News

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.

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.

(FSC-C112576)

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.

FSC Design Award 2018

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.

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.