Electromechanical expertise

Fanina Electromechanical Apparatus Factory, a company from Przemysl in Poland is a well-known expert in electrotechnical manufacturing, especially products for railway transport, the electromechanical industry and the power industry.

Fanina was founded in 1959. “The very fact that the company has survived on the market for all these years, in spite of numerous storms, crises and adversities and is still maintaining the highest technological standards and is developing, can be considered its undoubted success,” says Mr Robert Matuszyk, the Fanina president of the board.

The turn of centuries saw two key moments in Fanina’s history: in 1998 the company was transformed into a joint-stock company wholly owned by the Treasury, and then in 2002 it was privatised. Since then, Fanina has been fully owned by a private owner.

The year 2004 saw another important moment in the company’s history. “Our longterm experiences as well as constant striving to satisfy the needs of our customers have enabled us to be proud of the very high quality and reliability of our products. This is confirmed by an integrated quality management system compatible with the PN-EN ISO 9001:2008 standard, the certificate for which was issued by DEKRA in 2004 and is constantly monitored by this company,” explains Mr Matuszyk.

Fanina’s production is all carried out at a single location, which enables it control the whole process of manufacturing. The company has 110 employees. “Our strategy, is to improve quality of our products systematically, to boost production efficiency and to follow the growing expectations of our customers. We have for several years been carrying out a programme of intense modernisation of our stock of machine tools and production equipment. At the same time we have been regularly training our employees to improve the quality and efficiency of their work and encouraging them to become acquainted with the most modern technological and organisational solutions. We have also equipped our research & development department with the most modern software/hardware design tools,” points out Mr Matuszyk. Constant development and improvement

The company’s current output includes products for railway transport, electromechanical industry, and power industry such as couplers, solenoids and coils, spare parts for railways, current transformers, cable guides and electromagnetic chucks. “In terms of the production of electric heating couplers for railway rolling stock (coupler assemblies used to connect individual railcar segments of the train’s high voltage heating systems) and solenoids for hydraulics, we are by far Poland’s leading manufacturer. Our strategic development is aimed at maintaining and further strengthening this position. In the current transformers market our share is about 25 per cent, and increasing this segment is our biggest challenge in the near future,” adds Mr. Matuszyk.

According to Mr Matuszyk, despite the economic crisis in Europe, the company’s financial situation is good. Fanina annual sales are

about PLN 9 million (€2.2 million). It has been profitable for a long time, and the whole profit is earmarked by the owner for further investments. Such a strategy helps the company to develop consistently and to maintain high standards of technology and quality.

The share of annual exports remains at 22 to 25 per cent of the total sales volume. Due to the economic problems in most European countries, foreign sales are characterised by high intensity of fluctuations. Slovakia, Switzerland, Germany, Hungary, Ukraine, Belarus and the Czech Republic are Fanina’s main export markets. Solenoids, spare parts for railways (couplers) and electromagnetic chucks are the company’s leading export products.

Carefully selected partners

Fanina’s commercial success wouldn’t be achieved without the chain of partners it has cooperated with.

“The company’s policy in this regard is precisely defined in our quality management system. The purpose of these rules is to identify providers who offer their products on the most favorable terms. The criteria for the selection of suppliers are not designed to take only price into account, but also many other factors, such as: quality, stability of specifications, terms of delivery and the supplier’s ability to deliver ordered components on time. We evaluate suppliers systematically and the list of regular partners, with whom we cooperate on a longer term is updated on the basis of this evaluation.

Four pillars of the future

Despite the successes that Fanina has achieved for more than half a century of its activity, the company doesn’t intend to rest on its laurels. Mr Matuszyk explains that the company’s strategy for further development stands on four pillars: • improvement of products that are in the production programme systematic increase in the volume of their sales. These are particular measures of the modernisation of solutions and improvement of current products; • expanding the range of each product group by introducing to the market new types, versions and varieties; • investments to maintain the machinery at the highest technological level, but above all broader investments in engineering and technical staff (increasing the staff potential through recruitment and training); • the implementation of management accounting processes based on the theory of constraints (TOC) and Lean Manufacturing production management system, along with Kanban scheduling system for lean and just-in-time production. n

www.fanina.pl

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