{"id":14198,"date":"2024-07-25T15:12:30","date_gmt":"2024-07-25T12:12:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uafm.com.ua\/?p=14198"},"modified":"2024-07-25T15:12:30","modified_gmt":"2024-07-25T12:12:30","slug":"uam-v-oblychchyah-rozpovid-vlasnyka-fabryky-polifasad-sergiya-ishhenka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uafm.com.ua\/en\/uam-v-oblychchyah-rozpovid-vlasnyka-fabryky-polifasad-sergiya-ishhenka\/","title":{"rendered":"UAFM in Faces: A Story by Serhiy Ishchenko, Owner of the “Polifasad” Factory."},"content":{"rendered":"

Even before talking to Serhiy Ishchenko<\/strong>, the owner of the Cherkasy factory “Polifasad<\/a>,” just at the mere mention of it, images of pre-war furniture exhibitions came to mind. And one of the brightest was the “Polifasad<\/a>” stand, which always fully corresponded to the meaning of the prefix “poly” in the company’s name. That is, multiplicity, diversity – both in terms of the model range of furniture facades, which the factory has mainly specialized in producing since 2000, and in terms of their color palette. Now all this can be seen only in the catalog and in the company’s showrooms.<\/p>\n

Previously, “Polifasad<\/a>” had enough sales in the domestic market to prosper and develop. The war has complicated business for everyone. For many entrepreneurs, if it didn’t harm them, it “shuffled the cards.” In any case, to stay “afloat,” many of them had to resort to things they hadn’t done before. Those who chose the right new strategy or who were simply lucky not only remained “afloat” in warring Ukraine but are even slowly developing.<\/p>\n

The Cherkasy facade factory had to compensate with sales in foreign markets for what it began to lose in the weakened domestic market. They started looking for ways to enter these markets from the very first days of the war. It wasn’t easy. The company’s managers, as Mr. Serhiy said, grabbed at every opportunity they found in foreign markets, hoping it would lead to a real contract. Not every lead is successful, but some “threads” turned out to be fruitful. Now the company has a dealer in the European Union, through which it supplies facades to furniture companies in different countries.<\/p>\n

– What types of facades do European furniture makers prefer now? The same as ours, or are there some differences?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

– There are. We hardly sell simple facades – that is, without milling – to Europe. The same goes for painted ones, even with milling. But not because there’s no demand for them there – it’s economically unprofitable for us given the price parameter of these facades: such sales would simply be loss-making for us. The cost of painted facades is higher than film-coated ones.<\/em><\/p>\n

And the products that we call complex (facades with different milling configurations, requiring manual finishing, etc.) are price-competitive there – meaning both the manufacturer and the dealer are not at a loss after deducting logistics costs.<\/em><\/p>\n

In general, the European market has also undergone “deformation” due to Russian aggression in Ukraine. It has largely shifted towards mass-market and internet sales.<\/em><\/p>\n

– Did you develop new models specifically for export?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

– Some models from our pre-war assortment are popular abroad, but there are also new ones that were indeed specifically developed taking into account the wishes of foreign clients, according to their technical specifications.<\/em><\/p>\n

– And what is the current level of competition in the domestic market for furniture facades?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

– Three years ago, I could have named five main Ukrainian manufacturers of MDF facades with PVC film that competed with each other in the domestic market. Today, only one company operates at our level in the Ukrainian market. As for the others: some were taken out of the race by unjustified price dumping, some suffered enemy destruction. So, we can say that the level of competition between Ukrainian “facade makers” is now lower, but the sales market in Ukraine has also significantly narrowed – by about 80 percent, if we focus on pre-war sales volumes.<\/em><\/p>\n

– Has the war finally slowed down the factory’s development, or is there still some progress in its development now?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

– Fortunately, we completed the planned reformative changes at the factory literally before the war began. We transferred the factory’s work from 9-hour shifts without days off to 12-hour shifts without days off. This was supposed to add 30 percent to the enterprise’s production capacity. It should have added when newly hired workers adapted and gained professional and production experience. We planned to conduct proper training for part of the staff through training sessions for full-fledged work in the 12-hour shift mode in 2022. The war prevented this by not only not allowing us to conduct the planned preparation of part of the workers but also reducing their numbers due to mobilization needs. And thus, it broke what had already been done for the new work regime. Now the factory has switched to the traditional one-shift five-day work week.<\/em><\/p>\n

Last year, we tried to hire additional workers to at least return to the former 9-hour work regime, but we didn’t succeed. We couldn’t find the necessary number of people that we lacked for this.<\/em><\/p>\n

– And what tasks have you set for the company this year?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

– With our European trader, we’ve aimed to double the turnover.<\/em><\/p>\n

– We wish you success in achieving your goals.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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