„The project team’s meticulous planning, timely decision-making, and precise adherence to deadlines have helped manage the main challenges. In particular, material price spikes and shortages, as well as logistical bottlenecks. At the same time, production processes were not disrupted, and we were able to operate at full capacity. After the completion of the second stage of the conversion, we will strive to increase the scale of production in order to achieve our goal of more than doubling our sales in four years to EUR 70 million and to gain an increasing share in the export markets in Scandinavia, Benelux, and Germany,“ says Tomas Mauricas, the CEO of Kauno Baldai.
According to him, the new factory will allow to increase production efficiency and shorten production processes significantly.
„The complexity of the project, the extremely high-quality requirements, and the short deadlines certainly did not allow our team to get bored and gave us the opportunity to demonstrate all our skills on the construction site. Construction processes had to be managed in such a way that the client’s production activities were uninterrupted and the works ran smoothly, despite disruptions in the supply chains. The challenges were overcome by our company’s many years of experience and concentrated expertise, the application of modern construction methods, and smooth communication with the client. We thank them for their trust, and we are ready for the second phase of the work,“ says Kęstutis Vanagas, CEO of the project’s general contractor, YIT Lietuva.
Currently, some production operations have already been transferred to the new building: sewing and cutting. Soon, the product development department will also be working there. A quarter of the company’s workforce – more than 100 employees – are already working in the new, modern premises. The first phase of the development will cover around 14,000 square metres of production departments and warehousing. Around 1,300 square metres of exhibition space will be added. There will be several recreational areas for employees, a gym, a children’s room, a training room, and a canteen.
„It was a daunting task to complete the construction work in just 10 months. Not only because this building has a unique architecture and is not a typical industrial building. The complexity of the conversion project and the large built-up area made it a challenge to plan the logistics of materials and machinery to the site, and with the soaring prices of building materials, we had to find alternative suppliers quickly. With the first phase completed, the second phase will be just as challenging,“ says Nerijus Baranauskas, project manager at SBA’s Notus Developers, which is responsible for construction development and management.
Automated cutting lines and a robotic frame assembly system have now been installed in the new premises.
Plans are underway to install an automated warehouse for sheet materials, new cutting lines for sheet materials and foam, a robotic foiling system for frames, and two packing lines in the near future. The building will comply with A++ energy class requirements and have plenty of natural lighting, a solar power plant on the roof, as well as buying heat from the municipal grid using only renewable energy sources.
7,500 tonnes of concrete were poured to build the new Kauno Baldai factory’s unconventional architecture – the weight of 20 Air Force One planes flown by the US President. 560 tonnes of rebar and 5,600 tonnes of reinforced concrete structures were used. The length of cables used for electricity and other systems is 167 km, enough to run from Kaunas to Rokiškis.
The total investment in the conversion of the Kauno Baldai buildings and the construction of the new factory will amount to almost EUR 23 million. The entire project is scheduled for completion in 2023.
Kauno Baldai, the SBA Group’s soft furnishing manufacturer, sold almost EUR 7 million worth of products in the first quarter of this year, which is 6% more than in the same period last year when sales amounted to EUR 6.6 million. Last year’s sales for the full year amounted to EUR 27.6 million and were one-third higher than in 2020.
