Vertical diversity Kleeman Hellas

VERTICAL DIVERSITY

Kleeman Hellas is a global leader in the design and manufacture of lifts, escalators and moving walkway systems. Philip Yorke talked to Georgios Moshovakis, Kleemann’s export sales manager about the company’s latest innovative products and its ambitious plans for further expansion.

Kleemann Hellas is one of Greece’s great manufacturing success stories. Founded in 1983 the company achieved its initial growth by licensing-in the technological knowhow of Kleemann Hubtechnik GmbH of Germany, one of Europe’s biggest lift manufacturers. Today the head office of the company is based in Kilkis in Northern Greece and has a turnover of more than €120 million. Consistent growth led to the company being listed on the stock exchange in 1999. With offices located around the world, Kleemann Hellas is a global player with plans for further expansion in the pipeline. In Greece the company is the clear brand leader with over 70 per cent of the domestic market.

As a result of its on-going success, Kleeman has formed a group of four wholly owned subsidiaries: Klefer a company that specialises in the manufacture of automatic lift doors, Kleemann Asanor, a sales company located in Istanbul, Turkey, Kleemann Liftovi, a Serbian sales and manufacturing company and Kleemann Liftro, a Romanian sales company. Currently export sales account for more than 50 per cent of Kleeman’s total turnover and cover 55 countries worldwide. Of these, Germany, UK, Ireland, Russia, New Zealand, Turkey, Holland and Cyprus are considered to be the company’s main markets.

More solutions, higher quality

There are many reasons why Kleeman Hellas continues to grow whilst many others are finding trading conditions difficult in a market that has been hit hard by the global recession. The company has always put safety, reliability and quality at the top of its list of priorities. In addition, it spends a high proportion of its turnover on research and development as well as on a programme that values its employees through a consistent process of education and training. Mr Moshovakis said, “Our employees are our most valuable asset because that is where product quality really starts. Another of our key competitive advantages is that we offer the widest range of products on the market; rarely will you find a company with so many solutions and custom-built experience in one place. We cover virtually all the needs of the market. We can fit lifts into spaces that others can’t. For example our ‘Maison’ range is designed specifically for homes with limited space and headroom. This is very different from our range of express lifts that are designed for high-rise buildings and can travel at more than 4 metres per second with loads of up to 5000kg.

“We also design and manufacture systems for moving walk-ways and conveyors and this is a market segment that is becoming more important to us. This is especially true in major locations such as big shopping malls, hotels, metro systems and airports. We provide a dedicated service for our customers and this is based on our core values, which are health and safety, integrity, quality and innovation.

“As a result, our clients remain with us for the long term and keep coming back to us for their new contracts. We have always been a family business and we continue to see ourselves as one – we are also very environmentally aware and have developed ‘green solutions’ in the areas of hydraulics and lift traction that reduce emissions by more than 55 per cent.”

New horizons

One of the keys to Kleemann’s continuing success has been the many innovative products developed by its research and

development department. This department is staffed with engineers with a dedicated scientific background which has resulted in the introduction of new hydraulic lifting systems and advanced ‘scissor type’ mechanisms. The company operates its own advanced testing facilities which include a tower which covers a vertical height of more than 52 metres. This €5 million investment has been purpose-built and designed for testing high-speed and high-rise lifts and hydraulic elevators without pistons. It is this commitment to design technology that has enabled Kleeman to expand its horizons both in terms of products and global reach.

Mr Moshovakis added, “We are working from a strong base that enables us to move forward with confidence. We are gaining market share in countries such as the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, the former Yugolslavian countries and the Russian federation. Turkey is one of our strongest export markets but we are now looking at markets further afield. These include North and South Africa and also the Middle East where we have offices in Dubai and will shortly be opening another one in Abu Dhabi. In addition we have established a holding company in Hong Kong and are already building a structure there with a view to serving mainland China. However, we always make sure that our after-sales support is in place before entering into new markets such as these as our main responsibility is always to our customers”.

The company constantly upgrades its state-of-the-art equipment and owns its own logistics and transportation division. Kleeman Hellas sees itself as a one-stopshop that can provide its customers with a complete lift package, which includes the design, research, documentation and manufacturing of tailor made products. n