The problems of motorists are the same everywhere

A common problem for motorists is that the locks on car doors and other small parts wear out quickly, and you have to buy an expensive whole assembly to replace it. Omsk businessmen Dmitry and Natalia Sheikin found a simple solution, which resulted in a sought-after startup.

 In 2014, Dmitry became interested in 3D printing and somehow, at the request of a friend, printed a retainer for his Toyota. And then I got to a thematic forum and realized that this was the "pain" of a lot of drivers. This is how the Plastic Auto project was born. The parts were first printed on a 3D printer, then they began to cast in thermoplastic, opened an online store and an Ebay page. Orders from different countries poured in. Natalia Sheikina, Dmitry's wife and business partner, spoke about how to develop production from scratch and withstand the competition of "imitators".

— Why is there a need for such details?

— For some reason, car manufacturers make low-quality door limiters, they wear out in two to three years. The car is still pretty new, but the doors are already loose. And a person either needs to buy a whole assembly with a lock built into it, or look for someone who can make this gear piece by piece. Motorists want a more budget-friendly solution. Our retainers are on average four times cheaper.

— So you were the first on the market? Are there no competitors?

— There are imitators. We started this topic, and they started copying us.

"Don't you mind?"

— It means that we are doing everything right if we are being repeated. We try to grow, come up with something and improve. This greatly stimulates competition. Most of the time, customers install these parts on their machines themselves, so we make instructions on the packaging with step-by-step photos and shoot video instructions. We put a dry lubricant in the package so that it does not have to be bought separately. Plus, we have fast delivery — we try to ship in a day or two. And, most importantly, it's quality. Our author's composition of the material is our development, my husband came up with it. There's plastic, graphite, and some other components—I won't name them all. In terms of properties, it is much stronger than competitors can offer. We have conducted tests and give a three-year warranty.

— How was the production launched?

— We have moved from 3D printing to casting into silicone molds - this is also done manually. My husband and I did it ourselves, packed, printed labels on a printer. Then the first employees and the first milling machine appeared. Manual casting technology also did not provide durable parts, we dreamed of buying an injection molding machine (a machine for making parts from thermoplastics by injection molding — ed.). When we finally bought it, it was a great joy. And this greatly accelerated production. It takes a long time to mill, but with casting, we produce a considerable amount of products in half an hour.

This was our first global modernization. We want to launch another machine soon.

— How large-scale is this production?

— We started with 10 pieces. We are currently producing 4-5 thousand repair kits per month. The company employs 35 people, we have a production site on Omskaya Street, an office on Frunze. That is, we have grown from scratch to such volumes. At first, my husband was completely involved in the project, he created an online store. I had a creative business, and at first I was watching from the sidelines. But my business wasn't growing very much, and this one was actively developing, and I decided that I could help with my knowledge. From the moment I arrived, we have grown 10 times.

— Do you produce on order or "in reserve"?

— We are making a reserve. We have a certain assortment — about 100 types of clamps for different car brands. We know which types are the most popular, and we produce the most of them. Less popular ones mean that the stock is smaller. We build a production plan from sales statistics.

— How do you work in the domestic market? Do they know about you in Russia, Omsk?

— Since this is an online store, we are basically focused on the whole of Russia and foreign markets. In Russia, the largest number of orders are from the Moscow region, simply because more people are concentrated there. In general, we ship repair kits to anywhere in Russia and the world, and we also work with Omsk clients.

— When did you decide to export?

— I thought right away that I could try to sell on Ebay. But we were busy with our website, setting up production, so we didn't pay much attention to the page. Perhaps one product was placed there — it was and was. And then we realized that foreign markets are a very relevant topic, and it is quite realistic to develop it. We studied the Ebay site, its specifics, placed the goods and waited for orders.

— Did the Export Support Center help you in any way?

— We helped with access to Ebay, did an audit of our store's page, and even allocated an advertising budget. We signed a contract, and they found a contractor who helped us with the placement, posted ads in different languages, and set up the promotion. We communicated mostly online, even without face-to-face meetings. Now we are also using them to enter the Alibaba platform, which is very popular in China. We dream of getting to Amazon. It is very popular in the USA, but it is difficult to get there, there is a very strict selection of sellers from other countries, including Russia. Only through intermediaries can you gain a foothold there. As far as I know, the Export Support Center can help with this, but for us it is still a prospect.

— Where do most of the orders come from abroad?

— There are more mass customers from America. It's just that Ebay is more popular there, and there are more orders.

Israel buys well, European countries, sometimes Australia and New Zealand.

Previously, there were about 30 orders per month, now there are 90-100. But this is still a small share of the total sales volume. For the time being, we are sending small shipments abroad. Kazakhstan, for example, was bought from us in bulk, and a shipment was recently sent to Estonia. The largest wholesale supply in Russia is about 350 repair kits.

— Is wholesale or retail more relevant to you?

— We are thinking about wholesale. Our products are of interest to service stations and car shops. Hopefully, this will also be in demand in other countries, and wholesale supplies can be established. The problem for a retail customer is that shipping is quite expensive. If we ship in bulk, customers will not need to overpay, they will be able to buy in their region. Therefore, we see the prospect in wholesale supplies.

— Are there any specific plans for wholesale?

— Now we have opened a new project — our own service center for the installation of our repair kits. We are currently testing the idea in Omsk. If she comes in, we plan to open the same points in all the million-plus cities in Russia. We want to establish partnership with the CIS countries. Kazakhstan, for example, is very interesting to us. Shipping is long and expensive, which prevents you from buying from us. If we have our own or partner outlets, the process will be simplified.

 

We plan to open something like pick-up points so that the customer can order products on the website, but pick them up in his city or at least in his country.

— So there are logistical problems so far? Are you increasing production?

— One of the promising areas is the introduction of new products. The problem of maintainability of nodes concerns not only door limiters. Many small parts that are not available for sale separately become unusable. For example, the bushings of the trapezoid wipers, the gear of the folding mechanism of mirrors. Our product line is constantly expanding.

— Have you encountered any problems in foreign markets?

— There were difficulties due to ignorance of formal procedures: how to arrange delivery abroad, invoices, etc. In Russia they have long been accustomed, but there is a different practice. Our managers have taken courses, and we regularly attend seminars at the Export Support Center. Sometimes there are difficulties with customs. There used to be some rules, then others came into force, but no one really knew about it. Some of the parcels got stuck at the border, and we had to reassure our customers. Of course, there are bureaucratic difficulties, but we try not to focus on them. There is a problem — we are calmly solving it.

— Has the pandemic affected you?

— There were moments with customs when deliveries were delayed, and the timing situation was unclear. There were also refunds when the parcel got stuck at the border, but the customer could not wait and issued a refund. But we didn't notice anything critical, no significant drawdowns, and online trading remained the same. Overall, we were growing. Previously, we doubled our growth in a year, now the coefficient is slightly less than 1.8.

You can also use the services of the Export Support Center free of charge: translation of materials into foreign languages, organization of participation in international exhibitions, business missions, search for partners abroad, placement on international trading platforms and much more. Learn more on ved55.ru in the "Services" section.

For reference: The Omsk Region Export Support Center carries out activities within the framework of the implementation of national projects in the region "Small and medium-sized entrepreneurship and support for individual entrepreneurial initiative", as well as "International cooperation and Export".