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Description
Inkop International is a medium-sized company founded in May 2019 with its headquarters in Poznanovec (Municipality of Bedekovcina). The location of the company''s operations is a symbol of a hundred-year tradition in the production of footwear and Croatian leather industry. Today, the company achieves exceptional business results. At the end of 2021, the company had 97 employees, of which 82 were women and 15 were men, at two locations (Poznanovec and Slavonski Brod). Around 60% of employees have more than 30 years of work experience, and the annual production capacity is up to 120 thousand pairs of shoes.
By analyzing the needs of the market, the management of the company sees this project as an ideal opportunity to achieve its longterm business goals related to the further improvement of business through digitalization of business and making production processes more energy efficient. Inkop International will acquire and install new automatic and ergonomic cutting system with 3 cutting heads, suitable for high productivity on leather and roll materials. The whole production process will be additionally improved by converting existing paper patterns for all current products into digital form to accommodate the new cutting system.
Inkop International currently produces on systems that are quite old and therefore not efficient enough. In addition to inefficiency, energy consumption is not at a sufficient level. Through the production itself on one machine, much more working hours are needed than it will be with the implementation of a new cutting system. Also, by using the old cutting system, much more material is discarded as leftovers. This will all change and improve by installing the new cutting system and by digitalization of cutting patterns.
Summary of project results
The purpose of the project is to achieve the following goals that lead to increasing the competitiveness of the company:
• maintaining technological competitiveness with other companies operating in the field of production of footwear and other products
• gaining a competitive advantage by applying technologically advanced equipment in the production process
• strengthening the company''s position on the domestic and international market and increasing the growth of turnover, net operating profit and creation of new jobs
• achieving energy savings through the use of energy-efficient system.
The project is successfully finalized. Implementation of innovative production process (digitalization of cutting patterns and instalment of the nonstop roller cutting and perforating system) will result in higher levels of energy efficiency leading to energy savings, reduction of CO2 emissions and big savings in usage of materials (leather). The working conditions are now improved since the new machines are safer to handle because the cutting knives are enclosed. Some workers also gained new skills since they are now trained to operate state of the art machinery.
Project Output Indicators have been reached with the instalment of the Cutting system and digitalization of cutting pattern.
Innovative green technologies/processes/solutions applied (new to the enterprise) - 1 innovative production process applied.
Expected outcomes - Increased competitiveness of the company are expected to be reached in 2024 and 2028 respectively:
- Estimated annual growth in turnover: 71% in 2028, in comparison to 2021
- Estimated annual growth in profit: 109% in 2028, in comparison to 2021
- Jobs created: 5 by 2024, in comparison to 2021.