"We have completed one of the most challenging phases in the company's history - a modern building beautifying the city with exceptional architecture, replacing old Soviet-era buildings without stopping production. We are now focusing our efforts on the final fit-out and the maximum efficient coordination of equipment, processes and installation of the new equipment. We estimate that once the project is completed and production reaches the planned level, efficiency should increase by 25%. This will allow us to increase our sales by one and a half times in a couple of years, so we are now intensively looking for new markets to export our products to," says Tomas Mauricas, the head of Kauno Baldai.
The general contractor for the construction of the building, which is more than twice as large as the S.Darius and S.Girėnas football stadium in Kaunas, was the sustainable urban development and construction company YIT Lietuva.
"The complexity of the project, the challenges of the market and the short deadlines certainly did not allow our team to get bored and allowed us 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 not interrupted and the works ran smoothly despite disruptions in supply chains. However, the smooth cooperation with the client helped to overcome these challenges and to complete the works on time according to the agreed schedule," says Kęstutis Vanagas, CEO of YIT Lietuva.
The new Kaunas Furniture building is of A++ energy class, with an energy-efficient LED lighting system and a comfortable microclimate in the production, office and household areas.
"We have not yet finished installing all the equipment, but we already feel a positive impulse in production efficiency. The production path of the furniture itself has been halved in metres in the new building. The time it takes to produce it has also been reduced by a quarter. The positive change is also visible in energy bills. For example, in October this year, electricity consumption was 43% lower than last year's. Next year, we plan to install a solar power plant on the roof of the building," says Aleksandras Zenkovas, Production Manager of Kauno Baldai.
According to him, the employees are the ones who are most happy with the modern factory. Compared to the former four-storey non-functional buildings, there is a clear and much shorter route to the workplace, modern changing rooms, a canteen where quality food is prepared on-site, and a view of the tree-covered Nemunas riverbank through windows.
The largest part of the new building - almost two-thirds - comprises 18,000 sqm of production space, 4,000 sqm of warehousing, 1,400 sqm of product display space and 1,200 sqm of office space.
It is planned that within a few years, the new Kaunas Furniture factory will allow increasing sales to approximately EUR 70 million. Last year, the company's full-year sales amounted to EUR 27.6 million and were one-third higher than 2020.
