The group has three research centres
- in Wroclaw, Glasgow and Łańcut - and what Radoslaw Koelner describes as a multi-cultural team: a mix of experience and young ambitious people that has, eventually but definitely, coalesced into a highly effective research and development resource. That cultural integration has also been significant at a group management level. “The company in general has changed completely,” says Radoslaw Koelner. “We operate in a truly European and international environment. Our management team comprises one Swede, two Brits, one German, two Poles and one Czech.” Throughout, the objective is to live up
to a group motto adopted over the last four years: “We provide state of the art solutions you can always trust.” In the construction sector, which represents the lion’s share of the group’s business, that trust is represented by sixty national approvals, thirty European Technical Approvals (a tally Radoslaw Koelner confidently expects to increase in coming months) and some eighty-five pending and granted patents. Which brings us to “Rawlplug Reloaded”.
Around 70% of Rawlplug products are now manufactured within the group. Drill bits and accessories are outside its current manufacturing competence but are important ancillary products. “There are also commodity products, like the sleeve anchors and drywall and chipboard screws,” says Radoslaw Koelner, “where European producers cannot compete with the Far East.”
Injection moulding at Wroclaw
purchasing to central financial control and demand planning, as well as coordinating research and development, information technology and human resources. Rawlplug SA in Wroclaw is the
60% of the group’s patents and
registrations are in the Rawlplug brand, which now represents a similar proportion of total group sales. From 2013 that context is formally recognised as the entire business becomes the Rawlplug Group. It is far more than a name change. It also represents a fundamental realignment of the managerial and operational structure of the group. In 2011 all of the group’s intellectual property assets were consolidated into one entity - Koelner Rawlplug IP Sp z.o.o. This is now at the pinnacle of the group,
encompassing all of the headquarter functions and responsibilities, ranging from strategic management, marketing and
operational nexus for the group’s now clearly differentiated manufacturing and distribution functions. Products from the manufacturing operations are sold to Rawlplug SA, which fulfils the central stockholding and logistics role in supporting the group’s distribution subsidiaries as they service markets in Poland, across Europe and into the Middle East and Russia. “As a rule,” says Radoslaw Koelner, “each subsidiary purchases a minimum eighty percent from Rawlplug. Of course there are some products specific to local demand that are sourced independently.” The construction focused distribution subsidiaries in Poland, Central and Eastern Europe, and Russia retain the Koelner name; strong, positive recognition from customers make it an indispensable brand here. In Western Europe, the construction companies present to the market as Rawlplug. Only in the Middle East is there a hybrid brand identity trading as Koelner Rawlplug. The group’s main market is still in
Europe, accounting for around 93 percent of sales. “We have a very fast growing branch in the United Arab Emirates, servicing the Persian Gulf and Gulf Cooperation Council countries,” says Radoslaw Koelner. “This is a very positive market for us in which we only sell high end products.” “We are also growing in South Africa
and we see potential in current and previous British Commonwealth countries, because of the still strongly recognised values associated with the Rawlplug brand.” The Americas, for now at least, are not on the agenda. “There are so many promising markets nearer to Europe and in Asia,” says Radoslaw Koelner. ‘Reloaded’ is particularly apt. Spend time with Radoslaw Koelner and it is impossible not to sense the immense level of energy and determination that has been invested into drawing together an extraordinarily disparate set of resources. Also abundantly clear is that at both the corporate and the personal level all of that energy is now coiled, ready to be unleashed. 2013 is set to be an extraordinary year for Rawlplug – one we will continue to follow with real interest.
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