Small Business Awards 2020

Hafele Czech & Slovakia is a subsidiary of international Hafele group, a family-owned German company located in Nagold and established in 1923. Following their recent recognition in Corporate Vision’s Small Business Awards, we caught up with the firm’s Managing Director who reveals the secrets behind Hafele Czech & Slovakia’s meteoric rise to success. The subsidiary, Hafele Czech & Slovakia, provides complete services in Czech Republic and Slovakia and was established in 2010. It specialises in supplying furniture fittings, architectural hardware, ironmongery and more to the trade “From the very beginning, our main approach was to be close to our customers, acting locally with support of global approach of international group,” explains Managing Director, Martin Běhunek. “Our aim is to provide for our customers complete and comprehensive service in the field of specification, production, delivery and service for furniture fittings, architectural HW, electronic access control and LED lights. All this is supported by family spirit inside the whole company, team reliance and relation to our customers. Our ambition is to be perceived as a strategic and reliable partner in above mentioned fields from the long term perspective.” As a small local team, Hafele Czech & Slovakia work closely together and Martin describes them as being like family members. It is partly down to this unique relationship that the firm is able to ensure its continued success. “At Hafele Czech & Slovakia, we are connected to each other like real family - with all good and bad things,” he explains. “We rely on each other and this creates a very specific atmosphere in the team, even this is a group of individuals with different background, experiences and attitude.” With regards to recruiting new team members, Martin tells us there is no specific template, but instead a search is based upon the required position and finding a candidate who has a good, balanced mix of knowledge, education and a good nature. With regards to clients, Hafele Czech & Slovakia has a similarly caring approach which takes into account its customers’ needs and puts them at the heart of the business. “We are trying to listen and understand their needs are. On one side, our people have to be proactive, trying to offer existing products, solutions and services, but we have in mind that, especially today, the environment is changing rapidly and we have to keep on maintaining high standards like IT applications, styles, design needs. It is obvious and visible that the lifecycle of products is getting shorter, so there is much more pressure to economical and slim down our processes in all fields which we manage: production, logistic, distribution. As well as increased demand for speed, online communication and digitalization. So we are trying to provide service and products which ensure that our customers Best Furniture Fittings & Architectural Hardware Supplier - Central Europe & Client Service Excellence Award 2020 (producers) and their customers (end user) will use it with pleasure and for long time without any issues.” Regarding the future, Martin predicts business as usual and plans of growth, despite the Covid-19 pandemic. “We are concentrating on own assortment, which is designed and / or produced under Hafele umbrella. This differentiates us from others as well as push to the individual approach towards customers. Besides that, invisible for public, we have an efficient and state-of-the art logistic background which ensure enough capacity and capability to deliver what we promise in the proper time to customer. “Looking ahead to what the future holds, we plan to grow and double our sales volume in next several years. Due to the pandemic unprecedent situation in 2020, it is difficult for me to set an exact date or volume, instead my wish and personal goal is to go for double number within next three years.” Contact: Martin Běhunek Company: Hafele Czech & Slovakia s.r.o. Web Address: www.hafele.cz Sep201101 “Hafele Loox Car on the way to the Slovak customers near to Spiš castle“ source: Peter Macura