“Smart Mebel”<\/a>, due to its significant transformative mechanization, is indeed special. This peculiarity requires explanatory consultation for potential buyers who are used to using traditional furniture, and the unusual design of such products, and their expanded, sometimes unexpected functionality. Moreover, such consultations are often truly expert in nature: taking into account the always individualized life and household needs of the client, the characteristics and features of the premises that need furnishing, our managers select and advise the client on the most suitable transforming furniture designs in terms of efficiency of use.<\/em><\/p>\n– Some furniture companies, even in the rather unfavorable wartime conditions for peaceful business, are demonstrating small but still progressive steps in their development. Can “Smart Mebel” boast of this?<\/p>\n
– It would be inappropriate to boast too much, but we are managing something in this sense.<\/em><\/p>\nWe have managed to expand and modernize our machine tool park. Thanks to state grant investment, we purchased highly productive and highly functional equipment, which allowed us to significantly reduce dependence on contractors, and thus guarantee customers short production times for their orders. And such machine tool upgrades will also allow us to accelerate the return to pre-war production volumes. And we have almost reached them already, which is an indicator of the gradual stabilization of the domestic market. There is a third advantage from the purchase of new equipment: its use makes the mobilization losses of highly professional employees less noticeable.<\/em><\/p>\n– But they are still noticeable?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
– Yes, part of the male staff has exchanged their work uniforms for military ones. Mobilization needs, like in probably all work teams, have caused an increased level of staff turnover for us. But there is no way around this. We are hiring newcomers, mostly young people, training them, aware that we may have to find replacements for them too. In areas – for example, in management, where women also work successfully, we are hiring women to replace mobilized male managers.<\/em><\/p>\n– As already mentioned, the company not only manufactures and uses its own transformation mechanisms in furniture, but also uses imported ones. Why?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
– We only purchase those mechanisms that we do not yet produce ourselves, but which we need for furniture production. Of course, imported ones are more expensive: both at European market prices and due to logistics costs – which significantly increases the cost of the final product. Of course, because of this there is a constant desire to achieve the ability to use exclusively our own mechanisms, no worse in quality and capabilities than those we are still forced to import.<\/em><\/p>\n– We know that “Smart Mebel” is an exporting company. What are your export volumes and what is the nature of your exports?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
– Export volumes are insignificant, but more or less stable, which is important. Our furniture is purchased in such powerful furniture manufacturing countries as Germany and Italy. The supplies are not serial, not to trade intermediaries, but one-off, to end consumers on order. And for the domestic market we manufacture both serial versions and custom-made individual products.<\/em><\/p>\n– For some Ukrainian exporters, their positions have faltered since the start of the war because both real and potential foreign clients feared the risk of dealing with manufacturers from a country at war…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
– In order for our foreign clients to be confident that we are stably capable, we maintain regular contact with them, including video: we show them how we work, how their order is being executed in real time, what stage of readiness the product is at<\/em>.<\/p>\n– What new things are you preparing for the market?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
– In addition to purely transforming furniture, we have started offering customers some types of traditional furniture as a supplement, in order to expand the possibilities for comprehensive furnishing, which has its advantages. We are currently developing new models of such accompanying furniture, which will significantly expand our assortment, and thus our market offer.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t\t