The last two years have been extremely demanding for the whole market and individual companies. Every company was facing new challenges and unexpected situations that required flexible changes. The editor Dana Valachová and the sales director and the member of the board of directors of KOVAL SYSTEMS - Ing. Ján Michálek will talk about this and other topics in an exclusive interview for the regional weekly called MY Trenčín (under the publisher of the SME daily newspaper, Petit Press).
» The last two years have been difficult period for many companies. It seems to be a very demanding time for KOVAL SYSTEMS. What were the major characteristics for you?
Yes, that’s true. The 2020 and 2021 years were extraordinary from different points of view, and I think that situation and the outcomes have surpassed the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis. It is generally known that such periods bring new challenges and opportunities. On the other hand, the years brought a great risk, and I think that almost everyone was feeling fear about the health, stability and job. We are happy about our ability to overcome the difficult situation with no serious impact on our team.
Of course, it was a very challenging period for business and sales. Despite the hardship of this period, KOVAL SYSTEMS has developed modern and sophisticated solutions for warehouses and logistics and launched them to the market. We managed to accomplish several bigger projects. We can see the demand for our solutions was growing throughout this period, which means we are going the right direction.
In 2020, KOVAL SYSTEMS, a. s., achieved the important award. It was the 1st place in Diamonds of Slovak Business Awards organized by Forbes magazine, analyzing the healthy growing small and medium-sized companies. So we can say the last two years brought us positive moments, although they were extremely challenging.
» How has the COVID-19 pandemic shaped markets and your production program?
The pandemic situation put even higher pressure on the logistics and storing to keep precision, speed and availability. We live in times, when any broken link between the manufacturer and the customer may cause several complications. It is backed up by the significantly higher interest of manufacturers, distributors, and logistics centers in the automation of warehousing and logistics.
Our company has developed a wide range of products and solutions for such requirements, using simple storage facilities to complex solutions for the logistics and transport.
» Behind every great brand is a great story. What role do your individual employees play?
I dare say the most important one. The high-quality employees are irreplaceable for our company with its complex portfolio of processes and services. We use of course the most modern automated and robotized technologies in the production process, but that’s why the demands/ requirements for professional workforce are increasing.
In addition, we also have a design department, the development department, the technical department, the software and hardware development department, and the service department. To put it in a nutshell, all processes are currently so closely intertwined. If we want to provide a customer with a high-quality solution or product, we need a strong team of colleagues in our company.
» In the Trenčín Region, you have been the employer for twenty-eight years. There has been made an unimaginable progress in the industry you are part of. Developing new highly sophisticated products, you have been keeping pace with the progress. You are one of the technological leaders. Can you briefly tell us more about period from the technology-development point of view?