News

First products produced by Kvist become EU Ecolabeled

The goal of the eco-label is to reduce the overall environmental impact on the way from production to the consumer. Therefore, the eco-label is looking through the entire product's journey - for the benefit of people, the environment and the resources of the earth. Obtaining of EU Ecolabel certificate shows that we live up to the latest standards for environmental considerations in our industry for customers, end users and employees. We want to take active role in sustainability; therefore we look after environment and cherish the nature and sustainability. In order to receive certification, we had to also improve our internal procedures. From now on it is easier to gather all documentation according to customer requests.

The first products that are certificated with EU Ecolabel are products from TAKT https://taktcph.com/. Using only wood from sustainable forests, the 100% eco-certified brand TAKT launched three side-chair designs. TAKT is a new sustainable design brand with Danish roots.

And it’s only beginning! We continue to work and we wish for the future of furniture and Kvist to produce more eco-labeled products!

If you are interested, please contact our sales office – http://www.kvist.com/Contact.aspx

Annual design event - 3days of design

Copenhagen was pulsating with creativity, design and people, when the capital was celebrating design from 23rd – 25th of May. Kvist Industries have joined the community of 3daysofdesign by representing its customers with beautiful and known designer pieces from Hans J. Wegner and Poul M. Volther.

The FSC Design Award winners Anna Ohmsen and Emma Bukhave at the event showcased the very first prototype of their lamp – Frames. “It was an amazing experience to meet people and introducing with the lamp and telling the story behind the product. It was really a pleasure!” says Emma.

The exhibition was created in collaboration between furniture companies, the Association of Danish Wood and Furniture Industries and the magazine Ark Journal, which has served as a curator.

See You all next year!

Henrik got Cabinetmakers Apprentice Award

We have always been proud with our skilled and dedicated employees and now we have more reasons to have that pleasure to see how enthusiastic our employees are. Last month Henrik received DI Southwest Jutland’s Apprentice Award 2019.

Throughout his four-year education as a Cabinetmaker, Henrik Pedersen was on apprenticeship at Kvist Industries. Now he completed his education and got offered to continue with Kvist fulltime. “We have talked about the further education or maybe management training in the future with my manager, but now the main focus to me is to continue with Kvist, so we will se what future brings”, Henrik says with the smile.

Congratulations!

From the left: Henrik Pedersen, Mayor of Varde Erik Buhl and Vice Chairman of DI Sydvestjylland Jørgen Østergaard. (Photo: Wood Supply)

**FSC certified lamp Frames is ready to be produced**

In the beginning of summer 2019, FSC Design Award winning duo, Emma Bukhave and Anna Ohmsen visited Sia KVIST in Latvia where according to the main prize provided by Kvist - the young designers had the opportunity to develop their design for the lamp and prepare it for production, make sales-ready product that is produced with FSC certified wood.

In collaboration with Kvist Industries experts at R&D department, the designers received the very first prototype of the lamp. Anna Ohmsen – one of the designers – shared her thoughts about the process and visit to Kvist factory in Latvia. “That was a very special feeling, when we received the first prototype” remembers Anna. “It was pleasure to work with the product development team and thanks to their creative suggestions we were able to make the product ready and made by the highest standards possible. Now we are waiting to be done with the smaller size version of the lamp”.

Lamp Frames – a simple repeated form – playing as much with the light as with the viewer. The idea behind the form is more important than the scale – so the possibilities are many.

The lamp is dynamic and functional and can be transformed from having a three dimensional form to having a two dimensional form. The thoughts behind Frames are commercial and it can be developed and designed in many materials. Thanks to its dimensionality, lamp can be transported more efficient and in space-saving possibility.

Kvist Academy - internal knowledge sharing

Kvist Academy was made to ensure that new employee get a proper instruction to the work as well as employee skills is developed and/or maintained through education, work and evaluation.

