We talk to Andrzej Rynkiewicz, director of UAB Marcopol Baltija, about Marcopol’s presence in Lithuania and Estonia, history and future plans.

15 years is a long time. How has the fastener market changed in Lithuania?

Product quality issues have come to the forefront – the customer wants a reliable product. For the construction market, all fasteners should have the appropriate quality certificates. New products have emerged that displace traditional solutions – for example, construction screws instead of ordinary wood screws. We, as UAB Marcopol Baltija, have grown during this time, we have become one of the market leaders in fasteners.

How many branches of Marcopol can be found in Lithuania?

We currently have four branches in Lithuania in all major cities – Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipeda and Šiauliai. We also have a representative in Estonia.

What kind of fasteners are popular with customers?

We are a leading supplier to the furniture industry, to the construction sector and to industry Metal screws, sheet metal screws, rivets – these are our strongest items in Lithuania.

Is the furniture industry the main driving force in Lithuania? Can you point to another sphere that determines the strength of the Lithuanian economy?

The timber industry, including furniture, is strongly developed in Lithuania and is one of the driving forces of the Lithuanian economy. We have a strong presence in this industry. The vast majority of production is exported. What most strongly influences the country’s development is undoubtedly the construction sector, which has been thriving for several years – both residential and commercial construction.

How many people work at Marcopol in Lithuania?

There are currently 33 employees at UAB Marcopol Baltija.

Are the effects of the war in Ukraine being felt in Lithuanian industry? It is mainly about gas supply and electricity?

We have no problem with the availability of electricity or gas. For several years Lithuania has had a gas port in Klaipeda, which secures 100% of Lithuania’s needs, and now we also re-export gas to other countries, including Poland. The big problem, however, is prices, especially for electricity. In Lithuania, we have electricity twice as expensive as in Poland.

What are your plans for the near future. Do you want to expand and invest in new branches?

We have a major investment planned for next year – we are moving to a new warehouse in Vilnius at the beginning of the year. The warehouse space will double in size – to 2,500 sqm. We will thus increase the availability of goods for our customers and expand our assortment. This will allow further dynamic development of Marcopol in our region.

What is it to wish you for the next years of your activities in Lithuania?

May the coming years bring no surprises for all of us in the form of COVID-19, armed conflicts, energy crises and inflation.

If you are considering taking up an apprenticeship with our company, there are many reasons why you should consider it.  

Apprenticeships, above all, can open up many potential opportunities for you to grow. By taking advantage of our experience, you can ensure that you have valuable work experience before you even start your career.  

Internships will certainly help you make more informed decisions about your future plans – both educational and professional. Do you want to consciously plan your career?  Choose an internship opportunity at Marcopol!

Developing hard and soft skills

Apprenticeships will help you gain skills that will be useful in the next stages of your career. These skills include not only the practical aspect – deepening your professional knowledge and experience, but also the development of soft skills competencies.  

These include problem-solving, critical thinking or teamwork skills. Each of these skills is useful in different industries and can help you make a positive impression when applying for your dream job. With the experience you gain from your internship, you may also gain more opportunities for advancement in your future company.  

Meet new people

Apprenticeships are also an opportunity to make new friends and build business relationships (networking). You will certainly have the opportunity to share your knowledge, insights and concerns during conversations during your internship.  

Recruitment process not scary

By participating in the internship, you can learn about the recruitment process in practice. What does the initial interview look like? What is onboarding? What can you expect on your first day on the job? Not only will you learn the answers to these questions, and by entering the recruitment process you will feel more confident.

Your resume with experience

Apprenticeships are also an opportunity to start building your work experience into your resume.  In many cases, participation in internships is an attitude that can positively influence the selection of your person in the recruitment process in other organizations.  

Applications

Choosing an apprenticeship can help you jumpstart your future career path, earn while you learn, and develop skills and experience that will help you advance in your current position.  

Apprenticeships are also a great option for people who want to start an interesting job right after high school.   Interested in an internship at Marcopol? Find out more by writing to us.

Author: Ewa Chomicz – Trela, HR Manager of Marcopol.

The latest CSO data on the construction sector are not optimistic. In May this year, the general business climate index stood at minus 14.0 (in April it was minus 15.4). An improvement in the business climate was signaled by 8.8% of companies, while its deterioration was signaled by 22.7%.

How does this look in the furniture and woodworking industry?

The wood construction industry and the furniture sector are also not immune to factors affecting other players in the market. However, we can see problems persisting as a result of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Payment difficulties are the most common.

Furniture manufacturers have been at the forefront of global and European rankings for years. In the “Polish Furniture Outlook 2022” report, the sector’s production value amounted to 46.9 billion zlotys.

