We have spoken with Sergiy Reshetnyk before. It was back in peaceful August 2020, a few months after the company, having successfully developed, gained membership in the Ukrainian Furniture Manufacturers Association, which became an informational occasion for our acquaintance.

At that time, Mr. Sergiy told about the innovations introduced by him after he took over the company’s leadership. In addition to selling plumbing fixtures, «Fancy Marble» also practiced the production of certain bathroom furniture, but this area of activity was secondary. The new director corrected this situation by making furniture production a priority. At the same time, he decided that bathroom furniture of Ukrainian production should also be complemented with wash basins made in Ukraine. And they appeared – made of cast stone of the same brand name as the company. The fact that furniture production has been established solidly is evidenced by the practice of both serial production and individual orders.

The current “telephone meeting” with the director of «Fancy Marble» took place in a different situation in the country and in the company. As it turned out, it withstood the blow dealt, like all domestic producers, by the war. Sergiy Reshetnyk had to endure another severe blow of a domestic nature: during the enemy’s breakthrough to Irpen, as a result of massive enemy shelling of the suburban city, the family’s home was destroyed. But our conversation was still largely about the situation in the company.

– After almost two and a half years of this calamity that prevents working as it used to, has the company managed to reach pre-war performance levels?

– Overall, yes. We even have better than pre-war indicators in some months.

As long as the war continues in the country, the domestic market is unlikely to achieve proper stabilization, and therefore those companies that operate on it and sell most of their products will remain in a state of destabilization: some months will be more successful, others more disastrous. And this is in addition to the traditional seasonal ups and downs of consumer demand in the furniture industry.

– And yet, this is a worthy result given the current realities. What has this achievement been due to?

– Mainly due to the production and organizational optimization of the company. We make use of, in particular, the capabilities of the ERP system, which allows for more efficient management of processes, resources, and finances, which is extremely necessary for businesses now, in an almost crisis situation for the domestic economy, in order to stay afloat. This is what enabled us, in conditions of significant rise in prices for almost everything in the country and abroad, to keep the prices for our products at only an 11 percent increase. Plus, production and non-production costs have decreased, but the downside is a lower margin. But the plus is more significant for the company, it outweighs the minus.

The fact that from the first days of my work in the company, I was thoroughly immersed in all the technical and technological nuances of production is now, in difficult times, becoming most useful when the need for optimization of production and management processes, increasing their efficiency, has become acute.

– Such optimization is also becoming increasingly critical due to the reduction in the number of employees in companies caused by the same war…

– Undoubtedly. As, perhaps, in every manufacturing company, we also have mobilized employees: both those who are relatively easy to replace and those whose loss creates a serious problem for production. In order to minimize the consequences of such losses as much as possible, we have also taken the path of mobilization in the company – primarily of internal labor reserves. We select the most prepared, proactive employees from the team and provide them with additional training or retraining to work in those areas that have been or may be left without labor.

– It is gratifying and important to note that among the members of our Association, there are companies that have not only managed to stabilize in the market but have also been able to take certain steps towards their further development in these difficult economic conditions in which they found themselves together with the country…

– I dare say that you can also count «Fancy Marble» among them.

The expansion of the product range, which had to be suspended for a certain period in the first year of the war, has been resumed and has again become a regular process. We are adding new options for individual orders to be even more attractive to potential clients. This is an ongoing, gradual development work that has long been a common practice in the company.

However, a more large-scale step will be the creation of a foreign branch of the company, primarily a production one, which is still in the process of implementation. It is a challenging task for the present time in all aspects, and the company would hardly be able to implement it independently. Partners are helping: our capital, their organizational capabilities.

– A far-sighted plan. A winning one in various aspects, including the personnel aspect we have already discussed, which, as long as the war continues, will only become more acute. Is the creation of this foreign division a very distant prospect?

– No longer. It is planned to be launched this year.

– We wish that it will indeed happen. And when it does, we will be happy to inform our associated community about it.