Liko stories 1 2014

1 2014 Since 1997

LIKO-Stories

Quarterly export issue of the company magazine

We are building a happy and green company

AND WHAT ABOUT EXPORT?

WE INSTALL CEILINGS NORTH OF THE ARCTIC CIRCLE

INHALL UNITS MOVING PRODUCTION INTO 21ST CENTURY

OUR GOAL IS A DELIGHTED CUSTOMER

THIS YEAR WE’LL PUT LAST YEAR’S ENERGY TO GOOD USE • DE-ICING INDUSTRIAL MACHINE • INDUSTRIAL FAN MADE IN LIKO-S • TO KEEP THE OFFICE ROLLING • NEWS FROM SWITZERLAND • COS IS LEADING THE WAY IN OFFICE FITOUTS IN ROMANIA

HERE WE POST COMMENTS ABOUT THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF THE LIKO-S CORPORATE PHILOSOPHY: THE BEST IS TO BE THE BEST • THE IMPORTANCE OF DETAIL • PEOPLE AS INDIVIDUALITIES • THE HIGHEST QUALITY OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES • INNOVATION EVEN AT THE PRICE OF MISTAKES • INFORMALITY AS A SUPPORT OF COMMUNICATION • GROWTH AND PROFIT WITH JOY.

GROWTH AND PROFIT WITH JOY THE TERMS PROFIT AND GROWTH ARE INCLUDED IN THE BASIC DEFINITION OF MARKETING: “MARKETING THE SET OF PROCESSES AND ACTIVITIES DESIGNED TO ANTICIPATE AND MEET DEMAND WITH PROFIT“.

The first step.

I started my business 24 years ago. After the Velvet Revolution I immediately left the state owned concern and with a strong determination to achieve something I plunged into a life about which I knew nothing. I carried the burden of an unfinished house and a family with a small baby. We were totally without money. Each month besides paying the regular bills we had to repay several loans on the house. At that time I was making CZK 1.950 as a technologist and the monthly installments amounted to CZK 1.000. My wife was not working; she was on maternity leave. At the end of each month my wife and I were collecting bottles with deposits so we could return them. That was the last money we had.

We are expanding.

My parents just started the repairs on the house while my brother was still in school.

I did not have any start-up money or an investor, though I had the greatest people around me – my wife, my parents, the in-laws and a few good friends. None of them discouraged me from achieving my goals; moreover my father-in-law in the beginning was very

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encouraging and supportive of my starting a business. It was a good time, which I like to remember and in addition it was a great challenge for me. I knew subconsciously that this is the right way to do things and I did not recognize any possibilities of loss. Therefore failure did not happen. Today I would like to give thanks to all those people whether they are still among us or not who stood by me then. Thanks also to my grandfather Bedřich, who founded our family-owned machinery business in 1909 and from whom I inherited the genes of craftsmanship and the passion for being independent. I also thank my grandfather František, a craftsman and painter, who as a passionate amateur actor gave me the genes of being hardworking.

From the start, not always, but usually –profitably.

And so it was that I started to make a profit –profit that was not only for me. At the beginning, there was one big zero and today there is a company that feeds more than 500 families. A company, which for all these years has paid all the taxes brought to the treasury over CZK 96 million and paid CZK 238 million towards health insurance and retirement plans.

Profit and growth is compulsory.

All that we have given to our country and what we have built has become a true reality, because we make a profit. The rate of profit is ultimately the measure of our success. Each year we put in our agenda many tasks and expectations, but ultimately we always go back to the profit evaluation. Profit is what we bring to our country. It is something which deserves respect and reward. We are not ashamed that we believe in profit. Many people and companies hide their drive for profit. They are afraid to talk about profit so they do not lose their customers and the source of money. We serve our customers, but we also tell them that we need profit because

we will put our warranty on our products and we want to do more business with you apart from this one. We want to grow and expand for you and want to be here with you in 50 years’ time.

To be paid from profit.

All employees in LIKO-S are paid from profit.

If there is no profit, there is no money. Our company is divided into small economically independent teams. Everyone is well informed what earnings each team has and how much money each team has in the corporate in-house bank. Everyone knows how much of the profit will accrue to his or her monthly bonus. Everyone here is well motivated to make a profit. It is profit from which not only our company but also the whole country makes money. It is profit which is what we can really pass onto the following generations in material and spiritual form. Even our schools and science is financed from profits, to which our company also contributes its share.

You make profit means you gain respect.

Here in the Czech Republic we still do not accept and recognize the culture of profit.

Profit is a matter of mathematics and thanks to our politicians this business issue has almost disappeared from the school’s curriculums. It is no longer necessary to take an exam in math at the final school-leaving examination. How can our business followers calculate what is and what is not profitable? Here in the Czech Republic, it looks like we have been living in a non-profit society where money goes from some donations or grants. And it still looks like donations and grants are given to us by our politicians. We still forget those who make a profit and those who are able to gain and farm profit because they deserve respect from people far more than those who are entrusted to manage money and use it only for their personal benefit.

The true entrepreneur will never do that.

LIKO-STORIES INTRO

Do you think or do you think that you think?

In the past we often heard from our managers when we criticized their poorly negotiated terms in the contract: “But risk is a part of business! So what if it does not work; we will just have less profit” We have always rejected this argument. Proper business is not like playing roulette where we bet on whether or not we make a profit. Businesses are not about spinning money on the wheel of fortune and then waiting to see whether a tunnel in Prague or a motorway in Moravia will cost twice or even three times as much. We never work that way. Entrepreneurship and business is about minimizing the risks and potential loss of money. This needs to be done at the beginning of the preparation phase of any project. The quality of preparation is always a decisive element whether the project will be a success. This is the moment where those who can really think will be separated from those who think that they can think. Those less able think that everything can be caught up when the project starts. They are mistaken and they put themselves into trouble with the bid. Yes, each project is sometimes influenced by accidental incidents. It is necessary that the project manager counts in advance with all the possible options that may randomly appear.

To think means to predict! Those managers who can make a profit can predict well. Those are the everyday thinkers who deserve the highest respect. Business and management is an intellectual adventure. It is not roulette as many people contemptuously think.

We are growing but not at the expense of our values.

Here in LIKO-S we believe in growth and profit as the last and seventh point of our corporate culture. We recognize and respect the culture of profit. It is our duty to make a profit. At the same time making a profit is associated with joy and pleasure – with the joy of work well done, with the joy from satisfied customers and with the joy of well-paid work.

However, we must never maximize our profits at the expense of any of the six previous points of our corporate culture!

LIKO-S was founded in 1992 on the swamps of the Austerlitz sugar refinery in the Czech Republic. It was a small local company of young enthusiasts with no or very little business experience and led by my father, Libor Musil. Today in 2014, we still consider ourselves as a small company and certainly are still enthusiastic about what we do. What changed is that we no longer see ourselves as a local company and we have 22 years’ experience with our motto “the best is to be the best”.

LIKO-S nowadays is an international company and we are very proud of this fact. We are proud because we know that only through exporting our products onto foreign markets we can compete with the best in our industries. We are proud (and grateful) because we can see that we are succeeding and we are on the top.

LIKO-S team with GEA and a model of one of our proudly exported products for food processing.

In LIKO-S we like demanding customers. Of course, we set high standards for ourselves; however, there is no better motivation for us than satisfying a demanding customer. We always want to continue growing and evolving and we can see that demanding customers from abroad are really helping us do this.

