The 5th interregional professional skills competition for footwear production employees from the Vostok-Service Group of Companies and its partners took place in Torzhok.
Traditionally, the competition was held at the Torzhok Shoe Factory — one of the Vostok-Service Group’s leading footwear manufacturing enterprises. This year the contest included employees from two Vostok-Service Group factories and 10 partner companies, students from the College of Technology, Modeling and Management (St. Petersburg) — six teams of seven people each — and, together with guests and support groups, a total of 80 people. The event's honored guests were Marina Fedotkina, acting head of the city of Torzhok, and Igor Surin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Russian Union of Tanners and Shoemakers.
Speaking at the opening, Dmitry Demidov, Director of the Production Division of the Vostok-Service Group, noted:
The format of the anniversary competition was indeed different from previous editions: teams were assembled from employees of different companies and included experienced craftsmen, workers who had recently joined the footwear industry, and students from the sectoral college. Within a short timeframe the participants had to get acquainted, organize themselves and demonstrate their best qualities and professional competencies in order to lead their team to victory.
The competition included theoretical and practical parts. Everyone did excellently in the theory stage. At the second and third practical stages, held in the factory workshops, three teams pulled ahead thanks to superior organization, ingenuity, high professional skills, and the speed and quality of their work.
While the participants competed, a conference was organized for company directors and top managers where leading specialists in the leather and footwear sector shared their experience, discussed the implementation of innovations and the potential for launching joint projects.
After the results were tallied, a ceremonial awards presentation honored the winners and participants: the winners received diplomas and valuable prizes, and all participants were presented with certificates and souvenirs.
A pleasant conclusion to the event was a tour of the Vasilevo Architectural and Ethnographic Museum.
Watch the video to learn more and get a sense of the event's atmosphere.