Education at Kvist Academy is built in modules and number of modules is depending on the particular job. Each of the modules contains the same structure of professional skills, quality and working environment that has to be passed to reach the next level. Couple times a year at the specified time, the graduated students by the practical demonstration of knowledge, receives the feedback from trainer or the most experienced worker, thereby perpetually develop and update the skills.

We at Kvist are very proud of the Gluing school that is the part of the Kvist Academy, where after the mapping of each worker, gluing teams are set up. Each gluing team consists of one of the most experienced gluing worker, who by the practical activities transfers the knowledge to others.

Kvist has a strong intention to expand Kvist Academy program with more topics in the future to improve levels of educational achievements complies with ISO9001 standards.

New CNC machine in Latvia

Production in Latvia continues to grow and constantly developing technology to meet the evolving demands of our customers.

The key benefit of the CNC machining process is its ability to produce considerable quantities of precision-crafted parts and products in a variety of materials, all of which will have the true properties of that particular material, making them suitable for form, fit and function testing. Thanks to long tradition, know-how and modern machinery, Kvist is able to produce parts with high precision and the new CNC is sufficient resource to continue the growth.

Hall manager says: “That is a huge step forward in order to improve time to market as a means of meeting customer demand. We are really looking forward to fulfil the expectations!”

Kvist gets patent on wooden frame

In line with development and high woodproduction knowledge Kvist Industries has developed a wooden frame that complies with future production.

The new strong model was created by combining Kvist Industries overall wood knowledge and its facilities for product development, innovation and quality. The combination of the company capabilities has created a strong result which is significantly more durable woodframe and estimated to be between 30-50% stronger (depending on the wood material) than similar products produced today.

The aim with woodframe has been to create a stronger and more robust construction which still is light as the nordic style. With its fine technical construction the product is competitive in terms of both quality and sustainability, due to the use of material which can consist of more fast growing wood with a layer of veneer that are pressed into one piece wood.

Kvist have decided the innovative product should be patent to Kvist Industries to assure the product can't be copied by a third party without consent. The patent is a technical patent for the woodbase and will not interfere with any commercial rights for the finished product. It will only be visible with a small number stamp similar to our traceability stamp - hidden less visible as possible in the size of 1,5 mm x 3,5mm.

If you want to know more about the design and construction please contact our sales team.

Special gift from Sia Kvist to Day-care Center for elderly

Our company is receiving a lot of great presents from customers and partners during the year and we choose to auction these presents among our employees – all collected money we give away to charity.

Auction among employees has become an annual tradition before Midsummer holidays as well as before Christmas time. In the end of June Sia KVIST held a Midsummer’s auction and all collected amount is going to be donated to residents of Mālpils Day-care Center for elderly.

“It has become sort of team-building activity, where everybody can be together and have a bit of fun and at the same time help to the others in need”, says Sanda Vīnberga, Office administrator at Sia Kvist. „We had a lot of different auction items this time and at the end we offered Kvist produced chairs, which we have received from our customers and got the permission to auction them”.

Stockholm Furniture Fair 2019

Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair continues to grow and strengthen its position as the world’s leading event for Scandinavian design and we have once again been a part of this development and been there to support our customer base.

This year we chose to arrange our KVIST stand in three different areas in order to introduce our customers and visitors with our wide range of services with a focus on sustainability and environment. We divided our stand into three areas – sustainability and environment, customer service & know-how and Supplychain & Services. Our commitment to sustainability in most of the processes of services follows from a constant focus on providing solutions that protect people and brands, promote health, and safeguard the environment. In regarding to support our customers and to meet their demands and requirements, we set sustainability and sharing of knowledge as on of our priorities in the future.

How and why to be an student assistant at Kvist Industries?

With student assistant and their knowledge and in cooperation with the more experienced employee, we think it can push Kvist industries to a next level. Therefore we are doing our best to show students that we see them as an asset.