Since 1997, we have been issuing every month our company magazine “LIKO-Sáček”. This magazine is written only by our employees with the purpose of informing the whole LIKO-S community and our customers about what is new and planned in LIKO-S. We perceive this magazine as in important part of our informal communication. We see ourselves as a small company in terms of our behaviour. We do not act as a corporate organisation and want our structure and personal responsibilities to be very transparent even to our customers. With our magazine we are able to show you our people as we see them every day. For this reason, we have decided to issue an export version of our magazine called LIKO-Stories. It will be issued every quarter in English and will inform you about our products, projects, customers and partners across all the divisions in LIKO-S. In this issue you will find articles from our directors about the plans of our Interiors, Energy and Production division for the year 2014. Our Export department in Interiors is also introducing our new partners in Poland and Rumania and there is an interesting interview with our “senior” partner Amina products from Switzerland. Our Energy division also has bold plans not only in Austria for this year and you can read about the Icynene global conference they participated at in Mexico.

And of course, Production is as busy as always with their food technology products for GEA and they have also got their own new product coming along – industrial fans!

I sincerely hope you will find our quarterly LIKO-Stories interesting and useful. Whether you are our partner, customer, supplier or just our friend, we want to share our passion with you. Our passion for export and being the best.

Jan Musil, Head of Export, member of the board

Libor Musil, Chairman of the board and company founder

LIKO-STORIES, QUARTERLY EXPORT ISSUE OF THE COMPANY MAGAZINE, published in Slavkov u Brna 8. 4. 2014.

PUBLISHER: LIKO-S, a.s., U Splavu 1419, 684 01 Slavkov u Brna, Business ID: 60734795. e-mail: likosacek@liko-s.cz.

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INTERIORS IN 2014

OUR GOAL IS A DELIGHTED CUSTOMER (Article adopted from LIKOSÁČEK No. 1/2014)

Martin Coufal, Director of Interiors

This year’s planning in the Interiors took place on-line in Slavkov and in the Prague branch.

ANOTHER YEAR HAS PASSED AND IT IS MY PLEASANT DUTY AGAIN TO SHARE WITH YOU A SHORT EVALUATION OF LAST YEAR AND TO REVEAL SOME OF OUR PLANS FOR 2014.

WE ARE SATISFIED WITH THE RESULTS OF LAST YEAR – WE HAVE REACHED THE PLANNED FIGURES AND AS WE HAD RESOLVED, EVERYTHING RAN SMOOTHLY. WE MANAGED TO AVOID ANY RISKS. OUR TEAM IS STRONGER AND OF A HIGHER QUALITY THAN IT WAS AT THE BEGINNING OF LAST YEAR.

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Slovakia has come up to our expectations, Hungary, on the other hand, has surpassed all our expectations thanks to the Lego, Audi and Opel projects and due to Mária Veréb, 2013 was the best year in the branch history.

With export our ambitions were higher than the actual end result. We can blame ourselves for the most part. That is why export will be the subject of the most planned changes.

And now for the changes. I don’t want to bore you with facts and figures. The important thing is the principle which for us means to contribute with our work to reinforce all the attributes of our company philosophy. How is this going to project practically into our plans?

THE BEST IS TO BE THE BEST

There are several views on who is the best in the branch. Only one can be the best, though, and for this reason the best is the one who is the best across a whole range of different criteria which create reputation. In our opinion the best one is therefore the one with the best reputation.

That is what our customers think of us, what they say and write and if they come back to

us. In all points of our plan we have wondered how to improve our customer services.

Better comfort of our employees is at the end of the day also a benefit for our customers.

THE IMPORTANCE OF DETAILS

Our plan for technical development counts with the improvement of many technical solutions of our products where the demands for improvement have come either from our customers’ and partners’ wishes, or from our installers’ initiative or were found during the installation check by Michal Jelínek. Michal’s “supervisor” activity has proven its worth and this year we plan to dedicate ourselves even more to implementation checks.

WE BELIEVE IN OUR PEOPLE AS INDIVIDUALITIES

Our goal now is to support, watch and reward people’s initiative. As in any sports team, it applies that if the team wants to win, then every player has to want that: in our division it applies that in our team we only want people who also want something. In that sense we have made many personal changes and some are yet to be made. I expect initiative from all people in all positions.

INTERIORS IN 2014

THE HIGHEST QUALITY OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

We fulfil this principle actively by adjusting methods – from the requirements of technical solutions to the final assembly at the construction. Our aim is now to shorten the periods between entering into a project and arranging the production. That is why we have reinforced the positions of cost accountants and operating designers. We will be organizing regular meetings during their growth.

INNOVATION EVEN AT THE PRICE OF MISTAKES

We are not planning to make mistakes but it is evident that those who don’t make mistakes

MICRA I glass partition, Faurecia, Mladá Boleslav (Czech Republic).

We are satisfied with the last year in the Czech Republic – we have reached the planned results and we managed to avoid any risks, as we had resolved. Our team is stronger and of a higher quality than it was at the beginning of last year.

This is a good prerequisite for successfully reaching our goals for this year. are only those who don’t do anything. This year we are preparing several revolutionary changes in our product line, we are preparing new products and we are beginning to implement the purchase of new technologies. I will reveal more shortly before launching them.

MICRA I and OMEGA 100.1 partitions combination in IBM interiors in Brno (Czech Republic).

INFORMALITY AS A SUPPORT OF COMMUNICATION

People grow resigned to their initiative if they keep encountering arrogance or indifference. How we understand informal communication was described precisely by Libor Musil in the last issue of LIKOSÁČEK. In many successful multinational companies it is even described in communication standards.

I will personally pay attention to seeing responsiveness, cohesiveness and cooperativeness as genuinely fulfilled notions, not just empty words on paper.

GROWTH AND PROFIT WITH JOY

We are really proud that our division has contributed in the profit of the whole company by almost 70%. This year too we have a very ambitious financial plan. There is only one way towards its fulfilment, however, and that is customers delighted that it is LIKO-S who is working for them.

Glass partitions MICRA II, McCann in Bratislava (Slovak Republic).

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INTERIORS IN 2014

AND WHAT ABOUT EXPORT?

Historically first relocatable partition made in LIKO-S India and installed for Honda company in Bangalore.

Last year did not entirely fulfil our expectations and therefore we must react to this situation. After reflecting on our past exporting efforts, we realised we do not want to be passive participants on our export markets anymore. And we want to be able to offer products with top design, added value and at a competitive price so that our Export partners can be proud for being a part of LIKO-S. We have three ways ahead of us which are connected with our goal of conquering markets: 1. To provide strong support to our existing partners. But not only that. In order to be able to make progress efficiently on these markets, we need to gain a much better overview of how these markets function, the competition and the potential of our products on the markets. Only by doing this we will be able to really conquer these markets.

2. In particular we will focus on the markets, where we have felt the biggest dynamics in the last period – i.e. Switzerland, Rumania and Poland. We will devote our utmost care to these markets and LIKO-S partners on these markets will gain our maximum support in terms of marketing and technical

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development. We will be in a very intensive contact with these partners.

3. We will fight to win and install projects on markets where we do not have Export partners, mainly Scandinavia, Middle East and the USA. These are markets where we have already obtained some experience and we want to take an advantage of the potential they offer to us.

In accordance with the new strategy, we have also implemented a few personal changes in our team.

LIKO-S will no longer be “opening” new markets; we will be “conquering” new markets. We do not want to be just a supplier of partitions. We want to be a strong partner for all the members of the international LIKO-S Group.

The LIKO-S board appointed Jan Musil as the new Head of Export. Jan has gained useful exporting experience in the last years by setting up our SMARTISOL brand on the Austrian market and should therefore play an important role in terms of support and development of our international LIKO-S group.

Iva Kuncová has become the Export office manager and will therefore be responsible for all operational processes taking place under our standards of quality, time and cost management.

Additionally, we have two new members strengthening our Export team. Our new technician, Karel Hudec, will be a strong support to our partners with his great technical and language skills. Also we have Radek Novák joining us as the Country manager for India. Radek has fine experience in sales in India so I believe he will be able to establish LIKO-S as the top partitions supplier in India soon.

I wish our team and our partners all the best in conquering our export markets in 2014!

Martin Coufal, Director of Interiors

OUR PARTNERS

IN POLAND „BUILDINGS HAVE SOULS“ Introduction of our recent and growing partner.

