Fortaco Group

SEASON'S GREETINGS ❄️✨ We thank all our customers and business partners for good cooperation and trust throughout the year.   May the coming year be filled with happiness, health, and prosperity. 🌟   Wishing You a Peaceful Christmas Time. 🎄   Team Fortaco ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖  Instead of traditional Christmas gifts, Fortaco has donated to charity.

NEW GENERATION OF WELDING ROBOTS | A key factor in premium welding ⚡️  We constantly develop and invest in new technologies, as we want to make sure our services can benefit our customers as greatly as possible.   One of our most recent investments is the robotic welding system that handles even the most demanding welding tasks.   This new Panasonic workstation in Business Site Wrocław is an example of a modern solution in the field of virtual robot programming. ⌨️   Creating value in the new system is the ability to make offline programs, which means our team can prepare programs for welding outside the welding station.   This means, that implementing new welding products is easier and we can increase the utilization of stations.   Automating welding processes not only mean higher production efficiency and better quality of welds but also improved work safety. 👩🏻🏭   At Fortaco, we are working with 80+ welding robots. #fortacogroup #welding #weldingrobot

IT IS OKAY NOT TO BE OKAY | Fortaco’s mission in Mental Health 🌱 💭   Mental health matters and paying attention to it should be a part of every healthy organization that wants to thrive in today’s fast changing world.    Things outside our work life can take a toll on us, creating a situation when working can feel overwhelming. Sometimes, no matter how well we aim to keep our workload balanced, things can start to feel the opposite.  ⚖️   Mental Health has many faces and the topic still carries a stigma around it. People can feel judged because of these challenges.   To change that, we are dedicated to building a strong community where mental health is openly discussed and understood. Everyone should feel heard, valued, and empowered. 🌟   We want to make sure these get implemented and actions are taken, so we have chosen seven Mental Health Ambassadors among the Fortaco teams. The team of ambassadors supports colleagues offering interesting and important articles, insightful blogs and tips & tricks for mental wellbeing.    They give invaluable help by offering a listening ear and letting team members be heard when things feel challenging. 🌧   Preventing is key in avoiding mental health challenges and catching the symptoms early. We want to educate our team to nurture their mental wellbeing and to recognise symptoms so taking steps to heal is easier. 🧘🏻♀️   As a very inspiring part of our work, a masterclass webinar around the topic was recently held with great support from EQ Europe.   Together the team members dived into the signs and symptoms of depression and anxiety, the differences between them, and how to get the support needed.   We’re building a workplace where mental health matters - let us make a difference together. ✨ #fortacogroup #mentalhealthmatters #mentalhealth #mentalhealthambassador

A NEW CHAPTER IN FORTACO JOURNEY | Mika Mahlberg appointed Interim President & CEO 🌟   Mika Mahlberg (M.Sc. Engineering) has been appointed Chief Operating Officer (COO) from 1 November 2024, and as of 1 January 2025, Mika will be Interim President & CEO. We warmly welcome Mika to his new position and wish him the best of success in supporting the Fortaco journey! 🏹 Lars Hellberg, President & CEO of Fortaco Group has decided to retire on 1 January 2025. Lars will continue cooperation as a member of Fortaco’s Supervisory Board. The owner and Supervisory Board express their sincere thanks and appreciation to Lars for dedication and leadership during his 11 years and look forward to the cooperation with Lars as the supervisory board member. 🤝 Before joining Fortaco, Mika worked as an independent consultant and a strategic advisor. He spent 26 years at Konecranes, a global leader in material handling solutions. He held several leadership positions, including Executive Vice President and Head of Business Area Port Solutions, as well as Senior Vice President and Head of Business Unit Port Cranes.   Mika brings experience in leading international businesses and has a deep understanding of Fortaco’s markets and our customers' needs. 🎯 “This autumn, I have had the privilege of working closely with Lars and the Fortaco team to refine the company’s strategy for maintaining its leading position within the off-highway industry. I look forward to building on the solid foundation established and supporting Fortaco's next strategic steps,” Mika says. 💭 Lars’ dedication and 11 years of leadership guided Fortaco on its' way to be the leading strategic partner to OEM customers in the off-highway equipment industries worldwide.   “My 11 years at Fortaco as President & CEO is a true, fun, and great learning experience. I am proudly reflecting on what our customers and business partners have built together with the Fortaco team, and I am looking forward to joining Fortaco’s Supervisory Board as a continuation of being a member of the Fortaco family. I wish Mika every success in his new role”, says Lars. 💭 #fortacogroup #CEO #manufacturing #offhighway

