Annual Report 2006 - Euromaint
Annual Report 2006 - Euromaint
Annual Report 2006 - Euromaint
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EuroMaint Rail<br />
Baltic establishment the first<br />
step in international development<br />
Within a year EuroMaint Rail will be beginning its own reprocessing of mechanical and electric products<br />
in Jelgava outside Riga in Latvia. The new establishment serves several purposes. In the long term, the<br />
company wants to be present and active in a brand new railway market for EuroMaint. In the short term,<br />
the company is aiming to reduce its production costs to strengthen competitiveness.<br />
This is EuroMaint’s first step in international development, and the<br />
first time an operation stemming from the Swedish State Railways<br />
public enterprise has established itself outside of Sweden.<br />
So why relocate, and why to the Baltic region?<br />
Our own operation in the Baltic region is very much in line with our<br />
aim to expand internationally, because the Swedish market for train<br />
maintenance is limited. Moreover, competition on our domestic<br />
market is tough. To remain competitive we must continuously show<br />
that we are streamlining and rationalising our production in different<br />
ways. This latest move is a part of that process.<br />
The Baltic region is facing major investments in infrastructure,<br />
and a physical presence engenders completely different opportunities<br />
to have an influence and take part in that change. The alternative of<br />
working with partners would not bring this benefit, and it would also<br />
be harder to assure expertise, quality and delivery reliability.<br />
assuring high quality<br />
A well-composed project group is working on the establishment in<br />
Latvia. Once the first steps of hiring premises, finalising the workshop<br />
layout and procuring certain machinery is complete, there are great<br />
challenges ahead. The personnel not only need to have the necessary<br />
professional skills and learn both their tasks and how to operate<br />
our systems; they must also become an integral part of EuroMaint’s<br />
corporate culture.<br />
“We’ll also be developing<br />
administration<br />
and work methods,<br />
and thereby quality”<br />
“We’re not only relocating production, but also developing administration<br />
and working methods, and thereby also quality,” explains<br />
project owner Steven Davidsson. “We have an excellent starting point<br />
in our existing production and we’re now investing to be even better.”<br />
He also explains that the advanced work process aims to reduce<br />
lead times in production and that the logistics need to be adapted<br />
accordingly.<br />
“Obviously it’s different having to plan for overseas transport by<br />
sea compared to domestic transport over land. But we still need to<br />
find ways of further improving our delivery quality.”<br />
The main challenge lies in assuring quality and deliveries. The<br />
operation will initially encompass reprocessing of a few mechanical<br />
product groups. EuroMaint Rail has already begun assessing new<br />
subcontractors on the Baltic market, with the aim of assigning the<br />
workshop in Latvia total delivery responsibility for reprocessed products<br />
at the lowest possible cost.<br />
Future investment to increase customer values<br />
The Baltic initiative enables the company in Sweden to focus on<br />
increasing the technical level of maintenance for the new, more<br />
advanced and more complex rolling stock. EuroMaint Rail’s aim<br />
is to move up the value chain and increase the customer value in<br />
its offerings.<br />
The workshop in Latvia will initially supply our domestic market.<br />
In the long term, the operation may develop to also include<br />
reprocessing of more complex products, as well as service offerings<br />
for the local market. We also see potential to offer refurbishment and<br />
train maintenance in the Baltic region in the future.<br />
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