THE CONSTRUCTION DEVELOPEMENT IN POLAND IS ONE OF THE FASTEST GROWING IN THE WHOLE EUROPE. WE FOLLOW THIS GROWTH THROUGH BHS, WHOSE OWNER MR. WRONSKI HAS VAST EXPERIENCE ON THE MARKET AND ALSO HISTORY WITH CZECH REPUBLIC WHICH MAKES HIM A GREAT PARTNER FOR LIKO-S. Can you tell us a few words about BHS? BHS Sp. z o.o. company (Buildings Have Souls) has been operating in glass structure construction industry for 15 years. The company is based in Warsaw, we also have a branch located in Gdańsk-Sopot that covers the operation in Northern Poland.

The process of designing tempered glass structures is 100% based on the technology provided by the German DORMA GmbH company. The range of products designed and supplied to the Polish market includes shower enclosures, sliding doors, automatic doors, access control doors, partition walls for commercial facilities, office spaces, mobile walls, balustrades, etc. Our wide range of customers includes large companies, but also private customers who wish to furnish their apartments.

How did you become a member of our LIKO-S international group?

In order to adjust to the growing requirements in office space designs and furnishing, BHS has started efforts to expand its commercial offer by accoustic office walls and glazed fire-resistant partitions.

In 2012 we began talks with the Management of LIKO-S on starting co-operation on the Polish market. The talks were successful and in September 2012 we concluded a commercial agreement.

What changed in BHS since the beginning of our cooperation? How do you value LIKO-S as your partner?

The pre-planned 2013 product sale by LIKO-S on the Polish market was exceeded by 45%. We hope to exceed considerably the planned sales of mobile walls in the year 2014.

Extending our range by LIKO-S walls has allowed us to offer comprehensive services in office space conversion and adaptation, with improving the position of our company on the Polish market and raising the sales of our existing product range, i.e. tempered glass structures.

Włodzimierz Wroński, owner and general manager of BHS company As the president of BHS, I need to emphasize the perfect business relations with all LIKO-S branches, and, which is even more important, the fact that the cooperation is very friendly in its character.

What were some of your succesful projects in 2013?

In 2013, i.e. in the first year of our co-operation with LIKO-S, we delivered relocatable partitions to the following companies: IMS/HB Reavis, HUGO BOSS, KIMBALL, TORUS, RETENMAYER and to other minor ones.

Project managers from BHS at a technical training in LIKO-S.

One of the many projects installed by BHS in Poland.

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OUR PARTNERS

NEWS FROM SWITZERLAND

ROLF RITTER IS OUR LONG TERM PARTNER IN SWITZERLAND, WHERE HE SELLS AND INSTALLS OUR INTERIOR PARTITIONS SYSTEMS. WE ASKED HIM TO TELL US SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT HIS COMPANY, HIS EXPERIENCE WITH OUR PRODUCTS AND OF COURSE, ALSO HIS VIEW ON THE COOPERATION WITH LIKO-S.

Rolf Ritter (first from left) during training of assembly groups of our partners from Western Europe.

„If you fall, pick yourself up, put your crown back on and start all over again, this is my favourite saying,“ Rolf Ritter Rolf, can you please briefly introduce your company to us?

In 1993 KR Decken- und Wandelemente was founded by my father Kurt Ritter. The main business was the sale and installation of ceiling systems and partitions (Maars).

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In 2001 we started to cooperate with a partition manufacturer in the Netherlands. From that time partition systems became a much more important part within KR and we planned to expand and deliver partitions into all regions of Switzerland. Therefore a division for the trading of partition systems was set-up within our company KR Decken- und Wandelemente Gmbh. One year later we also started to cooperate with a manufacturer of sanitary partitions in Austria.

After some time of quality problems, organisational troubles and arguments with our Dutch partition partners we came to the decision to look for a new more reliable partner for partition systems. At the beginning of 2005 we decided to start our cooperation with LIKO-S in Brno.

After a great start and successful first years of our trading division, we recognised that having the partition business as a division of our Interior company KR was limi-

Rolf Ritter, owner and general manager of AMINA Products and KR.

Our systems partitions in projects of Amina Products in Sw ting our business possibilities extremely.

So we came to the decision to separate this division from KR and, in the summer of 2005, founded our new company, AMINA Products GmbH (AMINA = the Trustworthy, honest). Our position changed immediately and the possibilities on the Swiss market and the company grew steadily. We also did more and more business with LIKO-S and attended several international market and product development meetings in Brno and products have been steadily improved and the product range expanded. Also our sanitary partitions were becoming more and more important and today we also offer our customers a complete range of sanitary walls and cabins.

In 2011 we started to develop our own product SilentPET. Sound absorbing panels produced from recycled PET bottles. After almost 3 years of developing and testing we released the SilentPET acoustic products on

INTERVIEW

the market and sold almost 2000 units within the first year. Today we are proud to have our own product but also very proud to be a member of the LIKO-S international group and to present LIKO-S partition systems on the Swiss market. We are planning to further establish the LIKO-S name and to develop the LIKO-S International Switzerland group.

Our goal: to become no 1 for re-locatable partitions on the Swiss market.

Since when have you been cooperating with our company. Can you still remember the first project with our partitions?

Since 2005, no I don’t remember, there have been so many impressive projects over the last years…

witzerland.

How do you assess the cooperation with our company and our colleagues?

Our daily business runs very well. The AMINA and LIKO-S crews have known each other for quite a while and this makes communication and working easier today.

Are you satisfied with our partitions and mobile walls?

We are happy about quality improvement over the last years in product quality but also in co-operation. But we shall keep on steadily working on our quality and our partnership.

To stop doing so would mean losing it.

Where do you see the biggest advantage and what would you suggest to our development team to improve?

To be an international group of partition partners makes us together strong and allows us to be very close to the market and to recognise market trends early.

Having regular development meetings guarantees following customer demands and producing what the market needs.

These international development meetings have introduced many good ideas, helping the LIKO-S Team to develop the best products possible. On the other hand it offers LIKO-S partners the chance to have an influence in product development and to work with a development team that they would not have in their own company.

What significant projects have you completed with our partitions?

There have been several big projects over the last years. Some of the biggest have been the Alstom, Pricewaterhousecoopers and

Swisscom projects. But we are not heading towards big single deals with high risk. Our goal is to gain much more stable, repeat business with a large customer base that we can work with for years.

There are already many famous banks with whom we can work this way. But also our government or famous companies like Alpiq, Swiss Army, Geberit, Circon and many others were we can deliver LIKO-S products on a repeat basis.

What is your view on the future of our cooperation?

We want to increase our close cooperation with LIKO-S. Having a partner like LIKO-S behind us enables us to influence the development of products and ensure that we get what our customers wans. On the other hand being a partner of the LIKO-S group makes us stronger and we count on the help of LIKO-S to become number one on the Swiss market.

For various reasons last year passed by with almost no contact (except daily business). This has been felt in turnover as well as the quality of our cooperation.

We shall avoid this lack of cooperation in future and work together on our common goal.

What is the overall image of the Czech Republic in Switzerland and has that image changed in any way for you personally after you met and visited us in Slavkov?

Well, I think the image of the Czech Republic still suffers from the influence of the old story of the separation of East and West.

But depending on how much someone has to do, for example, with Czech companies,

they soon recognise that Czech development over the last years has been incredible.

My thoughts might have been similar when I came to the Czech Republic for the first time to visit LIKO-S. I was quite sceptical if „they“ would be able to keep up with our quality demands and to deliver reliable and perfect products that our market demands.

My doubts had already disappeared when we arrived at the LIKO-S building. A well organised company with a high demand on quality and reliability was presented to us.

A fantastic first meeting with great hospitality ended with the agreement that we would soon start cooperation. And after receiving the first few deliveries from LIKO-S the last doubts in our company disappeared. Today, after almost 10 years of cooperation experience with LIKO-S, we know that we have a strong and reliable partner and are proud to present your company and products in Switzerland.