However, according to the National Debt Register, things are not so optimistic. Furniture companies have nearly 92.8 million zlotys to repay.

There are more than 3,200 furniture companies in the KRD. According to this statistic, 2312 entities are woodwork manufacturers. The average debt is 29 thousand zlotys. The largest number of companies in arrears is based in the Wielkopolska and Mazovia provinces.

The KRD reports that the trade is waiting for the return of 11 million zlotys of debts from furniture manufacturers. Banks, meanwhile, are waiting for more than 45 million zlotys.

The increase in employment costs …

Financial troubles are not only about arrears, but also a significant increase in employment costs. The burden of mandatory contributions, rising inflation, and the resulting expectations of employees are being hit hard by companies in the wood construction and broader carpentry industries.  

Increasingly higher taxes

Representatives of the real estate development industry, interviewed by money.pl, pointed out at the beginning of 2022 not only the increase in the cost of doing business. Also, the mandatory contribution to the Developers’ Guarantee Fund has caused costs to rise. This, in turn, entails an increase in prices, which at some point could result in serious problems with sales.  

2022 under the sign of shortages

During the pandemic, we strongly felt the broken supply chains. Now, the shortage of raw materials needed for production is also adding to the problem. This condition is felt most acutely by furniture manufacturers. The concern is compounded by the fact that the largest suppliers of plywood and wood-based panels were located in… Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. The war has called into question further cooperation and the availability of basic materials for production. Worryingly, there is no change for the better on the horizon so far, nor a direction that could 100 percent guarantee the availability of basic goods.

What do manufacturers and investors choose?

Market analysts forecast a decline in GDP at the end of the 3rd and beginning of the 4th quarter of this year. Many are wondering, how can this be remedied?

Manufacturers and investors are trying to confront the problems in different ways. Above all, 2022 appears to be the year of conscious choices of ecological, energy-saving and ergonomic solutions.

Investors and designers are betting on ideas that bring us ever closer to energy self-sufficient construction. An example of such a solution is modular wood construction.

This type of construction has many advantages. First of all, it is faster than traditional ways of putting up houses. By combining several or more elements, the manufacturer is able to erect a house practically on the spot. Many builders, when deciding on modular solutions, also do so because of the quick possibility of arranging the space. If the project requires it, a given modular building can be enlarged or reduced in a short time.

Modular construction means lower costs – both in materials, transportation and manpower.

Also important from an ecological point of view is the fact that modular construction leaves virtually no residue on the construction site to litter the environment.

Among the many products in its portfolio, Marcopol has a wide range of structural fasteners for the wood construction and furniture industries.

Our flagship product is, of course, screws. Those for joining wooden structures, structural nailing connectors, screws for reinforcing cross sections of wooden structural elements, screws and threaded connectors for connecting beams and girders, and elements for anchoring load-bearing wooden beams.

Recognized recently by professionals in the Building Brand of the Year ranking, they are an interesting solution in the modular solutions industry.

Marcopol, as a leader in solutions for the furniture industry, also has solutions dedicated to the industry. Wood screws, tempered wood screws, slides or hinges – these are just a small part of the products available off-the-shelf and at good prices for furniture manufacturers.
 

Marcopol with an idea for the crisis

As Marcopol, we operate in many different industries. Whether it’s modular construction, furniture manufacturing, retail or a range of other activities, we have a broader view of the market and the challenges that await us in the near future.

One answer to the problems described above may be IDEA’s consignment warehouse offering. Although the service itself is already several years old, we can quickly and effectively solve supply problems in both large and smaller companies. Especially the latter, including those in the construction industry, can benefit from our proposal.

What are the benefits of IDEA depots?

– incurring costs in accordance with the actual use of the products, rather than with their one-time overall purchase,

– Purchase planning and more efficient procurement,

– Reducing inventory-related costs,

– Automatic generation of orders and analysis.

Also important in difficult times are state-of-the-art machinery, a skilled team of employees and production facilities to respond to changes.

The use of our technical and commercial experience is also an unquestionable opportunity. What solutions to use in a given investment? Is there an opportunity to optimize costs? These are just some of the questions that together we can find answers to.  

A comprehensive offer for construction, furniture and industry distinguishes us in the domestic fasteners market, also in terms of attention to the issue of corrosion protection of coatings. What protections do we offer for bolts and fasteners for steel structures?

Hot-dip galvanizing or flake coating?

When the fasteners we design will operate in decidedly more aggressive environments, they require coatings with increased corrosion resistance. An example would be outdoor environments, where the fasteners used are subjected to the effects of typical atmospheric factors – especially moisture.    

