Insight

Wkręt-met was established in 1990 by the family of Joanna and Wojciech Klimas. Located in Kuźnica Kiedrzyńska (Silesian province), Poland, the company started with the production of plastic fastening elements and through its owners’ ambitions, and market requirements at that time, was able to expand its portfolio very quickly.

Whilst expanding its portfolio, Wkręt-met also focused on improving product quality, investing in new technologies and expanding production facilities – using top of the range European equipment such as presses, rolling mills and injection moulding machines.

Today, Klimas Wkręt-met is a leading Polish manufacturer of the highest quality fastening techniques and is continuously developing its domestic and export market, with its products being used in over 60 countries worldwide. Thanks to the experience of high-end specialists; cooperation with producers from various industries; as well as new investments and dialogue with customers; the Klimas Wkręt-met brand has become synonymous with the highest quality fastenings used in the construction industry.

Here we speak to Wojciech Klimas, owner of Wkręt-met, about the development of the business and its production capabilities, as well as how it will continue to provide a complete portfolio to its customers in the future.

How was the company founded and what were the key points in its development?

“I remember our beginnings pretty well as it was a very tough time in Poland. However, we still managed to buy the first machines, which were the equivalent of our six months’ income, which helped us to establish our first machine park.

At that time, we were very happy about the quality of our products and continued to work on the quality aspect so that we quickly caught up with the development gap that separated us from the western Europe economies. The most important step in our development was the investment in the research laboratory, where we developed our own solutions, such as a three-sided expansion plug, a universal expansion plug, as well as a multipurpose expansion plug pattern, which are all patent protected.

From the beginning, we also focused our investment into the full digitalisation of the enterprise. It was our priority as we knew a modern facility would give us a competitive advantage, through guaranteed quality, repeatability of products and speed of order fulfillment.

Digitalisation continues to be a key focus for our business. That is why, among other things, we have created the e-klimas.com platform – an IT tool dedicated to the company’s clients and improving the product purchasing process.”

What are the production capabilities in your company? What products are you able to produce?

“Today we can offer a full portfolio of products, starting from fasteners for thermal insulation, flat roofs, screws for light housing, frame fasteners, as well as metal and chemical anchors. Wooden construction products, such as hardened wood, also play an important role in our portfolio. We also cooperate closely with the furniture and joinery industry, to whom we provide fastening solutions in the scope of production and assembly. Generally speaking, we offer a whole range of products for the wide construction industry.

What is definitely worth paying attention to is our ability to produce a full portfolio in terms of sizes (length and width). We are able to produce screws with a size from a few millimeters up to a few hundred millimeters. Additionally, as part of our portfolio, we give our customers the possibility to choose the material from which the screw can be made (carbon steel, stainless steel, etc) or the coating we are able to apply on each of the products – such as yellow coating, white coating, or our newest lamellar coating – SQ CERAMIC, which gives 10 times better results in terms of corrosion resistance when compared to standard zinc.”

What services are you able to provide to your clients?

“We often work with our key clients on the basis of customised solutions, so we try to take into account all the needs of our clients in our daily work. This, of course, translates into activities that we undertake together, such as dedicated training, meetings, lectures, as well as joint marketing projects. In addition, the solutions we provide to our partners today are aimed at accelerating and simplifying their work. Hence, our offer includes professional programs for technical calculations of fastenings for thermal insulation, fastenings for light housing and flat roofs, as well as calculations for anchors.”

What are the main benefits of being a producer in eastern Europe?

“Economically, our location may not seem very ideal. Central and eastern Europe have always been in the position of ‘chasing’ its competitors from the western border. We had a lot of catching up to do, but many Polish companies are showing that there is a space for us on the international market. Such a quick development in relation to western European countries is closely related to the geographical location of the region. Poland is almost in the centre of the European Union, enabling quick delivery to customers and significant savings related to logistics. Other factors that have enabled Polish companies to ‘catch up’ include product qualifications and entrepreneurship.

If we combine all these aspects, we can conclude that our location has contributed to the success, which is confirmed by the development of production facilities, increased employment, and also the expansion of the distribution network around the world.”

