Stros is a big player in the manufacture of lifting equipment in the Czech Republic
Written by Ben Lobel & Produced by Daniel McDonald
Stros is a company of great quality and heritage in the manufacture of lifting equipment and construction hoists, building lifts, work platforms, suspension bridges and more, and all using first-class European materials. The company was established in 1960 in the Czech Republic. The firm started as a state company, but in 1999 became a privately owned equity incorporated company. Sales Manager Ondrej Susa has been at the company for four years, and provides an insightful glimpse into how Stros has developed in recent times. Speaking of recent times, how has the firm coped during the economic crisis?
“The crisis affected us a great deal because we serve the construction industry which was badly hit by the crisis of course, but now things are picking up and it looks better,” says Susa. In construction of course, there is widespread evidence of orders picking up and the sector gradually pulling itself out of the mire. “Also we deal in industrial elevators for powerhouses and related industries and these industries keep going on, they are not as badly hit by the economic crisis as the construction industry,” adds Susa.
There are new projects springing up for the firm, with the company now supplying three industrial elevators to a potash mine in New Brunswick in Canada, to name one. “That’s a big project and also there is to be a permanently installed unit for Florida,” says Susa. The company, among other things, is also supplying noise eliminating panels for an Italian firm. Additional measures for the business have been to insulate its production halls, and Stros has also procured some modern equipment linked to its production processes, including the laser cutting machine, the 400t press brake, the milling machine, and the welding robot.
So how does Stros keep a step ahead of the competition? “In relation to our competitors we keep the parameters of our machines comparable to the most prominent manufacturers of lifting equipment, and we do our best to oblige our customers,” says Susa.
The firm has designs on areas beyond its own shores. “We are now trying to penetrate Australia, Africa, Asia and the Middle East,” says Susa. “Of course these are difficult markets and so far we have had little success in those markets, but we are now supplying to Egypt so that might be the start of something.”
The firm’s biggest markets remain North America, Europe and Russia, although the sales in Russia plummeted to next to nothing during the recession.
Staff in the firm are valued highly and there had been little fluctuation in staffing levels, although there have had to be cutbacks in 2009, but it tries to keep its available labour where it can. These staff are all trained in a rigorous regime, beginning on the production floor, encompassing welders, fitters, and electricians; even the sales people are trained continuously in the firm.
“In 2008, when business was still good, we invested a lot into modernisation and cost effectiveness related to insulation. We cut down on expenses such as energy, we are now well equipped for the future, there will be no modernisation and investment for quite a few years,” says Susa.
The firm has clearly reached a stage where it has developed to the point it needs to be at. But the striving for all it can achieve does not end here – far from it. Our plan is to expand our world market, and to focus more on the industrial elevators, and in relation to this we need to do some development to comply with American standards,” says Susa.
There will be more innovations to the existing product – the industrial elevators need to go through “some kind of development”, as do the firm’s construction machines. “Of course the trend is for higher capacities and higher speeds and that’s where everyone in the industry is heading, bigger and faster, but that is an ongoing process,” adds Susa.
It is hard to stand out from the competitors on the market in this sector, but Stros is definitely keeping abreast of the leaders.
“It’s a race – you have to do your best to be among the best, but you can never say you’re the best because the others are trying hard as well.” Stros will certainly continue in this vein of being a leader in the lifting equipment field, and we wish the firm all the best for the future.
FACTS AT A GLANCE
COMPANY NAME: Stros
CEO: Ing. Ladislav Filip
OPERATIONS: Manufacture of lifting equipment
ESTABLISHED: 1960
EMPLOYEES: 200
REVENUE: 12 million euro
www.stros.cz
View Digital Corporate Profile of STROS in Construction Digital February 2010