“My choice fell on Kvist Industries because it sounded like an interesting company where I could use my education in a different way, where my education is more suited for the public or energy sector. But Kvist Industries gave me an opportunity for using my education in a manufacturing company” – says Dorthe, who is currently our student assistant in the environment & sustainability department. ”My tasks at Kvist industries have been interesting and challenging and I have been involved in many different areas at the company. I feel that I can use a lot of things from my education. In this way I think there is a good correlation between theory and practice at Kvist industries.”

For the student assistants it is important that there are projects and tasks, where they can use their knowledge from school and a good working environment so the students feels welcome. From our current student assistants we know that they are working with different projects and they are using their knowledge from school. Bettina who is soon graduating SDU Kolding tells that: “Kvist Industries is a very exciting company, because they produced some of the greatest furniture’s in the world. And I have been lucky to work with many different projects and tasks where I could use different theories form my education. My co-workers at Kvist Industries are very sweet and the mood is always high.”

Our student assistant in Latvia - Renate, who assists Kvist quality manager at quality department, is currently studying at Riga Technology University. „Working at SIA Kvist is giving me opportunity to use my theoretical knowledge and actually se how all that I have learned during my studies - comes into reality, - and when I look into reality, I can actually see, that there is a quite of things, that can not be learned at school, because of different cases, that comes when there is a real cooperation with the customers and different departments. Since, I am studying material technology and product design as well as quality management, Sia KVIST was an obvious choice, mostly because of the fact that Kvist is one of the very few companies, where all the processes from documentation until final product is made. This is great opportunity and I am very happy to be here and I can already see how much I can learn here and realize the things I have to improve and at the same time contribute my ideas.” – says Renate.

If you want to know more about being a student assistant at Kvist Industries you are welcome to contact us.

Please write a small resume of your self and how you believe you can attribute to the Kvist Company. Please send an email to:

DK: hr@kvist.com

LV: LV@kvist.com

2018 year in review: Kvist Industries achieves turnover of 400 million Danish kroner

The financial statement for 2018 shows DKK 405 million in revenue and profit before tax of DKK 11 million. That is large growth compared to 2017; when revenue was DKK 349 million and the profit before tax only DKK 2, 5 million.

“If you look at the fact that we have had quite a large turnover growth in recent years, we can also see that we have had problems on the bottom line the previous years. But that goes is the right path now - both with growth in revenue and on the bottom line”, says director Jens Bach Mortensen.

Future in 2019 looks quite positive keeping up the budget in the first quarter and management predicts a double-digit growth in 2019. “Even though there are slightly dark clouds around, we continue to work hard on all fronts to hold on and create new projects”.

Ulla Tørnæs visiting Kvist Industries in Årre

We were happy to welcome Danish Minister for Development Cooperation of Denmark Ulla Tørnæs in Kvist in Årre. The visit had focus on Kvist Industries as a workplace and how we attract new talents, an issue which is often motioned as a challenge in our region.

At Kvist Industries we have focus on the next generation. This year we have had several visits from different educational institutions, public schools and also from Higher education schools just to name few of them. We also have students working with us either with thesis or as student workers. This is all done in collaboration with SDU Business, Lars Vad and Business Playmaker from ProVarde Kasper Bech Pedersen.

We are convinced that the collaboration with the students give mutual benefits. First off all it’s all about giving the young people an insight of the reality of business and furniture industry in general as well as to give them an insight in how they can use their education. Secondly, it’s about branding Kvist as a great and interesting workplace for the young adults who might be choosing their career path within furniture industry.

After Ulla had an introduction to Kvist Industries from our CEO Jens Bach Mortensen and had a talk with two of our student workers from SDU Dorte Andersen (Environment and Resource management) and Bettina Søgaard (Organization & Management), she had the opportunity to se part of the production. There she met some of our many engaged and skilled workers.

New look - new modern work place

Production department of mechanical processing - hall 4 is being finished with renovations. The production unit is now broader, brighter and got brand new, comfortable workstations.

The aim with renovation was to gather the basic processing/handling process and locate it under one roof in order to become more efficient and shorten lead-time of finished units between the production halls as well as to equip the production hall with new upgraded sanding stations. Modernization of unit created possibility of improvements for working conditions for sanding employees, as well as better surface conditions in pre-treatment phase.