The pandemic has undoubtedly hit everyone in the industry. How has your company been impacted over the last six months? How have you adapted?

“2020 has surprised everyone with a pandemic and all spheres of life have been impacted by it. However, I believe this has made having a good brand reputation, and customers having trust in that brand, even more important. A company’s values will become even more visible in the near future on every level – from employees, through to production process management, quality control, as well as customer service.

2020 is also a special year for us, because we are celebrating our 30th anniversary, but we are also crowning the two year period of huge investments in the construction of production halls and expansion of the machine park. Through these investments, we will not only be able to meet the demand for our products, but we will also be able to propose new product solutions that we will soon offer to our partners. Of course, we have no influence on the economic situation in the global and Polish construction industry, but based on our 30 years of experience, we are well prepared for various perturbations on the domestic and foreign markets.”

Will manufacturing companies have to change in the future as a result of the pandemic? How will their role in the supply chain be impacted?

“Companies that ignore new global trends will lose customers and competitive advantage over better prepared firms. The same situation concerns economies and entire societies. In the modern world, only those who can adapt in advance to the new conditions and mechanisms of operation, in an increasingly digital world, have a chance for success. The pandemic has to some extent accelerated the processes for which many companies have only just started to focus on.

As for the impact on the supply chain, the ‘Just in Time’ service we provide is a global trend, which has been developing regardless of the pandemic. Admittedly it is an extraordinary organisational challenge, but it helps lead to a ‘work in progress’ reduction, and above all, a reduced level of maintained inventories in production and warehouse processes. These are important development factors for every modern enterprise – especially in organisations with a profile such as our company, which supplies producers not only in its own country but also abroad.

We reach 65 countries through various models of product distribution, starting from cooperation with trading partners to opening our own sales branches in selected countries, including in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and India, so ‘Just in Time’ will continue to be a key factor for us.”

Due to the global impact of the pandemic, do you think that the country of origin will become more important to customers? Does this create an opportunity for you as a European producer?

“The pandemic affected everything, including economic patriotism, which is more noticeable in some countries. However, economic patriotism must be distinguished from nationalism, which is negative. I believe that there is nothing wrong with promoting local companies if the products have unique characteristics and when purchasing I take into account the origin of the product. However, this is not a crucial criterion because price, quality, availability, as well as convenient packaging are also very important. If the products are similarly positioned in terms of price and quality, then you can choose between domestic and foreign suppliers. Such a model is most close to us because our products can compete on any market.”

What role do you think technology and automation will play in the fastener manufacturing sector going forward?

“Technology and full automatisation of production processes are already a standard in our plants, which we constantly improve. Of course, this helped during the ‘social distancing’ rules, as we did not need lots of people in our plants. Instead we have large production spaces that are filled with specialised machines that enable us to increase production capacity while minimalising costs, which directly affects the competitiveness of our products. Due to the fact that hard work is performed by modern technology, our employees are focused on activities that are less burdensome for health, working in peace and order.

A well coordinated team is built based on good working conditions, but also on the basis of good relationships, often obtained in direct contact, and this factor may suffer from the new normality of the growing ‘social distancing’. Ensuring the right atmosphere between employees in times of growing social distance is a challenge that all companies will face.”

Where do you see the company in five years? What opportunities do you see for the future?

“We are consistently implementing the strategic goal of achieving the leading position in the production of fastening techniques in Europe and this is exactly where we see ourselves in the next five years. That is why we have invested in further development of the production facilities. Over the last 5 – 6 years, we have started to make conscious, strategic decisions about the areas in which we want to develop.

In 2019, we established commercial cooperation with partners from Senegal and Australia. It was a courageous move to also establish a company in India, but after 12 months of its operation, we know that it was the right decision. A sales team working for us in India makes sure that our product range is mainly allocated to large investments.

We have also focused on the growth in the south and east European markets and then on the western European market – all the time being aware of in which countries and on which continents there is a demand for our products. Today, we can confidently say that we are no longer just a European player on the market.” 

www.klimas.com