From steel to energy. Interview with KOFING Director Václav Kostřáb

Before taking over as head of KOFING, Václav Kostřáb had decades of experience in the energy sector. From Pakistan and India to managing large projects in Czechia. He saw how foreign construction projects and domestic industry work. And he also knew that the Paskov-based company was facing a major transformation.

Václav, where did you come to KOFING from and what did you do before?
I come from Sokolov, but my professional career has taken me to many places, including abroad, where I spent several years. For example, I spent more than half a year building a power plant in Pakistan, several years working in India, and a year in Turkey. In the Czech Republic, I worked for ČEZ a.s. and, among other places, in Vítkovice, and for eight years at Provyko, where I was in charge of projects in northern Moravia for customers in northern Moravia, mainly for Veolia and TAMEH, as well as projects for METROSTAV and ČEZ in the Ústí nad Labem region. Provyko specialized in large-scale energy, primarily combustion and boilers. I then accepted an offer for the position of technical director at a Prague-based company focused on small-scale energy. However, after a while, I began to miss large-scale energy and large projects. At that time, I received an offer to apply for a position at KOFING a.s.

What attracted you to the offer to lead KOFING?
I knew KOFING from before and I knew that it had the potential to get into large-scale energy and participate in the planned decarbonization of energy and industry in general. I was attracted by the opportunity to participate in the selection process for the position of executive director with the prospect of becoming a statutory representative. And also by the fact that the company is located relatively close to my home. The very positive impression I got from the people I met during the interviews also played a role in my decision.

What state did you find the company in when you joined?
KOFING had been living off large historical contracts for Kopřivnická Tatra, Liberty, Třinecké železárny, and the Karviná heating plant. Those had already ended. Production was mainly focused on steel structures, where there is huge competition and low margins. The business was rather passive, more or less waiting by the phone for inquiries. That needed to change.

What plan did you set for yourself?
First and foremost, I wanted to get the business moving and build new partnerships in the energy sector. To supply, assemble, and build in this field, which I see as the future. At the same time, I wanted KOFING to be a supplier of so-called EPC contracts, i.e., engineering, procurement, and commissioning, where the customer defines the inputs, media, materials, and desired output, and we take care of everything in between. We design the solution, manufacture it, install it, commission it, and hand it over. Among other things, this requires us to build our own design office, which will give us independence, speed, and control over quality. We started working on this right from the beginning, and today we have managed to take a step closer to making it a reality.

What obstacles did you have to overcome in the last year?
Transforming a company that everyone perceived as "the steel company" into a supplier for energy projects is a challenging journey, and it is not going as quickly as I expected. Contracts in our industry take a long time to prepare and compete for, often taking a year or more from qualification to contract signing. On top of that, there was a period of stagnation. Companies were waiting to see what would happen next. Plans related to the Green Deal were delayed due to the geopolitical situation, customs measures in the US, and other hasty political decisions. Many investors suspended or postponed their projects. So there were fewer opportunities and competition for them was tougher.

What do you consider to be the biggest shift?
In a year and a quarter, we have opened doors to partners such as ČEZ, companies from the EPH holding, and Metrostav. We are more active in business, we respond to many more inquiries than before, we are learning to navigate public procurement, and we are now a force to be reckoned with in tenders. I consider this a great success. Thanks to the contacts that I and my colleague Marcel Vrátný have brought in, we are able to put together bids for larger projects with our partners. We are capable of supplying energy sources worth around half a billion crowns – biomass and gas boilers, cogeneration units, including engineering, production, assembly, and commissioning. What we cannot produce ourselves, we procure from proven partners.

What projects have you already been involved in and what lies ahead?
We have significant references in the energy sector, particularly with the German company MARTIN GmbH. Together with a partner, we supplied boilers to TKV for VEOLIA. Production and assembly are currently underway for the aforementioned MARTIN on the ZEVO Komořany project, where we supplied boiler hoppers for SES Tlmače. We are preparing for the installation of boilers in Mělník and further deliveries for the German company MARTIN. We manufacture flaps for flue gas ducts for Edelhoff, which is a great example of our quality. And I am currently very pleased with the signing of a contract with the power plant in Opatovice for the construction of energy bridges for a combined cycle power plant project. So, perhaps a little immodestly, it can be said that KOFING is now involved in the largest energy projects in Czechia.

How many people do you have in production?
About 35 to 40 people, and a similar number in assembly. They are experienced professionals who often go the extra mile when needed and keep the company going even in difficult times. Our production capacities have undergone rigorous quality testing, we have passed, and that opens new doors for us.

Was it necessary to replace employees?
Not in production. We have people there we can rely on. I wouldn't change the quality and experience. We made changes in sales, but fortunately, the healthy core, the passionate people, stayed, and most importantly, we increased our activity. Instead of waiting for orders, we now seek them out and are in contact with a much wider network of customers.

Will energy continue to be KOFING's main field?
Yes, energy is key for us and will remain our main focus. But we don't want to rely on just one field. In addition to energy, we also focus on metallurgy, engineering, and chemistry, and we now want to target water management, such as water treatment plants and wastewater treatment plants. These segments are stable and could be a good fit for our production and assembly.

KOFING is part of the Promet Group. Do you cooperate with companies within the group?
There are opportunities and joint projects within the group, but cooperation has not yet been fully exploited. I see potential for joint projects within the Engineering Division, where we can join forces with the construction company VAMOZ CONSTRUCTION or Elektromont, and within the group, mainly with STECOMTROU. I believe that VAMOZ CONSTRUCTION will participate with us in a contract for the Opatovice Power Plant.

How do you see the future of KOFING in the coming years?
To stay on the chosen path until the investment boom in the energy sector gets fully underway. In the Moravian-Silesian Region alone, projects worth at least CZK 25 to 30 billion are planned. If this is confirmed, there will be more work than we can handle. Then our "problem" will be more of a shortage of people and capacity, and that's the kind of worry I look forward to. For us, it is crucial to maintain our order book and a high-quality team. In other words, to be a stable, profitable, and specialized company.