Intelligent garden tools Fiskars

INTELLIGENT GARDEN TOOLS

The Finnish company, Fiskars, is one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of gardening equipment. Joseph Altham spoke to Thomas Enckell, the president of the Fiskars garden division for the EMEA region, to find out about a company that prizes intelligent design and has established a strong presence in central and eastern Europe.

Fiskars makes all kinds of consumer goods, from saucepans to hunting knives. The company is famous all over Europe for its distinctive orange scissors and has sold more than a billion pairs of scissors since the product was launched in 1967. The Fiskars Group has an annual turnover of €743 million and employs around 3400 people, while the gardening business represents around 40 per cent of total net sales. The spades, sheers and secateurs that Fiskars produces are widely available in garden centres and home improvement stores throughout Europe.

Fiskars describes the concept behind its gardening range as one of “ingenious simplicity”. The aim is to produce tools that help make gardening fun, and Fiskars puts a lot of effort into designing garden tools that are lightweight and easy to use. The process of product development involves extensive testing to ensure that the finished product is of the best possible quality and will perform well over time. As Mr Enckell explained, Fiskars believes in the philosophy of continuous improvement, and pays serious attention to feedback from consumers before bringing out any new product. “Our way of working is a continuous flow involving prototyping, testing and learning from consumers. We have different ways of getting consumer insight, such as working with garden schools.”

International recognition

The Fiskars emphasis on design has won the company many awards. In 2012, they won three awards for their gardening products at the prestigious Red Dot design competition in Germany. The Fiskars Quantum cutting tools took a “best of the best” award for product design. The aluminium handles of the Quantum pruners and shears have cork grips to stop the gardener from getting sweaty hands. The Quantum hedge shears achieve a clean and precise cut, thanks to their precision ground hardened steel blades. The shears employ the company’s PowerGear technology. This ensures optimal cutting power by distributing user effort evenly throughout the cut, thereby minimising strain on the wrists.

Fiskars also won a design award for its Xtract handsaw. The retractable saw is intended for pruning fresh wood and branches. The ergonomic shape and protective finger guard of the handsaw make it safe and comfortable to hold, and it comes with a useful belt clip as well. Fiskars won a third Red Dot award in 2012 for its XSharp axe and knife sharpener. The XSharp contains two sharpeners in one and is very light and portable, while its tough ceramic grindstone cutting grooves will keep an axe

in tiptop condition. “We have received Red Dot awards for a multitude of products,” said Mr Enckell. “These awards enhance our credibility and show we are performing well.”

Facing east

Fiskars dates back to 1649, when an ironworks was established in the village of Fiskars in southern Finland. Today Fiskars village is a popular tourist attraction, while the company’s main gardening tools factory is located in the nearby town of Billnäs. The Billnäs factory specialises in making cutting tools. “This is where we make the shears and axes, as well as the orange-handled scissors.”

Fiskars manufactures long-handled tools, such as spades, hoes and rakes, at its factory in northern Poland. The factory, which Fiskars established in 1991 in the town of Słupsk, now employs 300 people. “We have been in Poland for over 20 years now and we expanded the factory in several stages. The factory serves the needs of the local market, where we are the market leader for garden tools. Eastern Europe is a growing market for gardening products.” Fiskars is number one in gardening products in Poland, the Czech Republic and the Baltic states. The company also has a smaller factory in Russia.

Grey power

Sales of Fiskars gardening products have been rising, despite the economic downturn. Perhaps this is because the recession is encouraging us to rediscover the simple pleasures of growing our own vegetables and chopping firewood for the stove. Mr Enckell points to two general tendencies that work in his company’s favour. One is the fashion for outdoor living. As people spend more of their free time in the garden, they are prepared to spend more money in order to create the garden of their dreams. The second factor from which Mr Enckell expects Fiskars to benefit is European demographic trends. “Gardening has always been a popular pastime for older people. Europe’s population is ageing and over the next 20 years the number of elderly people in Europe is set to increase.” Fiskars is at a particular advantage here because its products are so easy to use. Features like the ergonomic shape of the handsaw, the PowerGear mechanism in the shears or the perfect weight distribution of a Fiskars axe all make working in the garden less of an effort for older people. According to Mr Enckell, the quality that all Fiskars gardening products have in common is intelligent design. n