Description
The current finishing line consums a lot of lacquer and other operational resources. The objective refers to the optimization of the furniture processing value chain by integrating a "state of the art" finishing line for the production and supply of wooden chairs and beds for children. Benefits:Lacquers based on water are used in the production flow which are not polluting the environment and are handled and supported much more easier, giving the workers a high level of security in using the new machinery and delivering to the final consumer a safe and healthy item. Cost reduction with lacquer consumption, energy used, time labour and others. The value added to the product by all these features allows the company to pass along increased costs to its customer. As an experienced supplier of premium-quality furniture products, STOKKE Norway will provide the technical leadership for the design of the technical solution and process flow, as well as the professional training to the Sortilemn staff for the optimal use of the new technology.
Summary of project results
The general objective of the project was the optimization of the furniture processing value chain by replacing an old finishing line with a new and modern one. The company needed to change the equipment because the former finishing line was obsolete, consuming large quantities of lacquer, which lead to higher costs for the company. The replacing of this line with a new and modern one helped by better filtering and reducing the lacquer consumption, thus the importance of the investment. Investing in a last generation finishing production line proved to be the ideal solution in achieving the above mentioned ambitions. The need to become more competitive by reducing the lacquer use, its emissions into the atmosphere, creating equal job opportunities for women and providing a clean working environment led us to contract this project of purchasing the new finishing line for our products. The two elements of the investments, the green component and the social element are equally important. Besides the fact that the environment is cleaner – as a result of greenhouse effect reduction, the energy and raw material consumption has decreased, the quality of work has improved, therefore better products can be delivered to our client Stokke. Discharging residues in the local waters has been significantly reduced. The simplicity and safety in handling the finishing line facilitated the women access in this line of work as well. The general working conditions have improved once the workers were provided with proper safety equipment, locker rooms and improved spacing for handling heavy equipment. The use of water-based lacquer and relevant technology created a high level safety working environment.
Summary of bilateral results
The project framework was to develop a sustainable cooperation between STOKKE Norway and Sortilemn Romania by developing the technical and human capacity of Sortilemn SA for achieving top-quality products matching the STOKKE standards. The project objective reffered to the optimization of the furniture processing value chain at Sortilemn by integrating a "state of the art" finishing line for the production and supply of wooden chairs and beds for children. This project involved the incorporation of STOKKE philosophy on products for children within a production oriented company - Sortilemn - creating synergy with the latter's one philosophy of generating superior "value for money" out of the wood as vital natural resource, by exploiting its full economic potential and reducing waste down to zero.