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OUR PARTNERS

COS IS LEADING THE WAY IN OFFICE FITOUTS IN ROMANIA

One of the first projects with our Micra system installed by COS in Romania.

We have interviewed Mr. Christophe Weller, a managing partner of COS, our new partner in Romania. COS has had an impressive start of their first year with LIKO-S, so we are very glad to be able to introduce COS to you.

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Please tell us something about your company. What is the vision / philosophy of your company?

My first visit in Romania was in August 1997, to take the pulse of the country. My first impression was very positive because I felt very welcome and my first contacts – mostly real estate agents and lawyers – were really helpful and encouraged me to stay. Moreover, being French, I felt very close to the culture of Romanians. After four years in Saudi Arabia and 2 years in Russia, working in Sales for Steelcase, I had the impression of getting back home.

Less than 2 months later, on Oct 1st, 1997, I was starting the procedure to register COS Romania. We started the company

as a Steelcase dealer, then, following the market evolution, we developed the range of services, becoming the first fully integrated office design & build specialist in Romania.

Our mission? To convert regular offices into efficient workspaces. By transforming the ways people work, we hope to create the atmosphere of comfort and convenience at the workplace, and we care to make the office space inspiring and the work in it more productive and enjoyable.

How has the collaboration with LIKO-S begun?

We have heard in the past of the high quality products of Liko-S, about your fast re-

sponse approach and fast development profile. Once we started our collaboration, we could immediately confirm your professionalism and personal commitment.

What do you see as the main advantages of our company and our products?

Being a family business with 20 years of experience, Liko-s has developed a thorough experience in the field, but at the same time you have not lost your human touch.

Your strong identity on the market, as well as the broad range of products and your success story, make us comfortable to recommend you to our clients as a reliable business partner.

Who are your customers? Do you have some references you would like to share with us?

In the past 16 years in Romania, we have completed more than 6.500 projects for 1200+clients. One thing we are proud of is the diversity of our clients, from Professional and Financial Services, Retail, Technology, to Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare. Just to name a few, last year we supplied, here in Romania, 100% of the furniture needs for Volksbank Branches, Plexus Oradea, Generali Headquarter in Bucharest, Exxon Mobil, Unilever, Ernst & Young, Cegeka, Lafarge, Huawei Offices, Oracle, Uniqua, Webhelp and Schlumberger.

A photo taken after a successful business meeting in Slavkov u Brna.

From left: Viktor Fric, Stefan Olaru, Martin Coufal, Paul Ciotic, Radu Sperchez, Libor Musil.

How do you see the current situation on your market?

The trend of buying new furniture & fit out definitely increased last year, due to some major relocations in new and existing office buildings. After a few years (2009 to 2012) with restricted budgets to react to a crisis climate, we started to see an upward trend in the spending in office furniture & fit out.

Like in many sectors, invoking the crisis as a reason, clients in Romania ask their suppliers to make more and more price efforts. At the same time, they are much more careful to build a proper and efficient office for their employees, very often knowing all the latest trends implemented in other countries.

In my opinion, the Romanian market will remain quite active because new office buildings are on the market and will welcome companies willing to change their office space.

What are your plans for 2014?

Last year, we registered a turnover of 16.2 mil. Euro, the best result we had in 16 years of activity, with an increase of 21% over 2012. This year, we want to achieve a turnover of 17 mil. Euro and consolidate our position as the market leader in Romania. This will be a challenge and involve further product and geographical expansion.

Micra I with the new P07 doorframe.

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INTERIORS IN 2014

WE INSTALL CEILINGS NORTH OF THE ARCTIC CIRCLE Přístav, letiště a hory v Bodø.

SINCE MID-DECEMBER LAST YEAR WE HAVE INSTALLED 10.000 SQUARE METRES OF CEILINGS INTO THE TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL SCHOOL IN THE NORWEGIAN TOWN BODØ (PRONOUNCED BOODAH).

THE VOCATIONAL SCHOOL WILL HOUSE UP TO 2,000 STUDENTS. THE PROJECT WILL BE EXECUTED BY OUR WELL- EXPERIENCED ASSEMBLY TEAM LED BY VLADIMÍR VENTRUBA.

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At school now they teach classical subjects such as how to become a cook, a hairdresser, car mechanic, painter and many other professions and vocations. The new central building will link the existing buildings and will expand the capacity by almost 50%. The handover of the project will take place in April of this year. Already we are discussing other projects in the Norwegian cities of Trondheim, Bergen and Oslo, where we will be installing our partition wall systems Omega 100.1 and MICRA II. Bodø was elevated to a town in 1816. Shortly after, it became the centre of attention because of the affair with illegal trade. At that time Norway was under the administration of the Kingdom of Sweden. Illegal trade took place between England and Sweden, just across the harbour in Bodø. Norwegians ended trading, which was the beginning of distrust of the Norwegians to this system of administration.

Petr Dostál and Jan Staňa assemble a suspended ceiling system in one of the classrooms of the vocational school.

OUR PROJECTS

Our first contract in Norway was the installation of suspended ceilings in the new building of the vocational school in Bodø. We are already discussing other projects in the Norwegian cities of Trondheim, Bergen and Oslo. Part of these projects would be the installation of our system partitions Omega 100.1 and MICRA II.

Then Bodø received attention in World War II, when it was almost destroyed by a Luftwaffe air raid in 1940. Swedes helped to build here 107 new apartment buildings for Norwegian residents who lost their homes in the air raid. At that time about 6.000 inhabitants lived in Bodø. Today it is a city with 50.000 inhabitants and is the fastest-growing town north of the Arctic Circle. The hotels here are full all year round, in summer there are a lot of people going for alpine skiing and in winter there are the “aurora watchers“, the tourists who want to see the Northern Lights.

In December, in the hotel we met several tourists from Asia, who arrived here from Beijing, for example, just to see the Northern Lights.

Bodø Airport is mostly half-occupied by the Norwegian Air Force and the area of the airport covers almost half of the peninsula.

In the sky above Bodø training flights of F16

fighters can be seen almost daily. Bodø town has a base with two-thirds of the Norwegian Air Force’s F16st. In the past, this airport was mentioned by news agencies in connection with the American U2 spy plane. The plane had been due to land here after its mission over the Soviet Union, but was shot down on this mission.

In Bodø there is a University, which focuses on fisheries and ocean biology, and also a large academy that is the only police academy outside of Oslo in Norway. There is also a base for the Coast Guard, which protects the whole of northern Norway.

Although Bodø is situated 70 km north of the Arctic Circle, the climate is mild, although very windy. This is due to the strong Gulf Stream, which here reaches speeds up to 22 knots, or 41 km/h Viktor Fric, Export coordinator

Thousands of tourists go to Bodø to see the spectacular view of the Northern Lights. We will bring it to the comfort of your home.

The ceiling in the lobby is 12 metres high.

Jan Tongeľ Novák in Bodø and Viktor Fric in Slavkov u Brna simultaneously indicate the progress of the project execution in the work schedule.

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ENERGY IN 2014

LIVING BUILDINGS® FULL OF LIFE 2013 WAS A VERY SUCCESSFUL YEAR FOR THE LIVING BUILDINGS DIVISION. WE SURPASSED THE PLANNED TURNOVER AND REVENUE FIGURES BY MORE THAN 20 PER CENT. WE IMPLEMENTED A RANGE OF INTERESTING PROJECTS BOTH FOR OUR REGULAR CUSTOMERS AND FOR A RANGE OF NEW CUSTOMERS THAT WE MET LAST YEAR FOR THE FIRST TIME.

Energy Division – Living Buildings® team planning for 2014.

