ViVoTech: window companies switch to metal bracing for mullions

According to our company’s estimation, we possess some 77% of the market of metal bracing for mullions. We do not produce, and we are not going to produce plastic bracing. If we evaluate the whole market for bracing of mullions including plastic, our share might reach 55-60%.
We have calculated the share basing on our 20 top clients: Steko, Viknarr’off, GoodWin, Epsilon, Intermetalplast, Stekloplast, Profine, Visage, Paritet, Luvin, Viknoprom, GLASSO, Viknocenter, Viknari, Vikonda, ViknaStyl, Ekipazh, ALM, Okonika, Termoplast Plus. РThe year has passed under the influence of total restart. We have opened new production facilities with area of 1500 sq. m, increased production capacities by 50%, reformed the team, launched 12 new items, designed new packaging and implemented the principles of lean production.

The company decided to build a brand in autumn, 2018. The most important step was the handover of operational management to Denis Davydov, who possesses experience of operating within international companies, including PepsiCo and the football club ‘Shakhtar’. In 2019 we made him our partner, he has received his share in our business.

I should add that we are investing a lot into our team. Studying at the Lean institute, seminars, business consulting, we have attended Evheniy Chichvarkin’s workshop. Currently we are performing the full cycle of product development by means of our design bureau.  To be honest, by the day of my first acquaintance with the company I have known nothing about bracing for mullions or window profile systems. During the process of the company’s restart there was taken a decision to combine experience at the window market (provided by the cofounders Vitaliy Bilous and Volodymyr Shimanskiy, who possess impressive experience at the Ukrainian window market, 35 years altogether) with my fresh take on the subject. I have analyzed the enterprise’s operation from the point of view of business processes. For me, it was important to alter the vector, and my ideas turned out to be essential here.

How the top companies were attracted to become clients

Above all, the reputation having been earned during decades. Along with that, the stability of deliveries we have always ensured. We react instantly to customers’ requests. If our client has any additional suggestions, we discuss technical issues the same day. All the adjustments are introduced in shortest terms, and our clients appreciate that.
One more important aspect. We operate within the sector of B2B, but in fact we define ourselves as the P2P — people-to-people business.
After the trainings we started to implement the principles of the Toyota company for our production processes. At Toyota, there is a controversial attitude to robots. We wanted to blend in robotic manipulators to our manufacturing processes. But, as the experience indicates, the robots are needed for certain stages of production, but they cannot always make up for human attentiveness. The company’s operations depend on automation, but we are also directed towards cooperation with people.
I am grateful to our general manager and partner that he has built the strong team.

This is our common achievement. We have implemented three standards: ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001 (quality control standard, environmental standard, occupational safety and health standard). We are meticulous about product quality, labor safety and ecology. We wouldn’t launch the production in the new premises before we have obtained the whole set of permits approved by the Ministry of ecology. Our reputation is of utmost importance for us in all the aspects of our activity.

Penetration of the EU market

Substantial share of the Ukrainian market belongs to our company, so it is becoming too narrow for us. Export is going to be our key priority and point of our growth in 2020. For our development, we are considering the Western direction, and specifically the market of Poland which is currently the largest manufacturer of windows in Europe. For us, this is the target. But still a lot has to be done, the Polish market is completely different, it has its own rules.

During 2019, the company’s top managers visited all the most important factories in Ukraine, have met local management personally. Since autumn, we have been travelling to Poland 2-3 times per month. We have attended fairs, conferences, visited several plants of PVC constructions manufacturers, as well as the factory for production of the compound that we use to create our own products. This factory is considered to be the best at the market of production of raw materials for bracing for mullions not only within Poland, but at the whole European market. Along with that, we have also paid a visit to the subsidiary of the German foundry equipment producer.

2020 strategy and switch of the window market to metal bracing for mullions

We are setting an ambitious target. We would like to take 10% of the Polish market of metal bracing for mullions during 2020. Roughly speaking, yes. Our target for 2020 is to increase production volumes by 2 times.
On the first work day of the year 2020 employees of our enterprise saw some leaflets at their working places. The leaflets depicted the targets we are expected to achieve in 2020. The company is also planning to augment the share of the metal bracing market in Ukraine.

The strategy for 2020 also suggests that we improve the knowledge base for consumers, so that the customers consciously opt for the windows with metal bracing for mullions which enhances the quality and energy efficiency performance of the window.

In Ukraine we are envisaging the growth coming from the plastic bracing segments. There is already the tendency when large manufacturers, leaders of the market, stop using plastic bracing not only for 70 mm and higher series, but even for 58 series. Some of our top clients don’t use plastic at all. The window companies are optimizing their production. For metal and plastic connection different milling is required. More importantly, the plastic connector doesn’t break, but it is flexible, it stretches. So when sealing the glass strip, a crack might be produced, and it will leak the heat.