09.01.2024
Summary of 2023 events in KRONUS
Andrejs Dikins
Chief Executive Officer
Last year was spent overcoming the crises affecting the industry, with different challenges having arisen for almost three years now. However, despite the situation, we have managed to improve our production and internal processes, as well as celebrate important events for the company and the team.
Employees of KRONUS
A major challenge in 2023 was to attract new manual work employees, which has been affecting the whole production sector. Despite this, we have successfully increased the number of production staff thanks to vacancy campaigns in nearby regions such as Ogre, Ikšķile and Salaspils. To reach as many potential employees as possible, we also worked with the National Employment Agencies of these cities. We have also provided a new free bus route for employees to get to work more easily.
Business development outside Latvia was actively pursued as well. We have recruited colleagues in China, and a purchasing agent in Poland. KRONUS is clearly moving towards internationalisation, which is an important part of business development.
At the end of the year, we have reached the highest number of employees in the company’s history – 456 production and 149 administration colleagues. We have done a lot of work on reviewing our functional structure, which has resulted in a number of career success stories. We are delighted that our employees have the opportunity to grow, develop and fulfil their professional dreams.
KRONUS cares about the well-being of its employees and values their opinions, which is why this year we conducted an employee satisfaction survey in which more than 80% of our colleagues participated. As part of the team-building and team spirit activities, production employees had the opportunity to take part in the first company-organised Fishing Competition.
More than 15 different events were held to promote KRONUS values and develop the company’s culture, including the New Year Ball, Līgo celebration, the KRONUS family water festival, children’s drawing competition and other active events.
KRONUS is learning
We are undeniably a team that is learning and constantly developing our skills. Last year, KRONUS staff participated in more than 15 different training and learning programmes. Working with the company’s finance team, colleagues had the opportunity to expand their MS Excel knowledge. The Purchasing Academy project was launched in partnership with Skill Dynamics, the holder of the global standard awarded by the International Federation of Purchasing and Supply Management (IFPSM). Over several months, all the administration staff took part in Business Booster, an online training programme on effective company organisation and interdepartmental interaction.
KRONUS quality
KRONUS certainly stands out among its competitors in terms of the quality of its products. In 2023, the company obtained a new licence for the production of EPAL 3 pallets, which is an important point in the expansion of the product portfolio. We have also successfully passed external quality audits, ISO re-certification, and surveillance audits for PEFC, FSC, CE marking for wooden houses.
Our quality team has also started work on the Sustainability Report. CO2 emissions were calculated, a Product Environmental Declaration was developed and the KRONUS Code of Conduct was updated. The Code of Conduct is a document that reflects the company’s mission, values and principles in promoting positive relations with our business partners, customers and employees.
Last year, we started cooperation with a new and record-size Asian customer in the vehicle manufacturing sector. In order to produce and deliver more than 1.2 million units of products to the customer, an additional quality control process was set up by dedicated internal auditors – not only our quality controllers but also production team leaders and operators. In total, the Quality Department carried out more than 700 inspections of orders in 2023.
KRONUS production
In 2023, we have upgraded the EPAL production line, which will help to improve product quality, increase production capacity and facilitate maintenance. We have also installed a new hinge pressing machine, which will allow us to produce more product and ensure uninterrupted production. We have also added a new rivet production line, which allows us to increase efficiency and help reduce the cost of production. In just two months, our team managed to implement a project to produce the most popular accessory, plastic corners, in our own production facility.
KRONUS Steel cutting plant has also been in operation for more than a year, with production records set in each month of the past year. In total, the KRONUS Steel team produced 17060mt of the material in 2023. A new packaging machine has been installed in this plant as well.
We also celebrated the first year of operation of our Training Centre, which has trained 250 new production employees.
This programme gives new employees the opportunity to gain more information about KRONUS production processes, specifics and materials. New employees are given both theoretical and practical training in the Training Centre’s well-equipped premises. The training includes extensive and detailed information on quality criteria, handling equipment, safety and other knowledge needed by the employee.
KRONUS customers
In 2023, our packaging and garden departments managed to attend a total of 6 trade fairs in Germany, France and Sweden. It is a great opportunity to make contacts, gain new customers and meet existing partners. Current exhibitions show the direction of development in the industry and KRONUS is a part of it.
KRONUS also carried out two customer satisfaction surveys in spring and autumn of 2023. The survey was sent to customers in both the Packaging and Garden departments. The spring mailing reached almost 300 customers and the autumn survey reached more than 430 customers. The results give us the opportunity to further improve our processes and products.
To make KRONUS even more accessible and easier to reach for customers, a subsidiary in China was also opened. We currently have a team of 3 professionals in our Shanghai office, helping to drive the company’s growth in Asia.
We are so happy and grateful for the past year and would like to say a big thank you to colleagues, customers, suppliers and cooperation partners! We believe that next year will bring even more victories! Thank you for being with us.