INTERVIEW: ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Rising in the East
Carlos Lee talks to Petr Tůma about the growth of Czech-based 4isp, a distributor of HSG lasers, including its move to a leasing model and how it works with Chinese manufacturers
What led to you becoming CEO of 4isp?
On finishing high school, I studied international business, but in the third year, my father had a heart attack, so I had to abandon my studies to take care of the family’s cable television business. After a few years, we sold
all the cable TV networks and I set up a small company to design outdoor wireless units because, at that time, there was no internet network in the Czech Republic. The company did well, but we were eventually kicked out of the market by one of our customers that set up a full relay production company in China. I then started to look at 3D printing equipment and a contact from Germany, Carl Fruth, CEO of FIT, asked me to use the Chinese contacts
I’d established in my previous businesses to help him obtain parts for his 3D printing company. We worked well together, and in 2010 Carl offered to buy the family company I was working for and set up 4isp, with me as CEO responsible for sourcing components from China.
How has the company developed? We started off with an e-shop for video surveillance systems and components for development and production of computer numerical control (CNC) machines and in 2014, we began selling Chinese CNC machines. In 2015, we partnered with HSG and became the exclusive supplier for their laser cutting machines for Czech Republic and Slovakia. In 2018, with an
Petr Tuma, CEO of 4isp
investment of €6m, we opened Eurazio, the biggest CNC showroom in Europe, which has the largest and most powerful milling, CO2 lasers and other CNC cutting fibre lasers on permanent display. In the last 11 years, 4isp has
grown to a workforce of 45, with a turnover of around €5m.
How do you see 4isp’s future? Today, everyone is chasing high series production. In the future, the demand for customisation will lead to much more diversity
“Everyone is chasing high series production, but the demand for customisation will lead to much more diversity in the market and much smaller production series”
in the market and much smaller production series. 3D printing technology and
the electronics are changing very rapidly. For example, if I send a new design for a PCB to China, I will receive
g
Tuma’s good relationship with FIT’s Carl Fruth led, ultimately, to the creation of 4isp
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4isp is the exclusive supplier for HSG laser cutting machines in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
April 2021 Electro Optics 33
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