FSC Design Award

The FSC Design Award, organized by FSC Denmark, is held this year for the twelfth time. FSC Design Award is a design contest that challenges Danish design and architect students to think in new ways and combine sustainability with good wood design. The overall goal of the FSC Design Award is to inspire future designers to see the possibilities of wood as a natural element in sustainable design.

The main prize is a collaboration with Kvist Industries in order to develop the winning design further and prepare it for production. The winner has unique opportunity to collaborate with Kvist Industries and to join exciting process and develop winning design, as well as visiting factory in Latvia, where design winner can work with a prototype and make sales-ready product, produced in FSC certified wood.

This a unique opportunity to get acquainted with the product journey from the design to the final product is completed.

Our production and product development chief Søren Kvist was one of the members of the jury.

Towards one goal – Kvist Supplier day 2019

In order to continue the strategy to settle the right supplier-base, Kvist Industries have started process to select the best suppliers we have today and also to scan the markets for other interesting suppliers, which can give us competitive advantage the coming years – but also it is vital for us due to our company size that we are able to make better and improved relations with our strategic and key suppliers.

Therefore we have initiated a Supplier Day 2019 for our selected strategic and key suppliers at the Manor in Malpils, where we have invited app. 40 suppliers with app 70 participants from all Europe.

„It was a very good day for all of us – lot of talks – new and improved relations –many questions from suppliers – and all participants was indeed very positive impressed of the factory”, says our CPO Jens Andersen.

It is vital for KVIST to have the right supplier-base, who is willing to cooperate in order to ensure high service and quality to the right costs to the customer and contribute to the overall success.

Ongoing projects to attract new generation – “Day of shadows” in Latvia and student visits in Denmark

At the recently happened project “Day of shadows”, we had a visit from 8 curious students at our production facility in Latvia. These students, during their week of project in school, had chosen to be the shadows of their own parents who work at Kvist to see their daily working routine, as well as learn different professions and furniture industry in general.

Meanwhile, young students from different educational institutions in Denmark, mostly by our successful cooperation with Pro Varde, visiting factories in Aarre and get acquainted with the company's workflow, professions and different possibilities. “We want to believe, that these visits are helping them to choose and decide their future and be more secure about their choice of education and later on to have an ability to combine an education background with practical experience. Raised awareness helps us to have young professionals in the furniture industry” says our training manager Michael Eirup.

The future of upholstered furniture – here it comes!

Due to the customers growing demand for products with combination of different materials, we purposely have chosen to expand our upholstery facility and continue successful performance with upholstered furniture.

Foam, fabrics, leather and other materials that usually are used for the upholstered furniture is divided by its own category management accordingly to have more stable and efficient insourcing process of raw materials. “In this way we are optimizing the value chain, to increase time to market with the upholstered furniture” says upholstery hall manager Kristaps and is very proud with the rapid growth of his managed production facility.

Donation to TabFab

Tab Fab is business incubator that has been created and actively acts as the center of creative industries at the old Tobacco Factory in Riga, which provides a supportive ecosystem in the creative industries sector, while supporting business aspects such as innovation, creativity and advanced technology. The old Tobacco Factory has previously been owned by Denmark, and now rebuilt into an incubator for creative industries.

Kvist Industries supports innovation, design and creativity!

Creative Industries Forum

At the event Crown Prince visited Danish design and furniture expositions to meet Danish businesses active in Latvia, including KVIST Industries. Our Kvist team welcomed Crown prince at our exposition and been proudly introduced with our company and products we make.

The exhibition, which KVIST Industries exhibited at the event, was transferred to the RTU Design Institute of Technology right after the event. The aim was to share inspiration and ideas, as well as strengthening and developing design technology in the furniture industry.

Connecting the dots

In order to fulfil customer’s increasing demands and make a step forward to them, Kvist have initiated Customer satisfaction study to improve the knowledge about their closest customers and gain a structured overview about their needs, requirements and expectations.