Martin Diviš, Director of Living Buildings®

We have built most Living Buildings® in the past few years. Our customers realize more and more the importance of variability of office and production spaces. Our conviction that nowadays the flexibility of companies, their people and their operation will be more and more in demand has been confirmed. In this sense a Living Building® is the perfect solution. Maybe that is why 2013 was such a successful year for us and we see the prospects for 2014 as very positive.

We dedicate ourselves systematically to innovations, not only of products but also of methods, so that also the following years are as successful. We see to it that our customer always finds the best solution here.

WE INNOVATE: Last year we finished a three-year complex reconstruction of IN-EKO TEAM (Czech Republic) production premises in Trnec u Tišnova. In cooperation with the company executive director we created a modern working environment for the dynamic team of the company personnel.

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In 2013 we managed to extend the range of our products by several innovations. They key one is a new diffusion-open construction of a wall intended mostly for administrative

buildings. The testimony of the uniqueness of this solution is the gained registered design for this construction. This new solution makes it possible to create a healthy and comfortable working environment with minimum operational costs. The open façade has no limits; we can create it in any shape and always maintain perfect insulation qualities in every detail.

Among other titbits that were a real “treat” for us is a green façade that within our development we implemented on an extension of a new hall on our premises. Both these innovations are ready for implementation and we will be able to offer them to our customers.

WE GROW:

This year we want to extend our division by two enthusiastic builders who feel like doing

The interior we created for IN-EKO TEAM (Czech Republic) connects visually both operations and divides them acoustically. It thus fulfils the requirements for modern office spaces.

Among other titbits that were a real “treat” for us last year is also a green façade. Its base is an original construction of a façade which can breathe, protected by a registered design in the Czech Republic and Austria. For our development we implemented it on the extension of a new hall on our premises and we have prepared it for our customers. things different and better. For our team we need more people who are interested in searching for what the customer wishes, identifying their idea and surpassing it.

This is what our green façade on the production hall looked like at the end of the summer. BEAUTIFUL!

WE OFFER MORE:

To our customers we always offer a bit more.

The word “quality” is not an ever present expression for us. Quality without compromise is something that we take for granted.

With every construction we search for possibilities of how to do things even better, faster and to a higher quality. Thanks to this method I can proudly say that this year we have managed to “create” more than 50 satisfied customers for whom we have enjoyed working.

Our plan for 2014 is simple – we want to prove again that the best is to be the best.

Our goal is to be number one in what we do.

That is the only way we can offer our customers real quality without compromise, always and with all projects we work on.

The most significant of this year’s implementations with Living façade is the currently realized construction of a hall for Sittech Hydraulika in Most (Czech Republic) where we are implementing a two-floor administration building with a storage base. The administration building is in low energy version.

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ENERGY IN 2014

INHALL UNITS - MOVING PRODUCTION INTO THE ST 21 CENTURY

Living buildings® and LIKOform® systems working together.

We have taken advantage of the fact that our company makes and constructs steel structures and produces systems with adjustable wall partitions. So we have put these two products together and created a unique system that we call the inHALL unit.

This product has been progressively improving for over 20 years and currently we offer this product for our clients as an

innovative article that is an integral part of our indoor services. This product will bring countless benefits and many application options.

The inHALL unit can be used, for example, as a foreman’s office, which can be placed directly in the workshop. As a result, the foreman has full control over the employees that they are in charge of. Installation of the

The inHALL unit - inLIKO® • variable interior system for inhall units • very simple and clean assembly without production restrictions • facilities which you currently need • fast and clean solution • very easy, fast and clean assembly with no operating restrictions • easy disassembly and relocation • combination of solid or glazed modules • a wide selection of surface treatment • special acoustic solutions • supplementary equipment The quality of inLIKO® inhall units meets the highest demands in design, variability and practical use.

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3D visualisation of the inHALL unit.

foreman’s office is not only very fast, but it is also carried out without restrictions or limitations on the production and the run of the workshop. The entire system is prefabricated, through which any wet processes, gap filling and sanding are eliminated, and thus the whole system installation is clean and dustless. The inHALL unit can be built also as a control room, which can be assem-

NÁZEV RUBRIKY

bled on an elevated spot in the production hall, allowing production to be almost at one’s fingertips. Any installation and assembly of the inHALL unit is very fast, without causing any restrictions or limitations to the running of the production hall. Lastly, the inHALL unit can be also used as a snack stall or changing room that can be directly placed in the workshop. This will improve performance and efficiency in production, eliminate the length of downtime and thus bring to your business higher profits. By using the inHALL unit you can isolate areas with increased noise or separate clean spaces and rooms from the production areas. The inHALL unit can be designed as a single-storey or two-storey unit, according to the height clearance of the production hall. For example, a stock room can be placed on the top of the inHALL unit or the top of the unit can be used as a terrace.

There are countless options for using the inHALL unit. In the same way that our halls are perfectly tailored to the so-called Living buildings, so the inHALL units will adapt precisely to your business.

Radek Černý business manager, Energy

ABB, Brno (Czech Republic).

INA, Kysuca (Slovak Republic).

ZF Sachs Slovakia, Trnava (Slovak Republic).

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ENERGY IN 2014

ANOTHER 5 000 SATISFIED CUSTOMERS Petr Juřeník, Director of Smartisol®

EVEN THOUGH 2014 STARTED SEVERAL WEEKS AGO WE ARE STILL AT ITS BEGINNING. WE HAVE ENTERED 2014 WITH BOLD PLANS, IDEAS AND… COMMITMENTS THAT WE HAVE COMMITTED TO FULFIL IN OUR DIVISION AND COMPANY. FROM WHAT POSITION ARE WE ENTERING IT, WHAT WAS 2013 LIKE IN OUR VIEW? For Smartisol 2013 was a year of stabilization. The great advantage is that stabilization for us is the rise of market share of Smartisol® on the market with insulation. This is a very positive signal after reading articles about the crisis in construction in combination with the “bad” state of mind. It shows that a product as unique as Smartisol in hands of the workers at our division – and our authorized distributors – does not need to concern itself with the pessimism all around.

Although not everything went 100 % well in 2013, a good impression and the result of the year are of great encouragement to us.

In the course of 2013 we launched Living façade. This is a system of diffusion-open façade which facilitates the spontaneous passage of water vapour from the interior out without the insulation losing its function. It prevents the wall from becoming wet, mildew formation and in general provides the inhabitants of the house with a healthier environment. In cooperation with NOVABRIK company we implemented several dozens of façades with concrete facing, with Fundermax company façades with high pressure laminate sheaths and also an actually living façade with growing grass. The whole system has been tested at Brno University of Technology under the strict supervision of prominent experts in the field.

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Sprayed Thermal insulation Smartisol ® ensures the best possible insulation of residential houses.

The project Smartisol® had a promising start in Austria with the name SMARTISOL®. After a good start with participation in the international fair BAUEN UND ENERGIE WIEN, we managed to prove its success through dozens of satisfied customers served at this developing fair by our partner company ERNST STOCKER BAUSYSTEME. Although Living façade is gaining more importance, most of our insulation has insulated attics of houses and blocks of flats.

In 2013 the number of customers enjoying the convenience and comfort of Smartisol® surpassed 5.000!

In 2014 we cannot have but growing aims.

We want to bring Smartisol® to hundreds of further households and provide them with perfect insulation. We want to help dozens of builders to solve the most complex details of their constructions. And of course we will keep dedicating ourselves to the develop-

ment of our product to find more and more new applications. I thank all of my colleagues for the work done in 2013, and to our customers I wish a never-ending comfortable and healthy environment with Smartisol®.

The perfect insulation in practice.

ENERGY IN 2014

LIKO-S is a highly respected company in terms of achieved business results and in terms of the performed development on which our company has been focusing.

In early March of this year, we participated together with representatives of our distributors in the worldwide conference of Icynene, a supplier of raw materials for the application of the insulating foam used by our company. The conference was held in

Cancun, Mexico, and had a distinctive name - Catch the Wave.

