EU – Baltic States, Good for Business, Investments, Lithuania, Markets and Companies

International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Thursday, 28.03.2024, 11:21

Finnish Peikko sets up new factory in Lithuania

Danuta Pavilenene, BC, Vilnius, 26.11.2014.Print version
Peikko Group, from Lahti, Finland, has set up a new factory in Lithuania, Invest Lithuania informs BC.

The company, which specializes in concrete connections and composite structures, invests between 5 and 10 million euro annually in business takeovers and new factories. The investment in Lithuania is its latest move.

 

“The unit in Kaunas produces components for frame structures mainly in the Nordics,” the company’s general manager, Topi Paananen, says.

 

The plant’s premises have fully modern workshop lines, with automated drill and saw lines, plasma cutting machines and surface finishing machinery for steel constructions.

 

Peikko has developed different software tools for frame designers (in other words their clients).

 

“In Lithuania, we have the latest machinery and equipment, which makes integration between a design program and production systems possible. This way we can direct the whole factory.”

 

Integration also protects the company from competitor imitation.

 

With new investments and products, the company is aiming for revenue of 200 million euro. Paananen won’t be drawn on when they plan to meet this target, but this year Peikko’s revenue will hit about 145 million euro. The company has seen annual growth of at least 15 percent for many years, and currently employs 1,300 people globally.

 

“The frame structures have a potential to gain 20 to 30 million euros worth of additional volume in the Nordics,” Paananen calculates.

 

Peikko manufactures all of its products by itself, which is quite rare in today’s business world. Besides Finland and Lithuania, factories exist in China, Germany and Slovakia.

 

The company also has smaller factories in the USA, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Russia.

 

“Lithuania is close to other Baltic countries, with a sea lane to Sweden and reasonable trucking distance to Germany.”

 

Lithuanian companies are, according to Paananen, very export-oriented, with business particularly strong with Belarus and Sweden. “We ship products to several local operators whose customer base is outside Lithuania.”

 

Currently, the number of new investment sites in Lithuania, especially factory and warehouse construction projects, are so numerous that Paananen feels the country has already returned to pre-financial crisis levels. And its imminent entry into the Eurozone will encourage further growth.

 

“When Lithuania moves into the Euro-zone next year, the management of the company will become easier as the processing of currency is left out of the equation.”






Search site