Study analysis will contribute added value to the relationships that are involved in customer satisfaction, service and product quality.

The study is taking place gradually during the summer.

The new structure, new tasks, and new profiles in the Sales deparment

"With a rather messy beginning of the year, all the way to a very strong Q4, we have managed to end 2017 with great results. With this in mind, predictions for 2018 are both positive and exciting!" says Jens Bach Mortensen, CEO at Kvist Industries. With the annual growth of 20+ %, the company today is significantly bigger than it was 4 years ago when Jens Bach became the CEO and co-owner of the company.

A strong growth often results in challenges for employees, suppliers and, last but not least, for the customers. For a too long period, this was the situation at Kvist, especially on the Latvian site in Malpils. A comprehensive restructuring and reorganizing took place, resulting in a raw, more lean, customer- and team-oriented structure. The aim is to establish a faster and more reliable interaction between the customers and Kvist. The structure is still to be strengthened by additional control principles and procedures. These principles are well tested on the Danish site in Årre and will be implemented on a full scale in Latvia. The full implementation will give Kvist further to scale up faster than we have seen before.

The Sales department is structured by the four Key Account Manager teams with employees in both Denmark and Latvia. This secures direct communiation between customers, sales, and production. The volume of incoming orders is strong, the sales strategy is under implementation, and the annual growth is impressive.

2018 came with some changes in the organization. Michael Kvist has decided to change focus and will become CEO and main shareholder in the one-year-old design development company, K2 Design. "We knew that Michael wants to work full-time with new ideas and designs and we were prepared and ready for this decision for some time now. We are glad that he will get the opportunity to do this with K2 Design. We would like to thank Michael for his more than 25-year long contribution to a positive development at Kvist, and we are looking forward to further cooperating with Michael in his new position" says CTO Søren Kvist. Michael stepped down from his position on 31st of January 2018 but will remain within Kvist Industries on several selected tasks.

Key Account Manager, Karsten Clausen retires after almost 30 years of duty on 31st of December 2017. Michael says "It has been a pleasure working together with Karsten, and he has been an excellent ambassador for Kvist, being the customer representative on our factories and the factories representative by the customers".

Although Michael and Karsten are leaving Kvist Industries, both of them will be present at the Stockholm Fair 2018 together with the Kvist team. "We hope that customers, partners, and colleagues will drop by, and say hello to Michael and Karsten," says Jens Bach Mortensen. You will also have the opportunity to meet the sales team, Niels Stokbæk, Hejne Madsen, Santa Staskevica, and Viesturs Vikse. They will be supported by CTO Søren Kvist and CEO Jens Bach Mortensen. As always, we are at the fair to service and support our customers. More to that, at the upcoming fair, we will introduce the Kvist Business Lounge, where you are more than welcome to use our facilities. For booking, please contact our staff and book with the team, if you want to use the facilities.

We are looking forward to saying "Hello" to you in Stockholm.

Kvist Sia gave a special Christmas gift to charity

In December, Kvist Sia received a lot of great gifts from customers and partners, but instead of keeping the gifts, Kvist Sia chose to auction the presents and give the money to charity.

"We received about 38 presents, which we auctioned off to charity. To our surprise, it was well received and we had great response, more than expected. The biddings where high and we are very happy with the result", says Sanda Vinberga, Office Administrator, Kvist Sia.

The gifts were a mix of wine, Whiskey, boxes of candy, large wall calenders, and candles to mention a few. The most attractive gifts were a wooden tie and bow that was well admired. The biddings went top high on these two masterpieces.

At the end og the bidding contest, Kvist Sia received the total amount of 590 EUR. The money was given to the Latvian charity organization DOD PIECI in Latvia.

As leading wood furniture supplier in Denmark kvist kicks-off a 100% environmental purchasing policy in 2018

The purchasing department in Kvist Industries is within these days preparing to implement a new green purchasing politic as the company was clear about the statement from the top level in December, that the target for all productions has to become 100% sustainable within the outgoing of 2018.

