Maxim Zemlyakov is the former Director-General of the Oryol-ALROSA company, and now he is the owner of ADMS, an Oryol-based company cutting and polishing natural and synthetic diamonds.
He was appointed the Oryol-ALROSA’s Director-General in 2007. After a competitive and successfully performing company that was among the companies with the lowest cost prices in the world and product quality meeting the world standards was declared bankrupt in 2017, Maxim Zemlyakov restored the diamond manufacture, invited his former employees, and headed the previous team.
Last year you celebrated the 20th anniversary if we consider ADMS to be the successor to the Oryol cutting and polishing subsidiary of the ALROSA company. What is your business now?
The current ADMS company combines advanced technologies and twenty years of experience. We manufacture polished diamonds of different sizes and of a classic round cutting and various fancy ones. Our experts select the stones with similar characteristics for making a jewellery piece or a set according to the specified parameters taking into account various quality characteristics and shapes, including those made to the customer’s designs and of the required sizes. The quality of all types of cutting is strictly controlled during each operation of the diamond cutting and polishing.
We are now using a closed-loop technology. It is optimal when the company has a small number of people - 20 persons only. We receive rough diamonds, then we determine the processing methods based on the customers’ specific needs and wishes and the optimal price in the finished products market. If the rough stones are small, then mainly a round-cut (17 or 57 facets) is used; if they are medium and large sized stones, we offer several options to the customer, agree upon the cut and start cutting and polishing the stone. Today, a significant part of our work is the cutting and polishing of synthetic (lab-grown) diamonds. There are some peculiarities in cutting the synthetics, but thanks to using Kulibin’s approach (equipment adaptation) every rough diamond is suitable for diamond manufacture. Basically, today these are medium- and large-sized diamonds. We offer any cutting shapes at the customer’s request, both well-known classic cuts and customized ones.
How does the enterprise overcome the difficulties caused by the pandemic?
In February 2020, 80% of the company’s personnel fell ill with coronavirus (judging by the symptoms), but we did not know about the Covid-19 at that time. We worked in March fulfilling the orders, then there was a lull until August, and we resumed work again in October. The team was saved. A new supplier appeared - a reputable company having big plans, the talk is about synthetics. The company is at its initial stage and searching for a niche in the market, it is trying to establish its production, - so it is clear that the company faces difficulties. We maintain our relations with them and hope for stability. I avoid the word “survive” - we keep on living!
Certainly, we strive for stable work without downtimes but we cannot find a sustainable supplier, so we cope with the situation, we look for a way out and cooperate with many customers.
What do you think about the current situation, what are the challenges, do you have a possibility to develop?
Of course, every company faces difficulties because the materials, accessories, consumables have become very expensive recently... However, despite this, we had kept the prices for cutting and polishing steady for a long time, although this autumn, in September, we raised the prices a little. At the same time, there are a number of clients with whom we work under long-term agreements and fulfill our obligations.
Are we developing? My answer is “yes”, we develop, probably, technologically but the number of employees, unfortunately, doesn’t grow. There is no stability, we struggle for orders every month. During the first wave of the pandemic, there was downtime, like at many enterprises. Thanks to the team for their understanding and trust.
Of course, we hope for the best, we keep a positive stance, and we keep on working thanks to this only.
You have been in the industry for 22 years. You worked as a grinder, cutter, instructor, technologist, chief technologist before you headed the company. When Oryol-ALROSA was closed down, you found the strength to set up the ADMS enterprise and you have been the company owner since December last year. How do you feel in your new position?
Whatever happens, life goes on.
Our “train” called “cutting and polishing company in Oryol” has been gaining speed over the years. Everyone, of course, has to navigate the ups and downs, but we managed to build a system where all the “links in the chain” were optimally adjusted, a special “link” was at each stage, and it complemented the next one. It would seem, you may enjoy that the diamond cutters work in unison with the polishers, how the administrators keep track of records, the controllers provide no delays in the production release, the technologists offer some innovations, the accounting department shows all this process in figures... everything runs like clockwork. I always wanted to go to the office, I wanted to improve my skills together with the personnel, to do everything better and better. Everything is aimed at achieving one important goal, and it is achieved. We have a good performance with good quality and optimal cost ($21.8/ct.).
You just need to “shovel coal into the furnace, and our train will pick up speed”... I remember how a man “throwing the switch that diverts a train” sent us into the abyss, saying “We don’t have an issue with you or your team. The rough diamonds allocated to you have been sold.” This was their decision. I saw hope in the eyes of my team and did my best to save our people and the equipment. Six months later, it became clear that we were finally closed down, but the desire to continue remained as we had our hands and our heads were ok - all this helped us to make the decision on how to revive. And we have been working already for four years - again on our way, a unit located in a small basement without heating to become the company that exists today. We will try to keep on living and keep our “train” running...
Can we only hope and wait for changes?
It is difficult to operate without any support from the state, and sometimes it seems that everything is being done in the country to kill the cutting and polishing sector. Everything is done to support diamond manufacturing in India. It doesn’t matter that “bread is cheaper than grain” on the market. And what about our Russian cutting and polishing sector? These problems are not being resolved, so we, the cutters and polishers, were taken under the wing of Indian investors. It’s a shame, but we will endure this, and we will wait for the authorities to set their sights on the cutting and polishing sector. Nobody’s stopping the country to be a global diamond manufacturer that can determine the diamond market, the volume of the country’s diamond production is one-third of the global one. But you could hardly find a cutting and polishing company that has not been affected by the Indian “epidemic”.
But as long as we have the strength, we do our best to overcome the difficulties, we maintain the manufacture and continue saving it... maybe diamond cutting and polishing will be needed one day. We choose the road of work instead of the road of complaints.
We keep on believing in the revival of the cutting and polishing sector in Russia, we will do our best to achieve this, create things and make this world a better place. In the new year, we wish all of you be healthy and successful in your work. And as one hero of the “Only vets go to battle” movie said, “Life must go on!”
Galina Semyonova, Rough&Polished