The corrosion resistance of the coating can be increased, for example, by increasing its thickness. An immersion method is used to apply such coatings. Bolts are immersed in heated liquid zinc. The thickness of the resulting layer (ranges from 20 to a maximum of 50 microns) depends on the process used, the temperature and how long the product in question is kept in the molten zinc. The coating that is eventually obtained by the process described above is commonly referred to as hot-deep galvanized.  This type of coating is often used for structural joints such as structural bolts or mechanical anchors.

Writing about protective coatings used in structural joints, it is impossible not to mention flake zinc plating technology, often called lamellar zinc. This is a mixture of zinc and aluminum flakes, enriched with bonding and hardening additives.  The coating of flake zinc shows very high corrosion resistance to: atmospheric agents and chemicals.  

In the construction sector, products coated with this coating are finding an increasingly wide audience. Compared to hot-dip galvanizing coating, flake galvanizing achieves comparable corrosion resistance with a layer that is more than 3 times thinner. This is important in products such as bolting assemblies where the application of hot-dip galvanizing coating requires that these assemblies be made in advance to special dimensional tolerances on the threads. The appropriate tolerances will allow the two components to be bolted together after the protective coating is applied. Flake zinc, the thickness of which is considerably less than hot-dip galvanizing such execution does not require, which is its undoubted advantage.

Ruspert Silver – up to 1500 hours in the salt chamber

Among the coatings with increased corrosion resistance , which we use for structural fasteners, we can also include a coating with the proprietary name “Ruspert Silver”. This is a multilayer protective coating made up of a minimum of 3 layers: a traditional coating – galvanized zinc, a chemical conversion layer applied over it, and a closing ceramic layer. This results in durable protection with high corrosion resistance. All this is sealed with a ceramic layer. If necessary, it can be sealed with an additional film. This increases its corrosion resistance for up to 1,500 hours in a salt chamber. Our screws for fastening sandwich panels and structural self-drilling screws for fastening sheet metal are covered with just this coating.

For us, nothing is impossible!

Using our knowledge and experience, we help you choose the right anti-corrosion protection. If you would like additional information on our offer for the steel construction industry and beyond – feel free to contact us!

On February 17, 2022, the “Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/191 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of certain iron or steel fasteners originating in the People’s Republic of China” was published in the Official Journal of the EU. Consequently, this means that the European Union Commission has decided to impose an anti-dumping duty after an ongoing anti-dumping investigation since December 21, 2020. It applies to imports of many types of screws, bolts and washers from China. The amount of the duty depends on the supplier and is 39.6% or 86.5%.   

As with the introduction of anti-dumping duties on various products imported into European markets, the EU Commission expects circumvention of duties, especially when they are at such high levels. Be aware that customs offices are as sensitive as possible and have sophisticated monitoring mechanisms. These include the powerful investigative body OLAF, which is dedicated to protecting EU revenues. 

The European Anti-Fraud Office OLAF investigates fraud against the EU budget and corruption, and it is OLAF that carries out the actual checks. Anyone can report information to OLAF about fraud using a form available on its website (www.anti-fraud.ec.europa.eu).

Among the most common circumvention practices is the transshipment of Chinese-origin fasteners, mostly in another Asian country. Another common method is that a factory legally manufacturing a product in a third country imports fasteners from China and re-exports them as its own – sometimes many times exceeding its own production capacity. In such a case, on-site audits alone do not detect such activity. It only becomes apparent when comparing the factory’s capacity with the volume of its exports.   

If you are an importer of fasteners from China, you need to know that:

Chinese exporters face no legal consequences if they encourage and participate in circumvention.
Chinese exporters can assure EU buyers that there is no problem with circumvention – they have done it before. This is not true.
Assurances from long-standing suppliers are no guarantee of safety.
Accurate, documented due diligence can help demonstrate that there was no fraudulent intent. Even in today’s reality, it manages to physically control the credibility of suppliers.
The European Commission expects circumvention, knows where to look and how to detect it. A small percentage of importers avoid the consequences. Fastener manufacturers, trade organizations and other importers regularly report suspicious activity in the market.   

Detection of the illegal practice may take some time, but the probability of exposure is very high. The consequences of circumvention for the EU importer are very serious. The importer will be required to pay the duties plus interest that it has avoided for the entire period from February 17, 2022.  

If the authorities have reason to believe that the importer knowingly induced circumvention, he may be subject to additional investigation for fraud – with resulting criminal sanctions, including fines and even imprisonment.

EFDA, or the European Fastener Distributors Association, is an association representing and uniting fastener distributors in Europe and around the world. Its mission is to defend free trade and international competitiveness. Marcopol has been a member of the association since 2014.