As part of a panel of senior businesspeople at the 9th Israel Conference on Infrastructures and Industry, which focused on how industry is coping with the challenges of the economy, the participants discussed the opportunities and the challenges facing Israel industry. One of the panel participants was Moshe Mamrud, CEO and controlling shareholder of Tadiran Group, which leads Israel’s air-conditioners market.
Tadiran has established a renewable energy division and Mamrud spoke about the field of sustainability and renewable energy. "If we don’t take care of our children, then who is going to take care of them. If we don’t take responsibility for air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, we won’t find ourselves in a better place in the future. As part of our concern for the environment, we set up two years ago a renewable energy division, which provides overall solutions for the energy market. My big vision for the long term is that just as we disconnected from the landline of Bezeq, the day will come when we can choose to disconnect from the Israel Electric Corp., because each and every one of our homes will be able to produce the electricity it needs from the sun. The sun is capable of producing 5,000 times more energy than the actual consumption of the entire planet, so we have all the natural resources We only need to use them."
Looking back at the Covid pandemic Mamrud said, "We saw the Covid period as an opportunity. At the start of the virus many people sat at home and didn’t go out, so they made continual use of air-conditioners and this caused higher than usual energy consumption. Once we understood that this was a situation that was going to stay with us for some time, we doubled the amount of production and the budgets that we had allocated ahead of time and this strategy proved itself in the end. In addition, we saw that large demand was created for air-conditioners and so we adjusted availability. Looking back, this was an excellent year for Tadiran."
Mamrud added, "Covid also created a problem in the supply chain that we were successfully able to solve thanks to the development department and the factory in Afula, of which we are very proud. We have reached a situation in which we have an advantage over other countries not only in quality but also in price. People in many industries think that Israeli industry is very complicated because it is very difficult to manufacture in Israel but I completely disagree with that. I am proud to compete with a manufacturing plant in China and to lead in both quality and in price. It is true that it is difficult, but it is possible. Israel recently signed normalization agreements with several countries in the Persian Gulf and we have received very attractive offers from them to transfer manufacturing activities to them because the cost differences with Israel are insane. The State gives almost nothing to manufacturing industry in Israel today but more importantly it doesn’t put any spokes in our wheels. It would be very dangerous if we lost manufacturing in Israel."
Tadiran Group includes three main divisions: Tadiran Consumer Products and Technology, which markets the leading air-conditioner brand in Israel, the Air Treatment Division, which develops and manufactures unique technological products such as Tadiran Airow, and the Renewable Energy Division, which provides solar energy solutions, energy and storage, and management of electric vehicle charging systems.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on July 17 2022.
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