A Day in the Life of the President: Bo Andersson, AVTOVAZ

I ask the President to tell about his childhood. 
— Me father was a famous businessman with his own market chain. My older sister, we had a 4-year gap, was sick and my parents wanted me to take care of her. Majority of time I spent with her and not with my friends. My main problem was accumulated energy which I didn't know where to unleash.
— When I was 7, my mom sent me to the old woman now and then who was our family friend. I helped her with some household chores, made some shopping, mopped the floors and cooked. Basically, I was taking the strain off.
— When I was 14 I told my father I wanted to work and asked whether I could work at his place for summer. He refused. I was so disappointed. My sister got all that she wanted whereas I had to achieve everything by myself. I got a job at the beach restaurant kitchen – I was washing dishes, sharpening knives and cleaning. That was a time when I earned my first money. In 5 am I boiled eggs for the clients' breakfast. I gained experience. My father was extremely unhappy with my choice then.

— When I was 16 I was working on the largest cheese production in Europe. Mum had an evil plan to match me with the owner's daughter.

— I used to be going in for sports and I was a fast runner. As a result I ran away to the army when I was 18 and decided to build a career there. That was a happy time. Priceless experience.

We are talking for half an hour more. Bo tells me about interesting tests in army, career start in GM, Harvard education and meetings with Putin, where he gained the support of the head of state. Looking at his own portrait, he reverts to GAZ Group again.

— We were striving to receive orders from the outside. We were producing details for KAMAZ and frames for Mitsubishi Pajero as well as fulfilling some orders for Ford and VW. Here they no nothing about such a practice. They say we are AVTOVAZ. So what? And the fact that some productions are only 40% loaded just isn't bothering anyone? We have everything to develop work in this direction. The question comes down to management only. We will fix the issue.

— Problems are actually good! I asked my employees to make a list: no employees lounge,bad lightning, workers on the intrusion molding line do not get milk, it's hot there, it's cold here. I said: “Make a list, designate a responsible person, divide the points according to their priority, say how much money you need and change the situation!” 250 issues out of 750 were solved in two months. This works! People have to talk about problems and it is normal if they exist.

— If we conducted evaluation of our secretaries' qualification, we would be shocked. That do not know how to use Excel, Outlook. They don't have any background knowledge of those. When I worked in GM, we seated 7 thousand peoples from sales departments in 47 different countries simultaneously in front of computers. They were told: “Make a contract. Change the terms of payment. Write a quality inquiry”. In such away we had a possibility to evaluate the skills of every employee in the real-time mode and find those who needed training. Some of these approaches will be definitely applied in AVTOVAZ.

— We sent the best IT experts to Tatarstan in order to adopt their introduction methods of  process computer systems which were successfully implemented by the local government.
— With the regard to control technologies, we are 10 years behind. In several months situation will change drastically. 
Secretary interrupts our conversation. The President looks at the watch and says already common phrase:
— OK, we have to go!

Plastics production
A 30-minute meeting. Questions, answers, clarifications. The smile that was on the President's face just half an hour ago has vanished. He is serious and concentrated. Spot-check inspection, barely noticeable nods as a greeting to workers. It is still so immaculately clean everywhere.
— Every day we are struggling with Renault-Nissan. Because I am AVTOVAZ. I'm not Renault and definitely not Nissan. Sleeping AVTOVAZ is great, fantastic and actually makes life easier for a lot of people from Alliance.  But we won't sleep. Any questions? OK, we're going to extrusions!
Terrible noise, which comes from a huge ceiling-high construction, reigns inside.  I am trying to answer an incoming call from  publishing editor of Koleas.ru but the President waves with his hand and shouts loudly into my ear:
— Come on, you've got to see it, you'll like it...

70-ton crimping machine is operated by 12 people, including 2 operators and 10 stackers who monitor quality of the details. I get numb when I watch how robots, like those from “Transformer” film, are moving the plastic mat fins of wings with unbelievable accuracy.

Bo listens to the short report of production director carefully interrupting him here and then with the clarifying questions. The answers are still being written down in his notebook.

— It is vital to provide people with freedom. We called it ''abstract tactics' in the army. Set a goal for your employees and let them find their own way to achieve it. Anatolii Grishin who is a head of the extrusions will serve as a good example. AVTOVAZ has the best molding line in Europe. Can you believe this? And nobody writes about it anywhere, nobody knows about it, while this is our pride! 
— I am proud that the directors of all 11 productions are from Russia. It is vital to hire locals, if there is such a possibility and personnel. 
— In order to build the same forge shop as ours, you'll need to spend 50 billions. And we already have it. Forging details in it is like printing money. We have to do it 24 hours.  