The conference was attended by 278 participants from 110 companies and 18 countries from around the world - ranging from Canada to the Czech Republic and Austria, and all the way to Japan. It was very interesting to share information, practices and experiences with people who work so many thousand miles away from us. As well as to find that business is the same in all parts of the world and that only the brightest and also the most persistent ones are really successful in their field.

Icynene demonstrated its professionalism not only by the perfect organization of the entire event, but also by the inspirational nature of the entire meeting. Icynene has been recording a significant increase in sales

worldwide despite the global downturn in construction activities. Icynene has become the global leader in the field of foam insulation with an open cell structure which it now clearly dominates. And that is not only because of its unique properties, but also due to the careful selection of distributors and partners who are willing to follow the company‘s mission - „To be the world‘s preferred insulation“.

We are very pleased that LIKO-S with its brand Smartisol® belongs to this selected circle. In addition, LIKO-S is a highly respected company in terms of achieved business results and in terms of the performed development on which our company has been focusing. It is unique in many ways and its results are used in many countries around the world.

The Icynene European team at the Global Conference in Mexico.

President of the Icynene company Howard Deck during his presentation.

Result of the development by LIKO-S: unique system of facade assembly using the Icynene thermal insulation.

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ENERGY IN 2014

SMARTISOL® HAS PROVEN ITS QUALITY IN FEBRUARY WE INTRODUCED THE SPRAYED INSULATION FOAM AT TWO CONSTRUCTION FAIRS IN AUSTRIA – IN SALZBURG AND IN VIENNA. I AM GLAD THAT I CAN, THROUGH OUR MAGAZINE, COMMUNICATE AND CONVEY INFORMATION ABOUT MY FIRST IMPRESSIONS AND EXPERIENCES FROM THE FAIRS AND ALSO GENERALLY ANNOUNCE THE POSITION OF SMARTISOL® ON THE AUSTRIAN MARKET. From my point of view and with the comparison to the Vienna fair, participation at the “Bauen + Wohnen 2014” fair in Salzburg was very productive. Surprisingly a lot of people were interested in our product Smartisol®.

Although our exhibition was significantly smaller than those of more prominent Austrian companies such as Internorm and Wienerberger, it still aroused a lot of attention from passing visitors. A very important role in “catching or getting” our future customers was played by a large monitor with a running video about the application of Smartisol® foam. People were standing in wonder in front of the monitor and were looking in disbelief at the rising foam on the screen with the comment: “Wahnsinn, wie das schnell auf geht” – it is crazy how fast it grows. I must say that even a lot of women looked at the monitor with the foam demonstration in amazement. After that it was easy to proceed with the question “Interessant, oder?“ – Interesting, isn’t?, which usually led to a positive conversation and getting contact information. Everyone was also asking us if we were here for the first time as they hadn’t seen us here before. Mostly, even in the positive parting with a visitor the conservative mentality of the Austrians played a role when I was told that I would be contacted later. In fact, the majority of Austrians would really call you back. In this respect our Austrian partner Mr. Stocker, who speaks the regional dialect and is based in Austria plays a larger role.

At the fair we had a lot of pleasant moments with two of them particularly standing out. The first customer whom we met

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Our Smartisol® team explaining all the benefits for the customers.

Izolík was again at full alert in Vienna and welcomed visitors to our exhibition.

Smartisol® went to Mozart’s Salzburg for the first time this year. Ernst Stocker (front) as the promoter of Smartisol® in Salzburg.

and spoke to was a professional firefighter in a uniform. He was so amazed and excited about Smartisol® that he came the next day with his wife, his father and mother to show them what he wants to use as insulation on his house. After answering all the questions and taking samples for testing, they left excited with the vision that their roof and the walls will be well insulated with our product.

Another interesting moment came at the point when a mysterious man came to the opposite fair stand from us and started swinging

a small pendulum over a stack of Wienerbeger bricks. When after some time we approached him and asked him what he had been doing, he said that he had been testing materials harmful to health, specifically cancer-causing substances. With great anticipation we invited him to test our product Smartisol®.

After several moments of testing he said with astonishment that he did not expect it but the product is perfectly fine. The man who tested the materials was a well-known certified engineer, Vladimir Denz. He has been dealing

OUR PRODUCTS

with this issue for over 35 years and is also known from Austrian television ORF. I think that our participation in the exhibition served its purpose and opened the door to the market for us. I have to thank Mr. Juřeník very much for his support and to Mr. Stockr for the team work. We are looking forward to doing business with you.

The exhibition “Bauen & Energie 2014” in Vienna is one of the largest construction

The certified engineer Wladimir Denz has been dealing with testing of the influence of materials on human health and sustainable development and design for 35 years.

He is also known from the Austrian television ORF. He reviewed Smartisol® as completely harmless to human health. exhibitions in Austria. This year over 550 exhibitors from Austria and abroad exhibited on an area of 45.000 square metres. The exhibition attracted nearly 50.000 visitors, of which 7.000 were professionals. The exhibition also had various programmes filled with lectures offering over 100 topics from the construction industry. An interesting statistic is that about 75% of the visitors were selected for a particular project or construction.

Even at this exhibition we attracted a great deal of attention, due to the promotional video on TV. We also obtained many more contacts from Vienna and its surroundings than we got in Salzburg. So we have a lot of contacts and experience to draw from. The visitor’s responses and reactions were the same as they were in Salzburg. A common topic for discussion was also the fire resistance, classification and sorting of waste, the impact of Smartisol® on health, the meaning of the word “GREEN“ and what the foam consisted of. Thank to our strong team we believe that we vindicated well the strong position of Smartisol® on the market. Meanwhile, Dalibor Skácel, who was dressed as our plush mascot Izolík, entertained passers-by.

I thank Mr. Juřeník, Mr. Stocker and Mr. Penick for their great cooperation and I believe that next time it will be even better when we work on all the deficiencies that occurred this year.

Václav Pěnička, sales representative for Austria

OUR UTILITY MODELS REGISTERED IN AUSTRIA

Lukáš Kovařík introduces our unique system of diffusion-open façade construction to the system developer of the hall buildings.

Some time ago I informed you about our diffusion-open façade structure, which is totally unique in the world. The Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic awarded us a design industrial utility, which protects the use of it for our buildings.

After the conquest of markets in the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic we have successfully infiltrated the Austrian market, where we already have a partner who applies and installs our Icynene® insulation under the trade name Smartisol®.

Austria has a very demanding market, in particular it has very strictly defined rules on who can carry out any construction work. Therefore, only professional companies can operate on the market and must be well experienced in their craft.

Austria is also a very progressive country in the implementation of modern technologies in construction. In this field the customer always wants the best technical solution. Among these modern systems undoubtedly belongs the creation of diffusion of open shell structures, which in turn eliminates the amount of water vapour in the interior. It thereby creates a healthy environment to live and to work in. This avoids complications in the nonfunctional vapour barriers and the subsequent construction defects and limitations on the life of the building. We went through this challenging market and

evaluated the experience of Icynene® insulation on the Austrian market.

It was immediately clear that for the Austrian market, we have prepared a unique façade system that ensures compliance with all the needs of the modern customer who does not want to live and work in a “plastic bag”.

We submitted our facade to the Patent Office in Austria. There they found neither doubts nor objections to the inclusion of a protected industrial design utility for our facade.

Our company thus acquired, as one of few Czech companies, the industrial design utility for Austria. This is a most valuable accomplishment because it is a highly debated area, which in itself conceives construction, energy conservation and healthy living in the diffusion-open construction.

I believe that the Czech market will grow to also want technically perfect construction (here price will not be the only evaluation element) which will be fully operational and will create a healthy environment throughout the life of the building, not just for the duration of the warranty (usually 5 years).

We seek demanding customers, because we ourselves are also demanding on our products and their quality.

