The reaction to the start of the war in virtually all the member companies of our association (that is, their managers) was the same: at first, like all of Ukraine, they were shocked by Russia’s treacherous attack, after a day or two they came to their senses, and then got to work. Some enterprises started earlier, others a little later (if they did not end up in the occupation or directly in the front zone). All businessmen, mobilized by a common misfortune, at that moment were primarily thinking not about profits or obligations to customers, but about what could be done to help the country so that it could withstand the onslaught of the enemy; how can you be useful to the army and thousands of refugees. And each company found whom, what and how it could help, based on the specifics of its activity.

Rivne LLC “Warmhouse Group” (this story will be about it), specializing in metal products, began to weld barricading “hedgehogs” and metal boxes of various purposes for the needs of local ground defence units. Of course, such orders were fulfilled free of charge, on a volunteer basis, from their own material resources. Already in a week, they returned to their assortment of products: they completed what was in the process of production, and for the rest of the client’s orders, they took on “from scratch”.

– Even in such a difficult situation, we could not neglect the interests of customers who order metal components from us for their products, – says the head of the company, Roman Zelinskyi, – most of them are export-oriented, so, in turn, they had to fulfil their current obligations to their foreign customers. Again, with many of our clients continuing to work for export, new orders for us began to flow from them. In this way, we had work, but it was difficult to carry it out in the first months of the war: the hryvnia was “feverish”, and the prices of rolled metal, which had to be bought up, increased, because a significant part of the reserves was spent on the needs of ground defence. In addition, not all customers, for various reasons, had the opportunity to settle with us on time. However, relying on strong partnership relations, we treated such situations with understanding, met them and sometimes even shipped unpaid products. Over time, we finally adapted to the difficulties of wartime and still continue to work in these new conditions.

– Your metalworking company is part of the Ukrainian Association of Furniture Manufacturers because furniture companies are your main customers. What do they usually order from you?

– They order metal components – nodes, separate parts – which are indispensable in the construction of their furniture. To be specific, these are furniture supports, frames, metal sub-floors, reinforcing corners, brackets, adapters, etc. The products differ from each other – in design, construction, and size because the furniture models of the companies are different, so the components for them are also different. Thus, it turns out that we fulfil large-scale individual orders for furniture.

– Are you exclusively domestic or do you have clients who are furniture makers abroad?

– We also have foreign partners. Mainly in Germany. And even new ones appeared last year. For the survival of the company in the difficult conditions of the war, in which the Ukrainian economy found itself, exports helped a lot. In part, this is our own export, but to a greater extent, it is the export of the products of our furniture-making partners.

– What is the most relevant for the company now?

– The most urgent thing now is the internal development of the company in the sense of operational improvement of production, as well as the active search for customers for promotion to new markets. We are now seriously engaged in creating our own brand. Because there are products – such as a collapsible table frame designed to the order of a specific client – which can later become the basis for our own branded products.