When Good Is Not Good Enough

Founded over 20 years ago, Oknoplast was, and still is, a family business. The group has three production sites: 1,200 employees work at the main site near Cracow, Poland, another 100 employees produce aluminum windows also in the Cracow area (AluHouse). At a third site in Lodz (Poland) another 200 employees take care of the production of pvc windows.

Oknoplast Is Its Own Competition

The largest market for Oknoplast is the domestic one, although more than half of the products (65%) are exported to Hungary, Germany, the Czech Republic, France, Italy and Slovakia. “Oknoplast is a premium brand. We buy the best glass, have the best processing machines and employ the best people on the market. Proof of our success are the many innovation awards we receive and also the fact that our products are often copied, which should make us sad – but to be frank: it makes us proud,” is how Andrzej Gołembiecki, Production Manager, Insulated Glass, likes to put it. Gołembiecki continues: “We want customers to have the Wow!-feeling when their new windows are installed: top-notch quality.” If there are claims, Oknoplast is eager to solve them and make sure customers are happy, even if it goes on Oknoplast’s account. Gołembiecki adds, “Claims that are related to defects in the raw material cannot always be forwarded to the supplier, because the hurdle is internal Oknoplast quality criterion.” Oknoplast has much tighter quality norms than other glass producers. It was only with this tight quality strategy that Oknoplast received the Cekal certification for the French market, one of the strictest certificates on the market – a certificate they got one and a half years after they started production. Or to say it in the words of Adam Placek, founder of Oknoplast, “I care about quality and appearance and not about just quickly shipping products out of the warehouse. I am demanding: I strive for perfection at every step.”

Doubling production capacity by 2020
Recently Oknoplast has developed its growth strategy: their target is to double production capacity by 2020, which would mean up to 7,000 insulating glass units per day. Necessary investments are being discussed right now – obviously, LiSEC is part of Oknoplast’s future. The detailed roadmap for the strategy is to be finished by the end of the year. Until 2012 Oknoplast bought IG units from a major Polish supplier. In 2012 they decided to produce their own IG units in order to increase their own added value and to be more independent. Right now four LiSEC cutting lines and three IG production lines generate 3,500 IG units per day. Oknoplast processes 70 different types of glass, enabling them to offer 6,000 different types of IG units. “We see LiSEC as a true technology partner we can rely on. The introduction of LiSEC software packages was very challenging – thanks to their size and their own experience in glass processing, though, LiSEC is able to develop tailor made solutions and offer the customer what he really needs”.

Latest product innovations by Oknoplast
Oknoplast, one of Poland’s top brands, by the way, recently has come up with innovative window solutions. Among them is PIXEL, combining elegance, aesthetics and modern technology to provide up to 22% more light in a room thanks to the small sash. A second new product is the Winergetic window series especially designed to achieve low heat loss and therefore reduced building heating costs.

About LiSEC
LiSEC based in Hausmening Amstetten is a globally active group, which has been offering innovative individual and overall solutions in the field of processing and refining of flat glass for more than 50 years. LiSEC’s service portfolio comprises machines, automation solutions and services. In 2015, the group with its approximately 1,300 employees and more than 20 locations generated an aggregate turnover of about 230 million euros at an export rate of more than 90%. LiSEC develops and produces glass cutting and sorting systems, individual components and entire production lines for the production of insulating and laminated glass as well as machines for the processing of glass edges and tempering systems. With a reliable technology and intelligent automation solutions, LiSEC sets standards in terms of quality and technology and makes a substantial contribution to the success of its customers.

URL: www.lisec.com