Mikhail Fedosovsky — How to Become a Global Technology Leader

Contents:

• Early career
• First success
• Entering the international arena

Mikhail Fedosovsky is the founder and general manager of the international company Diakont; he is an engineer and technician and has patented over a dozen inventions. The businessman has worked his way up from a junior engineering technologist at one of the Soviet factories to an owner of a technology business that has gained a foothold in the international market. Today, Diakont pipeline maintenance equipment, radiation-resistant optics and modern industrial electromechanical actuators are in high demand in the U.S., Europe and Southeast Asia.

Early Career

Mikhail Fedosovsky was born on June 1, 1959. His birthplace was a small township called Krasnogorsk that was built for the employees of a uranium mining company in the Uzbek SSR. In 1982, he got his degree in plasma-chemical process engineering and during the following 8 years, worked for enterprises that designed and manufactured electronic products. During that period of his life, the engineer did scientific research that resulted in a prototype of a camera highly resistant to ionizing radiation.

In 1990, Mikhail Fedosovsky founded the Diakont company that started the production of the innovative tech product. The equipment found its market, and three years later, the company was already producing process television control systems for power facilities. However, at the time, the business was not big enough to generate a profit. To cover losses and finance research, the entrepreneur had to use the additional income earned from different business ventures.

Mikhail Fedosovsky near the model of the new Diakont plant

First Success

Mikhail Fedosovsky worked hard to create a fully integrated production: he did everything from purchasing cutting-edge equipment to introducing the strictest quality control procedures. The first success came in 1997 when the CEO signed a contract with the ABB TRC Group (Sweden) for the supply of the robotic system with ultrasonic and television inspection equipment for reactor channels.

The partnership with a leading Scandinavian energy company allowed Diakont to achieve financial stability and introduced it to the European market. In 2001, the company began to supply equipment to the EU countries where it found a partner in ECA Hytec, a French robotics company.

The experience of Diakont in the European market helped it achieve global success. The CEO realized that to make it big, the company needs to forgo the custom manufacturing of unique products in favor of developing reliable and efficient equipment that will be suitable for mass production. After changing its business trajectory, the company managed to enter the U.S. market and sign a contract for the supply of radiation-resistant cameras with General Electric, a leading player in the global energy market.

Entering The International Arena

By 2011, equipment produced by Mikhail Fedosovsky’s company became part of the routine safety procedures at American NPPs. After signing a contract with Westinghouse, a company that provides services for the U.S. NPPs, the businessman opened the Diakont Advanced Technologies (D.A.T.) branch headquartered in San Diego, California. Soon after, the company welcomed the American branch of AREVA (a group of companies from France) as a partner. Today, D.A.T. accounts for 60 percent of the radiation-resistant optics market in the United States.

The businessman has always sought to create a diversified enterprise whose products will be in demand in a wide range of industries. Having made a success out of his safety management products in the energy industry, the entrepreneur turned his focus to the Motion Control equipment — automation systems for the machine industry and assembly factories.

The businessman built a facility for the mass production of the optimized roller-screw electromechanical actuators in the Italian town of Lucignano, about 90 miles from Florence. The highly automated production site meets all the requirements of the Industry 4.0 concept. It produces best-in-class precision actuators that provide high accuracy and maintain low power consumption. The company invested €40 million to develop products and launch manufacturing. In the coming years, Diakont Srl plans to produce about 12.5 thousand actuators per year and occupy 20 percent of the global market share.

Today, the company works in several directions and produces:

• television control systems for power facilities;
• automation systems for NPPs;
• pipeline inspection equipment;
• high-precision electromechanical actuators.

Since the foundation of the company, Mikhail Fedosovsky has aimed at developing the scientific and technical potential of Diakont. In his interviews, the businessman often says that he has always strived to create equipment as advanced as space technology, and this strategy has borne fruit. The company’s products sell well in the United States, France, Germany, Japan, China and other countries.

Mikhail Fedosovsky demonstrates the concept of the 4.0 Diakont welding cell that will improve the quality and efficiency of spot contact welding of vehicle bodies