Lukas Kovařík, technical director, Energy

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SUPPORT IN 2014

WE ARE YOUR SUPPORT We always go towards our customers Article adopted from LIKOSÁČEK No. 1/2014.

(The article was written by Jan Musil as the Head of Support, his successor at the time of this issue is Martin Víšek).

Martin Víšek, Head of Support

The whole SUPPORT team making plans for 2014.

From the very beginning we in LIKO-S pride ourselves on being a production company.

We don’t want to only re-sell some fictional products or services. We pride ourselves on employing skillful and professional people, we invest in new technologies and with the help of our production we thus create values. Values that, thanks to the hands of our workers and then our fitters, reach society.

Values that stay with time and become a long-term benefit for our customers. To create values and benefits for customers – that is the task for our production, that is what our SUPPORT consists in.

We imagine that our production should be the propulsion power for the business. Having our own and in addition top-ranking partition production offers many benefits for customers and thus it also represents a great competition advantage that we shou-

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This year we want to redefine our production so that it again becomes the main reason for buying LIKO-S partitions. And we definitely do not set ourselves low goals. ld optimize. Unfortunately last year we did not quite manage that. Why? Perhaps we weren’t perfectly ready, perhaps we took the wrong direction, perhaps we didn’t pay attention to important details and didn’t put

Well-arranged tools make work easier and quicker. Jaroslav Kučerňák could talk about it.

SUPPORT IN 2014

enough of our own initiative into our work.

One thing is for sure –that in 2013 the production of SUPPORT partitions was not the propulsion power of our business. Now it is surely clear to you what the main motive is for our plans for 2014.

To this redefinition of production will belong also the redefinition of products. Where we managed last year to move forward successfully is in the development and so a year of new products and possibilities awaits us. With the new product we will create a revolution in the market of mobile walls. With the new line of partitions we will introduce on the market much higher standards and appearance requirements.

And we will also dedicate ourselves much more to glass work and its design elaborati-

on. But more about this in coming issues of LIKO-Stories…

With the new year come new opportunities: Opportunities to show that we are still on the top in our field. The opportunity to prove individual initiative and so to move

our production several levels higher. The opportunity to make beautiful, quality and cheap products on time. The opportunity to be SUPPORT for the whole business and implement team. The opportunity to create values.

THE CHEAPEST AND FASTEST PRODUCTION = more work, stability, growth, profitability ZERO CUSTOMER CLAIMS = satisfied customer, good name 100 % OTD (ON TIME DELIVERY) = certainty for the customer

An American friend of our company, Jim DeBold helped with the arrangement of our workplaces (second from the right).

OUR GOALS IN 2014

Jiří Králík: When I need something, I immediately know where to find it.

THE CHEAPEST AND FASTEST PRODUCTION OF RELOCATABLE PARTITIONS IN EUROPE: Is it really necessary to add anything? Yes, it won’t be easy but at the same time we know how important it is for us and for our customers. And we also know how to reach this goal. We have to innovate every day. To think about what we do and how we do it and how we can do it better and cheaper. Each of us in production, from warehouse keeper to worker, from partner to supervisor and production head.

ZERO CUSTOMER CLAIMS: In this case zero is not only a number. It’s a notion, direction and a reachable goal. We have to change our approach and forget the word complaint. To reflect ourselves in our work. And to set for our work / products much higher standards than those of our customers. Only this way we can set the direction and keep having delighted customers.

100 % OTD (ON TIME DELIVERY): Nowadays when delivery periods in construction become significantly shorter and the customer wants everything immediately we have to go towards them. We must not sink to the level of our competitors where a couple of days’ delay are “fine”. We are not fine when working and we put pressure on ourselves.

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PRODUCTION IN 2014

THIS YEAR WE’LL PUT LAST YEAR’S ENERGY TO GOOD USE

Roman Zouhar, Director of Production

Colleagues from metalwork evaluate orders, from left Tomáš Šmerda, Tomáš Chumchál, Roman Zouhar, Milan Florian a Petr Hrabovský. Hard-working brains!

One of the interesting orders for metalwork – the interior i stainless steel last year. A MASTERPIECE!

PRODUCTION CAPACITY

my view not a single order that we have made was perfect.

Looking back, we have gained new experience, for instance with products for the oil industry, rail vehicles, health service, water turbines. Products where the specification of surfacing had been really unknown to us.

However, experience gained without the necessary profit is too great a luxury. By no means do we find ourselves in a position where we can say: we can do everything now. New things await us. We have to process them so that we can fulfill the conditions agreed with the customer, of course, and besides have profit from it, too.

How to do it? Everything crucial happens at the beginning. I will try to express this by quoting a sentence by my colleague Filip Kadeřávek that I agree with: “What we miss at the beginning is difficult and expensive to catch up with at the end. And sometimes it’s not even possible.“ Our salesmen have to have a great knowledge about the product and its final use. Simultaneously a precise specification

We have gone through periods when our capacity was overloaded and through periods when we had relatively less work. Our aim is to eliminate these swings. The solution here is obviously business activity.

This year we are planning to increase our business activity compared to last year. We have to have enough work and in the case of overload, to solve this by increasing production capacity. We have our options – sole traders.

The business deal has to be lead so that we can find an agreement with the customer about the date of the delivery which will provide us with enough time to prepare the order. Then the result will be more efficient production (planned to detail with enough space for emphasis on quality).

PROFITABILITY

With new big projects we have not managed to reach the needed profit. We have to change that too. We cannot let ourselves be lulled into thoughts that you learn from your

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We have thus everything needed to fulfil our motto: MADE IN LIKO-S®.

What does it mean?

That we will make our products with maximum efficiency, in the shortest period possible, keeping 100 % OTD and without customer complaints. mistakes. We have to work without mistakes even if it concerns a product where we have not yet had the opportunity to work with the given construction, material or processing, as mistakes would have a significantly negative influence on profit. Because there is always something that can be improved. In

PRODUCTION IN 2014

of the product is also crucial. Not only specification of the product but also, say, the method of testing is important. Then a technician – a planning engineer can take charge of the project. Who is that? He takes all the known data from the salesman and processes it so that he can debate everything with the craftsman who will lead the production of this component in production. He elaborates the drawing documentation in detail so as to satisfy the craftsman who has been acquainted with everything by then and doesn’t have to think about the implementation at the time when the production is supposed to be running to the full.

INVESTMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

This year our division has extended significantly. We have started the production of water

installation of an industrial furnace from heat-resistant turbines, we have provided our meteorology with gauges, we have acquired a CNC lathe and we have equipped this workplace with the necessary tools. The managing board has approved the purchase of a blasting machine with a blasting box, of course. Everything is from stainless steel and that is why we meet the most difficult demands of our customers.

In March we passed an extensive certification audit – successfully. We now own certifications according to EN regulations for welded constructions (1090–EX3), EN ISO 3834 – 2 general welding production in higher degree of precision, EN 15085-2 for rail vehicles, both for Czech Railways and for Deutsche Bahn and PED 97/23/EC – pressure equipment.

Our inspector, Mr. Urban, has successfully completed courses for evaluation of quality (processing) of welding in two parameters – visual and penetration control. In the past we used to buy the service of quality evaluation which cost us finances and precious time.

We have constructed and produced our own tube bending machine and with our own

construction we have made elements for standardization. This means that all cleaning tools have their place, just as the cleaning agents. Apart from that we have trolleys for materials which are tailor-made for our organization and space requirements.

We have our first own product – a fan.

In this field we had to educate ourselves first and then to go through our first production pains.

We have also extended our welding machinery with machines of a higher productivity and extent of welding materials. And naturally I cannot forget the construction of the storage hall where we have also transferred technologies for dividing material and so have gained two welding places in the original space. Also material storage has now the right parameters at metalwork.

What awaits us this year is the purchase of a CNC cutter which is missing in our technology flow. Its purchase is planned for April – May. This year we will also have to buy a forklift truck for our new storage to make the service efficient. Material division will have to be technologically resolved completely differently than with band saws. This technology is outdated for most materials.