We are moving to the cast-iron shop. It is hot in here and I've got a haunting feeling that we've traveled back to past on the time machine. Everything is different here. 
Bo Andersson walks around the shop stopping at the exit in order to ask a shop manager how the foremen reacted to the morning news regarding 25% raise. Receiving a predicted answer, he reminds:
— I want people to get good salary but at the same time they need to understand we except a lot form them.  For 11 months I got tired of the constant requests for indexation. I don't understand what indexation is. We give billions to our suppliers. I would gladly redirect those floats to the improvement of employees financial situation. 
— Our production capacity gives us a possibility to fulfill the outside orders just like GAZ and Sollers do, for instance. But we don't. We must develop this direction! ОK!

We get into the van. The watch shows 5 pm. The President goes to the meeting with top-managers and shareholders. They will submit him the AVTOVAZ development plan for 2015 with the detailed description of KPI.

9 tables are placed into a half rectangular form. The projector is streaming the presentation of a secret AVTOVAZ development plan directly onto the beige wall.  Headphone with the simultaneous interpreting and a plasma TV  with a direct video-conference from Moscow. Participants meet us with restless eyes.
— There is no need, I asked the journalists not to show the presentation content. Let's start. 
Numbers, diagrams, forecasts, market share. The President is looking at those slides without a shade of surprise as if he complied all those charts by himself. He interrupts a spokesperson at one point: 

— You have a mistake, check the second line. It is supposed to be a different index there.
AVTOVAZ President has a good memory for numbers. I asked him earlier that day whether it was an inborn talent.
— I have been training it for many years by always making notes. It is odd that managers in Russia are not used to it and still rely on their memory. This is so simple to write something down and remember once you've reread it. I often use my skills at the second meetings. If people lie, they usually do not remember details whereas I do. Always. 

We leave the hall. Giving us the way, Bo takes a window seat in a van and thinks for a couple of seconds looking at the gleaming buildings outside.

— The last couple of months were a disaster for me. We were neither producing automobiles nor loading the new ones due to the providers' delay in OEM supply. We were tired of the accumulated negative energy.

— They say how can you be such an optimist? I answer that it couldn't get worse. Our main goal is to load the production facilities to a full extent, settle all the issues with providers and then everything will be alright.

He turns away smiling and looks at the window again. In a minute he says not shifting his position:

— I come to the shops every morning for a reason. This is a sort of “massage” for the employees. I want to develop a feeling of responsibility for their actions in them. They need to understand that success of the factory depends on their work quality. We have a common goal which is string AVTOVAZ.

24th floor. The President's office. Aleksandr Kobenko, Samara region vice-governor, minister of economic development, investments and trade, is waiting at the reception. The President invites him to the office.

Bo Andersson manages to discuss numerous questions, including even possibility of the renovated Samara airport branding with a signature factory boat and a next year meeting of forum participants with some new models of Lada. And it all takes just 40 minutes!

It is just us now. The President is on the move for more than 14 hours. He asks for some tea. Leaning back on the chair Bo suggests that I join him. He looks at the fish tank thoughtfully.

— You know what is funny. When I came to GAZ Group, nobody knew me. When I was leaving, everybody loved me. When I came to AVTOVAZ, though everybody knew me, but there was no one who didn't hate me. I understand that gaining trust takes time. I understand...

He doesn't say a word and keeps looking at the goldfish in such a huge tank as for it. I gather all my courage and ask him about what I promised to our readers in the project preview – show the wallet of the President. Bo laughs. He stands up, grabs his briefcase and get his wallet out of it. 
— Just do what you want!  
We arrange the whole lot on the table and set the light. Having made several shots I realized that all the card data are visible in the photo. We change the arrangement hiding the fragments of plastic. Several clicks of shutter and our last batteries get discharged.  

— Let’s check the watches.
 What do we have next?
Understanding that the President is going to suggest having a supper, I interrupt him saying that we would like to make a present and get him something he sacrificed years ago in the name of work – the atmosphere of home comfort accompanied by a favorite Bruce Springsteen melody and crackling of wood in the fireplace. At least for a couple of hours.
— Thanks! Write it down the way it was – I don't want you to leave anything unspoken or stretch a story. 
— You have my word.

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