SCREWS AND METAL
COMPONENTS FOR CARS Finnveden Polska SA, of Bielsko-Biala, Poland, is a leading producer of screws and metal structures for the car and commercial vehicle markets. It also constitutes an important part of Finnveden Group, a renonwed Swedish partner to the international automotive industry, writes Piotr Sadowski.
F
innveden, with headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden, is an engineering group with strong positions in a number of market segments. It is a leading supplier to the car and commercial vehicle markets, developing and manufacturing customerspecific components and systems, based on metallic materials. The group has five production units, three of which are in Sweden (Forsheda, Hultsfred and Olofström) and two in Poland, in Bielsko-Biała. In addition, it has assembly units in Sweden, Belgium and the UK. The origins of its presence in Poland, however, go back as far as 1998, when
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Swedish company Bulten AB acquired part of Bielska Fabryka Wyrobów Śrubowych (the Bielsko-Biala Screw Products Factory).
In the group The roots of the original factory date to the late 19th century. The manufacturer consisted of two companies: ‘Bartelmuss & Suchy’ and ‘Theodore Pollak & Son’. The first one was founded in 1880 with the aim of producing screws, washers, rivets and accessories for textile industry. ‘Theodore Pollak & Son’ began its activity in the 1909 manufacturing wire goods, drawn wire, nuts,
rivets, iron bolts and screws, metal plugs and materials for the railway industry. This initial division defined the company’s further history. After World War II it became a state-owned factory consisting of two units from what earlier were the old Bartelmuss and Pollak factories. In the 1960s a development and modernisation of the company was started and important investments were made. As a result, it has become a leading company in the screw business in Poland. Changes in the political system in Poland and the transformation from a planned socialist economy fully controlled by the State to a free
