Controlling the power ETI Group

Functionality plus elegance

The Forma Ideale collection of panel and upholstered furniture ranges from living rooms and hallways to kitchens and offices, bedrooms to kids rooms’, sofas and beds to entertainment centres. And from eye-catching functionality to elegant compositions.

The success strategy is based on a number of critical advantages, with modern design utilising high-quality European components and product consistency and reliability key factors. So too are an excellent price-quality ratio, practical and efficient flat packaging, and optimal stock levels leading to short lead times.

Production facilities are located in Kragujevac and Majdanpek in Serbia, with over 500 employees operating in a 23,000m2 production hall. The production assortment consists of over 250 articles of panel furniture and over 20 articles of upholstered furniture, with a total production capacity of more than one million pieces a year.

Panel furniture manufacture is organised on the basis of serial production using modern technologies. Four production lines include the application of CNC management and developed quality control procedures, as well as protective systems for workers and the environment that meet the highest industry standards.

Forma Ideale’s 1200 employees are mostly young, with an average age of 28 at production level and 34 in management. More than one third of employees are women.

“The exceptional market position of the company is the result of sincere commitment to professional objectives and respect for market rules,” says Mr Ružesković. ”According to annually conducted researche of consumer preferences, Forma Ideale’s furniture is at the very top with regards to the functional properties, price-quality ratio and its contemporary design.

“Forma Ideale’s furniture assortment offers a simple concept of functional, comfortable and quality furniture of modern design which follows the global trends for interior design.”

Model of success

The company’s remarkable success and growth, says Mr Ružesković, is based on the creation of a modern business pattern for the furniture industry in south-eastern Europe.

“Strong adherence to the principles of modern business, rapid response to market demands and a high degree of confidence, have all very much contributed to the leading market position of the company. Our leading market position in Serbia and south-eastern Europe is the result of a sincere commitment to professional goals and

compliance to market trends. An excellent quality/price performance and a widespread network of loyal and satisfied partners illustrate Forma Ideale’s strategic business advantages, with customers and partners alike recognising the benefits and potential of our furniture assortment.“

The major chipboard supplier – the world’s leading producer Kronospan – is a leading partner, and its location, just 22km from Forma Ideale’s production facility, opens up excellent prospects for further export expansion to the EU. Supplier criteria

“During the last several years of intensive development, we have undertaken the strict selection of our suppliers. And this – a system based primarily on the level of quality and reliable delivery – has contributed to the selection of suppliers who are now our strategic partners. Long-term partnerships between Forma Ideale and our suppliers are marked by the observance of obligations and a high degree of confidence.”

Looking ahead Mr Ružesković says the development strategy includes improving the company’s position in existing markets as well as penetrating new ones – especially in western Europe.

“Our development strategy is essentially based on the stabilisation and growth of our foreign markets sales network and on the expansion and further improvement of customer service in Serbia. And with a wide range of products, excellent price-quality ratio, constant stock and optimal delivery period meeting all necessary requirements, every factor is in line with our brand slogan – ‘Living well is easy...Forma Ideale’.” n

CONTROLLING THE POWER

The ETI Group has a strong production base in 13 countries across the world and branch offices in more than 60 countries. With a reputation as one of the leading producers in the field of fuses and an important niche player in the field of switchgear, the group is today a widely trusted company when it comes to the protection and safety of properties and their users. Vanja Švačko reports.

IN more than half a century’s long his tory, the ETI Group has managed to gain significant experience in innovating products and solutions for the protection of residential, commercial, industrial and power distribution installations. Established in 1950 in the central Slovenian city of Izlake, the company started making ceramic products, setting up its first electro-porcelain Bergman pipe in 1954. It took them only a decade to engage in the manufacturing of electrotechnical products and to become one of the first to offer safety fuses to its customers.

What followed was the development of innovative products such as their first miniature circuit breaker. This initiated the company’s shift towards an electrotechnical range of goods and the beginning of automation upon development of its first assembly line. Integration with the ceramic factory Svit Kamnik in 1981 shaped the form of future production and today this plant is one of the company’s main manufacturers of a large part of the technical ceramic range.

Expansion through subsidiaries

Fifteen years ago ETI embarked upon a new plan of establishing subsidiaries. The first of these were ETI Proplast in Slovenia and ETI Polam in Poland. Today ETI has daughter companies in 11 European countries (such as the former Yugoslav republics, Ukraine, Slovakia, Romania, Lithuania and Germany).

As well as establishing subsidiaries, ETI was also pursuing its expansion policy through various acquisitions, such as a plant in Hildburghausen for the manufacture of miniature circuit breakers and so on.

Today the company has three production sites: apart from the ceramic manufacturer Kamnik, Trbovlje deals with special-purpose fuses, while the facility in Izlake, which is also the company’s headquarters, makes the whole range of products including switchgears, fuses and some of the technical ceramic items. Some of the subsidiaries have autonomous production (Bosnian ETI Sarajevo, Slovakian ETI Elb, Polish ETI Polam, German ETI De and Slovenian ETI Proplast) and are basically in charge of semi-finished products and the assembly of goods for the Group or for their own needs. This additional manufacturing area consists of 31,154m2 .