The Danish furniture supplier set up demands for itself, its suppliers and not at least its customers, which says that all products have to be environmental marked with either FSC® or the EU Flower (EU-blomsten) before the end of 2018. The information came from a customer event that was held on the 29th September at Tirpitz, Blåvand. The information was clear and given directly from the board of directors, who support the green environmental politic. It will have an effect on all table- and chair productions produced at Kvist Industries production units in both Denmark and Latvia. ”A 100% FSC® certification will mean that we can guarantee our customers a green and sustainable value chain all the way through. Kvist wishes to use the two environmental brand order that can secure that our customers and end-users will get an environmental, social- and economic responsibility, which can tighten up the individual environmental profile” says Jens Andersen, director of purchase.

Besides the branding value, the environment profile will also give an increase of market possibilities in a fast raising marked for green consumption goods. It has been estimated that the price in a given time will be affected in a starting up phase, but gradually as the chosen environmental standard has been accepted prices will be modified so that they at least are on the same level as non-environmental goods, Jens Andersen explains. The decision for Kvist Industries can have a positive effect on the value chain and Kvist is not the only one who takes the spoon in the green hand. ”We are doing our customers a favor by choosing the brand-scheme and secure that behind in the value chain which can handle these exacts demands. If no side has been chosen, we will constantly meet new demands and schemes, which each has its own specific focus area. We, our customers, end-user, and the environment will not benefit from this. This will only result in more costs, more expensive products, and confusion on the market, says CCO, Michael Kvist. When FSC® and EU blomsten has been implemented, it will become a natural part of the weekday to adapt to the new demands and standards. Basically, it is a good feeling to know that we know how we less strain the environment and contribute to a better climate for the next generations Michael Kvist explains.

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New logistic department

At Kvist Latvia, we have started a new logistic department to meet our customers’ demands regarding market condition requirements. The department will ensure logistic related challenges such as special labeling, mounting, communication, and transportation, and that goods are reached on time, under safe conditions, and in the right place.

Our know-how provides us with the ability to offer a diversified assembling, packing, and transportation ready for the onward distribution to our customers. The primary focus will be the internal communication between sales and production facilities to meet and exceed our customers demand. The department has already 13 new employees and still growing.

Visiting IMM Cologne 2017

IMM Cologne is the first international interior show hosted in 2017. Kvist Industries was not a part of the fair exhibition, but we have been visiting the fair to find out the last trends in the industry. We were very glad to see in the showcase some of our customers and the furniture that we produce for them. The most important trend in the interior design world is represented by freedom and creativity. Raw materials are combined despite textures, colors or place in the house. In the furniture industry, wood is on the top wish list even if contemporary furniture tends to combine it with different materials such as plastic or metal for new aesthetics. The usage of wood furniture is expanding in design interiors, in offices and houses from the living room to the bathroom. Our overall impression is that the fair is growing every year in both visitors and exhibitors and the atmosphere makes the fair very special.

Below you can see some of the furniture that we have been a part of the developing and manufacturing process

InBetween Bar Stool

Classic wood craftsmanship with compression molding

In addition to the InBetween collection, we have started to produce the InBetween Bar Stool.

The InBetween Bar Stool is designed by Sami Kallio for &Tradition and it represents a great wood craftsmanship.

At Kvist, we produce the bar stool using two old and traditional manufacturing techniques compression molding which makes the wood light and thin but still strong and woodturning which is using a lathe to create a better detail.

The seat and side panels are produced of formpressed oak veneer which provides comfortable seating and support. The arm rest is curved shaped produced of turned solid oak as well the legs are made of solid oak using the woodturning technique to create the shape and to provide stability.

We are very pleasant to be a part of this process and to use our wood know-how and production facilities to manufacture the bar stool until packing ready for the onward distribution.

The bar stool can be ordered in different wood finishes white oiled oak, smoked oiled oak, black lacquered oak.