the desire to create for the benefit of future generations — in our brand Global Nomads,” Inna Apenko, founder of Global Nomads, comments.

Nabi Kuvatov, 33. Picker.

Our family is aged seven. My wife’s name is Nazira, and we have four children: Sezim, 6, Dimash, 5, Fariza, 2, and Amir, 1. Originally from Taldykorgan, my family and I moved to Almaty in 1994.

I love my homeland. I have visited many places of our ungraspable country — Taraz, Turkestan, Nur-Sultan, Ust-Kamenogorsk and other cities. I love traveling long and short distances. I like our mountains, especially the Assy Plateau. I dream of driving around the whole Kazakhstan. 

I got a job of a picker at the Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan plant by applying through the HeadHunter website. Later, I was appointed shift foreman. I control the timely supply of components to the assembly line and monitor the work of my team so that everyone performs in a scrupulous manner and to the highest standard.

I love my job and am proud to contribute to mechanical engineering in Kazakhstan. And my family is proud that their dad works in production.

Our family has its own traditions. For example, I usually don’t have much spare time, but when my wife is busy and the kids want something tasty, I am happy to cook pizza for them.

Mutual understanding, support, respect and love are the main values of our family. I am eager to raise my children as responsible, honest, disciplined and hardworking individuals.

We had a great time with our families and colleagues. It was a great trip to the countryside! And our cars proved to be excellent. They are comfortable and maneuverable — all you need for traveling. I also like to ride a horse, but when you are driving a car, you are able to control the situation, while riding a horse might be unpredictable. That is why a car is a reliable companion for the modern nomad.

I wish prosperity and peace to our country as well as health, well-being and kindness to our compatriots.

Azamat Karbozov, 25. Manual painter of coating materials

I was born in Ushtobe, Karatal District, Almaty Region. I got married at 18. My wife’s name is Venera, and we have two beautiful children: son Azat, 6, and daughter Ayana, 2. My future wife and I got to know each other in 2011 on the social network Agent Mail.ru. I was 15 at the time, and Venera was 14. She lived in Kordai, two hundred kilometers from Almaty. We communicated through the Internet. The first time I saw Venera was when she came to Almaty to visit her relatives. After our first meeting, I used to travel to Kordai to see my beloved. We were children and met so that our parents wouldn’t find out. I left for Kordai at 7 in the morning and returned back after lunch. Two years later, I offered Venera to study in Almaty. She persuaded her parents to do so, and so we became closer to each other.

We haven’t managed to see many cities and destinations in Kazakhstan yet. I have been on a business trip to Aktobe, stayed with relatives in Karaganda and had a rest in the North Kazakhstan Region. Kokshetau has a very beautiful nature, forests and green meadows. In windy weather, the grass sways like in a movie. From Kokshetau, I went to Borovoye, perhaps being the most beautiful place I have ever visited. The weather often changes there: it was sunny five minutes ago, and suddenly it starts raining; a couple of minutes later, the sun comes out again. Kazakhstan has amazing places, and my family and I dream of going on a trip to our native places where our ancestors lived.

I got a job at the Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan plant through the HeadHunter app. I left my CV and got a call back from the HR department. I work as a painter in the paint shop. My job is to coat the body of a future car. In my job, I love, first of all, the process of coating itself and, of course, the end result: you look at the body and think “I am the one who did it”.

In our work, the main thing is to strictly comply with all Hyundai standards. These requirements are very high, and mistakes are unacceptable. My family and friends are proud of me working at such an enterprise.

My son is the one who is most interested in my work. Every day he asks me what cars I painted, in what color, dreams and asks me to take him to my workplace as he wants to see how I paint cars. Some enterprises have a tradition for employees to invite their families to look at the production process, spend the day together, participate in the sports contest and introduce relatives to colleagues. When we have a Family Day at the plant, my children and spouse will be able to see how it operates.

Respect for the elders is the main value for us. I instill such a quality as honesty in my children as I value honesty in people first of all.

I wish all Kazakhstanis health, respect for each other and diligence. With each of us loving their job, I believe Kazakhstan will definitely succeed.

Alexander Asseyev, 34. Foreman technician at the car diagnosis and inspection zone

I come from the Almaty Region. Our family is aged 11. My daughter Angelina is 10 years old and son Sevastian is 3. We met with Lubov in Almaty. Now my wife is on her maternity leave to take care of our son and at the same time helps our eldest daughter Angelina with her school.

We like being on the road around Kazakhstan, travel along the Western Europe–Western China highway connecting Almaty, Taraz, Shymkent, Turkestan, Kyzylorda, Aralsk and Aktobe. We often visit historical sights, introduce children to the hallmarks of Almaty City and Almaty Region.

I prefer long-distance travel; I am highly experienced at running road trips not only here, but also in the border countries. It would be nice to travel from Almaty to Europe; this is my dream.

 

I came to the Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan plant with ten years of experience in servicing low-tonnage commercial vehicles. I wanted to try out something new in my profession, and when I saw a news report featuring the construction of the car manufacturing plant in Almaty, I decided to send my CV there. I was invited to an interview, and now I work as a foreman technician at the car diagnosis and inspection zone.

We carry out diagnostic inspections, including road tests. The main requirement in my work is increased focus in checking the cars produced, since we are in charge of the quality of our cars.

I am proud of my job, and when I see our cars on the roads of Kazakhstan, I am proud to tell my family that this car was produced at our factory.
I wish all Kazakhstanis good health, prosperity and happiness. Never stop at results achieved and always move forward!

Kadyrbolat Vassilin, 34. Welder

Sabina and I have been married for nine years. Our eldest son Dias is in the second grade, while the youngest Miras goes to kindergarten. My wife and I met as early as when we were students. I studied technology, while Sabina studied medicine.

I am originally from Uralsk, West Kazakhstan Region. I have been to different cities and towns of our country; I like to go by car to the countryside with my family, and I dream of going on a big trip driving a motorhome. In general, I have loved engineering since childhood; I remember how I helped my father repair cars. That is probably why my destiny is tied to cars. I had worked in this field even before I came to the Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan plant.

I was wondering how a car is made from scratch at the factory. I submitted my CV, passed an interview and got a job in the welding shop as a panel beater.

Each job has its own difficulties. Producing cars is special responsibility as we are dealing with equipment and everything has to operate smoothly here. We have an individual approach to each body; care and accuracy in actions are of importance.

A car is not a luxury now, rather a means of transportation. You need a car to go on business and on family vacation. Car trips around Kazakhstan have currently become popular, and we are pleased to see the amount of people go to the countryside in Hyundai SUVs; they have proven themselves well.

My family and friends are interested in my profession; everyone wants to witness themselves how the car production process goes. They always support me in everything. We have a family tradition: on weekends we gather guests and cook kebabs. We go to the countryside and love fishing.

At the plant, we have already elaborated own traditions: together we celebrate the professional holiday of the Machine Builder’s Day and colleagues’ birthdays. We also do sports in the fitness club as the plant provides us with an annual pass. There are basketball, volleyball and football grounds at the enterprise. By the way, we have our own football team.

The main values of our family are respect for the elders and mutual understanding. I value honesty and diligence in people, and I teach my children to be honest.

I wish Kazakhstan peace and prosperity, happiness in every home and success to our big friendly Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan family.

Today, the Hyundai Trans Kazakhstan plant brings together over 700 specialists. The plant’s family is getting bigger and stronger. During the plant operation, four couples married among the employees and 46 children were born. So the plant will also have a family dorm soon.

Great friendship and common goals are the main thing that supports the strong morale among the plant workers.

Source: informburo.kz