Aesthetic value – design and performance Ostnor

AESTHETIC VALUE

DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE

Ostnor, created from the merger of four companies in 2007, develops and manufactures taps and accessories, with the focus on two strong brands. Felicity Landon reports.

Sustainability and style top the list of ‘must-haves’ in today’s world – and for companies like Ostnor, that means products that deliver energy and water savings for bathrooms and kitchens – alongside stylish and innovative design features.

Ostnor’s roots go back to 1927 – and some components of the company go back much further – but Ostnor as it exists today started a new chapter in 2007, when four companies were merged into one. The challenge then was to create a cohesive company with long-term and improved profitability, and a key developmental step was formulating and introducing collective fundamental values across the new group.

Today, Ostnor has a very strong position in its home market of Sweden, where it makes 75 per cent of its sales. The Nordic countries outside Sweden are also Ostnor’s main market, with 17 per cent of sales going to Norway, Denmark and Finland.

Ostnor develops and manufactures a wide range of taps and accessories, with the consistent theme of operations being leading-edge technology, high quality, attractive design and eco-friendliness. Marketing is through the strong, wellestablished product brands FM Mattsson and Mora Armatur – the strength of these brands is one of the group’s most valuable assets. Outside the Nordic region, the FM Mattsson and Mora Armatur brands primarily occupy niches in specific market segments. Ostnor is active in Germany, Russia, Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, Australia and Iceland.

Regional preferences

Regional differences in usage and design preferences mean that products need to be tailored to succeed on international markets. For example, Ostnor has a relatively strong position in the German hospital sector, where tailored products are developed for this market’s specific needs. Another example of Ostnor’s strong position in the case sector during 2011 was an order from Queensland Children’s Hospital in Australia for up to 1200 integrated FMM thermostat mixer taps. The hospital will have 359 rooms and opens in 2014.

In recent years, Ostnor’s annual sales figures has hovered around the SEK 1 billion mark; the company employs 500 people, with operations concentrated in Mora, Sweden, where the head office is also located.

Unsurprisingly, given the current economic climate, Ostnor had a tough year in 2011. There was an 11.9 per cent net growth in Swedish sales in the first quarter but after that progress faded – although at the end of the year the company was still confident that it had retained its market shares.

“One factor affecting the demand for mixer faucets is the progress of housing prices – which, in turn, are affected by factors including market interest rates,” said CEO Håkan Olson. “We saw a slowdown in housing prices in Sweden and several other markets in 2011.”

Flexible production

Operating profit for the full year 2011 was SEK 69.6 million, compared with SEK 113.5 million in 2010. The company adjusted production capacity and reduced inventory levels to match lower demand in the second half, developing in parallel its lean principles and improvement programme to create flexible production, and sharpened its focus on marketing and sales, “with the aim of exploiting opportunities on our markets”, he added.

“We also accelerated our efforts in further enhancing our market plans to pave the way for Ostnor’s strong brands, FM Mattsson and Mora Armatur. We conducted initiatives to further strengthen brand identity and the clarity around our products. In the year, we made a number of product launches that supplement our broad product range of mixer faucet products and associated services.”

Ostnor has a partnership with the Umeå Institute of Design, reflecting the important focus on energy rationalisation and water savings as expressed in its Ecosafe products. “This work continued in the year,” said Mr Olson. “We made our development processes more effective. Our innovation level, meas-

Nordic Brass Gusum

Nordic Brass Gusum is one of the longest established smelting companies in Scandinavia with its origins in brass manufacturing dating back to 1607. That was the year when one of the original companies, Skultuna Messingsbruk, was founded. Nordic’s other founding company, Gusums Bruk, was also established in Sweden in 1653. These companies formed the strong foundation that is Nordic Brass Gusum, Sweden. The company has set consistently high quality standards with its semi-finished and finished products, all of which are manufactured at one of Europe’s most advanced brass production facilities. Nordic’s state-of-the-art plant is located at Gusum in Sweden and has a capacity to produce more than 40,000 tons of high-quality brass products annually.

Nordic Brass’s products include standard unfinished items such as round, square and hexagonal rods, profiles and ingots, as well as a range of finished nuts. The company is supplying to customers producing ready-to-market products. These products include screws, nuts, taps, pipe fittings and lock parts, as well as electrical components and ornaments. Nordic Brass’s products are in demand in a wide range of industries from companies involved in the heating, ventilation and sanitary sectors, to those operating in the automotive, building, electrical and telecoms industries.

ured as the sales share of products less than three years old, continued to increase. Our launch precision increased significantly in the year, and the share of common components in our products increased, bringing us economies of scale in production and purchasing. We completed the development of two sharedbrand product platforms in the year.”

First with innovations

Ostnor’s oldest roots are through FM Mattsson, Sweden’s oldest tap manufacturer. Founded in 1865 by Frost Matts Mattsson, the company initially made parts of traditional Mora clocks, nit combs, small bells, brooches and pastry wheels. Mattsson manufactured his first barrel taps and boiler room taps in 1876.

FM Mattsson, which supplies hundreds of thousands of mixers every year, was the first to introduce ceramic seals, non-freeze garden taps and two world-unique solutions – soft closing single lever mixers and thermostatic mixing valves.

“For most people, a mixer is just an attractive interior design feature that supplies water and enhances the interior of a kitchen or bathroom,” says the company. “For us who have been working with mixers for over 100 years, it means so much more. We value aesthetic qualities both on the inside and the outside. Among other things, that means developing technical solutions that help to save water and energy, thereby improving the environment. To us, aesthetic value means always taking the whole picture into account.

Energy-efficient 9000E II

A good example is the recently launched FM Mattsson 9000E II basin mixer, which is extremely energy-efficient and has a classic design that suits many different bathroom interiors. It complies with the highest level (A) in the new Swedish energy classification system.

The E in 9000E stands for Ecosafe, the Ostnor concept based on environmental awareness at all stages. This includes minimising environmental impact in the factory, choosing optimal materials and providing energy-smart functions that make the end products eco-friendly and recyclable. For example, the Eco Flow function on the aerator means that the tap works exactly as usual but air is mixed into the jet. This limits the water flow, making the mixer very energy-efficient. Cold Start is another energy-saving function. When the lever is in the neutral position, it delivers cold water instead of a mixture of cold and hot. n