Further investments will be presented on the basis of requirements for production; that is potential that will come from business deals and real needs of our customers. Although the possibilities for completing our technologies have not been exhausted yet, we are much less dependent on our suppliers owing to progress and fast development.

The team that participated in the production of the 11-metre deep frier, from the left Petr Hrabovský, Vratislav Urban, Radek Maláč, Tomáš Štastný, Hanka Michalkiewiczová, Petr Šmíd and Aleš Herman and behind them their “giant” before it‘s journey to Holland.

The production of turbine models always requires precise and patient work; Milan Moric and Michal Horáček are now “playing” with a model version of a Francis turbine. That is what we call clean and precise craft!

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OUR PRODUCTS

DE-ICING INDUSTRIAL MACHINE Since 2011 we have been producing for our long-standing customer from Holland the GEA CFS industrial frying machine. The client has always been satisfied with our production quality and therefore nothing has stood in the way of the extension of our cooperation. One year ago we priced a bid for the first two frames of de-icing equipment for the GEA Company. Then, during the year other business meetings were held in order to obtain this product. In the autumn our people from production went to Holland to look at the actual product and learned about

the production of the frames directly at the customer’s site. In December, GEA ordered the first four frames and accessories.

The Metal Fabrication Division has therefore started the production of a new product from stainless steel - a de-icing machine.

It is a product that allows the defrosting of large quantities of meat – quantified in metric tonnes. The principle of defrosting is as follows: part of the machine frame is a drum-like concrete mixer, however, much larger in size.

Frozen meat is poured into this drum and it begins to rotate slowly while the drum is pre-heated in order to slowly heat up the meat placed in it. When the meat is defrosted, the hydraulic pistons swing the meat out from the drum and the process can be repeated again.

The GEA Company sent quality controller and developer Dave Spierings, who has wide experience in the production of frames. He advised us how best to assemble and weld the individual structures, and showed us how to prepare the construction to be blasted with

Another new feature of this year‘s Production is an industrial defrosting machine designed for food plants ordered by our long-time partner, the Dutch company GEA. balatina so the frame looked the best. He told us everything that we needed to be careful about.

The controller was satisfied with the production quality. How could he not be, after all our Metal manufacturing can be proud of many experts, for whom this type of work is not foreign. Only for such high quality and timely submittance to the customer, will the client gladly pay for such well done work.

Dave Spierings (right) over the detail of the de-icing machine along with Aleš Herman and Radek Maláč.

A special shirt for Dave for his excellent cooperation.

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Karel Potácel controls the distribution boxes of the de-icing machine.

Karel Potácel, Senior Technician

The finished machine parts before shipment.

OUR PRODUCTS

INDUSTRIAL FAN MADE IN LIKO-S …emphasis on energy saving

FIGHTING FOR A BETTER POSITION ON THE METALWORK MARKET WE HAVE DECIDED TO COME UP WITH A NEW PRODUCT THAT WE WOULD INVENT, CONSTRUCT ACCORDING TO RECEIVED DOCUMENTATION FROM THE CUSTOMER AND THEN PRODUCE. AFTER AN AGREEMENT THE CHOICE WAS MADE FOR INDUSTRIAL FANS. AT FIRST SIGHT IT MAY SEEM THAT THERE IS NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT THEM, IT IS A NORMAL FAN THAT YOU CAN FIND IN ANY SHOP. BUT THE OPPOSITE IS TRUE.

Preparations for starting the first testing fan, from the left Tomáš Šmerda, Miloš Křivan, Karel Potácel, Roman Zouhar, Filip Kadeřávek, Petr Čermák and Vratislav Urban. And then there was a real draught!

Industrial fan MP 02-560 ready!

The fans we will produce must meet several criteria. The parameters have to match the exact requirements given by the customer: the amount of air supplied, the working pressure must endure in the environment in which it is to work, it must be robust enough for a long lifespan and most importantly, of the maximum efficiency so that the customer doesn’t pay unnecessary energy cost for its propulsion. In terms of industrial fans which will be produced (for example 150 kW units) increased efficiency of just one percent can bring savings up to CZK 50 000 per year, that’s CZK 500.000 in 10 years. These are numbers that the customer will certainly like to hear.

A great advantage is that from the start Mr. Todorov, who constructed these fans and has been selling them for 40 years has cooperated with us. In summer training was carried out in our company for technicians and senior executives who would develop these fans and consequently produce them.

Mr. Todorov trained us and familiarized

portant thing about this fan was the project, which this time Mr. Todorov provided with drawing documentation. We processed the fan as a standard order and consequently constructed it.

And the testing was ready to start when we verified what an industrial fan actually is.

First it ran slowly but within seconds it produced such a current of air that it could knock down an adult and it was still gathering speed. When it ran at full stretch it was like small hurricane, at 10 metres it was still a strong current of air. What I wanted to demonstrate is how strong a fan we have produced and that was the smaller one that we would like to produce. At this point I cannot imagine fans with 100 kW units or 500 kW units. That will be a real draught!

I strongly believe that we will assert ourselves on the market with this new fan and that it will be another product that LIKO-S can be proud of.

Karel Potácel, Senior Technician

During the construction of industrial fans we will seek their maximum efficiency. The rise in efficiency of just 1 % can bring savings up to CZK 50.000 per year. us with the basics for its development and production.

First a testing fan had to be made. After agreement with Mr. Todorov, the choice was made for a fan with 15 kW units and with the rotor diameter of 560 mm. We have made this fan mostly to be able to present it at fairs or to show it to customers - to show that we are capable of producing such a product.

The fan production itself is not so difficult for our production with its experience.

It was rather a routine issue. The most im-

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OUR PRODUCTS

TO KEEP THE OFFICE ROLLING IN RECENT YEARS WE HAVE BEEN AT THE BIRTH AND IMPLEMENTATION OF SEVERAL PROJECTS IN BRNO AND PRAGUE, ALL OF WHICH BEAR THE ATTRIBUTES OF THE SO-CALLED MODERN INTERIOR AND HAVE DRAWN INSPIRATION FROM THE SPACES OF GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES, SUCH AS GOOGLE. AND ALSO HERE IT IS ALL ABOUT THE LARGE OFFICES OF IT AND HI-TECH COMPANIES. For these projects we place great emphasis on the proper organization of work and spatial layout available to allow rapid changes in the future. Last but not least, we also place considerable importance on creating a space that does not serve primarily for work, but is intended to provide the employee with something extra special, such as an opportunity and chance to relax in games rooms or sleeping boxes and meet with team members outside the meeting rooms.

These companies believe that their investment in such an environment will return in the form of increased work performance of their „relaxed“ and satisfied employees. I have even seen a laundry room with a dryer on the premises of the office. If you get dirty on your way to work or during lunch, it isn’t necessarily a great tragedy and you can wash and dry your clothes in the comfort of your office.

Work on these projects is for us always a big challenge. In fact, we are continually dealing with something new, e.g. with a detail that is only in the head of the architect and we must devise and elaborate a technical solution and proper implementation for it. Whether it is a glazed door with a fixed glass work housed in a gypsum wall pocket, which had to be fitted to this solution, or for example, a door with thickness of 100 mm with integrated blinds and hidden frame, where the entire surface of the door leaf is glass.

AVG, Brno (Czech Republic).

I am glad that LIKO-S has a team of developers that will solve any task or desire that the designer may have. The interior systems are produced directly in our factory in Slavkov u Brna, which provides our customers with clear advantages in terms of high product quality and fulfilment of agreed deadlines. It‘s something that sets us apart from other suppliers without their own development and production.

Pavel Pavlík, business manager, Interiors

Kentico, Brno (Czech Republic).

Kentico, Brno (Czech Republic).

Storge, Brno (Czech Republic).

agriKomp, Střelice (Czech Republic).