INNOVATION IS STEEL PROCESSING AND BEST-IN-CLASS EFFICIENCY | The recently inaugurated Fortaco’s Gliwice Business Site is here to bring pioneering solutions to the off-highway industry. 🌟 With our customers, we will write our future together at the Gliwice factory. The machine park starts to be ready at the beginning of 2025 and preparations for serial production are ongoing. The production ramp-up is proceeding with the target to reach full production capacity in mid-2025. Efficiency matters. At Gliwice, steel processing equipment consists of high-tech machines of fiber-, laser-, plasma-, and oxygen cut, press bend up to 12 meters length and CNC machines. AI and digitalization tools are used, and 3D scanners are employed for a very fast Production Part Approval Process (PPAP). ⚡️ Innovation comes from everywhere and reaches all the basic functions, like material handling, cutting, bending, kitting, and shipping. With the technology we're installing in Gliwice, processes can be further automated, deliver high-quality parts that improve welding robot accuracy, and make things overall more accurate and safer. The plant will eventually process 40,000 tons of steel, and in 70% of its 35,000 square-meter hall will work 250 employees when the ramp-up is complete. 👥 Preparations are proceeding for the installation of a welding robot. 30% of the 35,000 square-meter hall is dedicated to welding technologies to manufacture thin steel plate components for Fortaco's Zero Emission solutions. Read more about the opening ceremony and Gliwice operations in our blog, link in the comments 👇🏻 #fortacogroup #gliwice #poland #manufacturing #steelprocessing #innovation #offhighwayindustry

BUSINESS SITE SASTAMALA WORKS FOR YOUR SUCCESS | Refurbished equipment supports our customers’ business 🌟 Your machines are the heart of your business, and we take care of them by refurbishing and restoring the former efficiency and giving machines a second life. Machine refurbish is a forward-thinking investment, increasing the machine’s lifespan, reducing the cost of failures, and improving operational efficiency. Business Site Sastamala has more than 15 years of experience, and one of their leading projects is the renovation of Vammas PSB5500 snow removal equipment. ❄️⚡️ During the winter season machines are used on a large scale, ensuring safety and comfort for airport users. This means that systematic checks and proper renovation are crucial. “These Machines are technically quite complicated, containing many hydraulic and electrical elements, where our team of experts are skillful”, tells Markku Pulliainen, General Manager at Sastamala Business Site. 💬 Refurbishing a single machine takes about 5 to 6 months. The process starts with disassembly, and it is followed by testing and finished by repainting. The Fortaco team provides detailed diagnostics, replaces the used parts, and modernizes the machines. #fortcogroup #fortacofinland #refurbishment #heavyindustry

COMBINED EXPERTISE | Serial production started in India 🌏 Based on the increasing safety requirements in the rapidly developing off-highway vehicle market in India, Fortaco and TATA AutoComp started a business relation several years ago. Together we manufacture safety cabins to the Indian and Asian markets; manufacturing is made by TATA AutoComp based on Fortaco’s cabin design and manufacturing technology. 🚜 The new factory in Pune started operations beginning of this year, and the first products have been successfully delivered to the customer. Our aim is to be in full force by the end of Q1 2025. ⚡️ The product offering in Pune includes state-of-the-art vehicle cabins; low to high-volume safety cabins to Indian agriculture, construction equipment, and other off-highway applications - also for exports. TATA AutoComp Systems Ltd #fortacogroup #tataautocomp #india #vehiclecabin #agriculture

MESSENGER OF DEVELOPMENT | Some people love to ask ’why’ 💭   Andrzej Wrona, Fortaco Group’s Operations Development Director, is for sure one of them. He is also a believer of small consistent steps when aiming to achieve bigger goals.   He has been the key person on Fortaco’s Lean journey. His team makes sure all Fortaco factories, no matter their volume and product complexity, have an appropriate approach to Lean. ✅ He and his team are ready to challenge the status quo, and they think everyone should have two jobs: one is their daily job, and the other is to improve their daily job.   Read more about Andrzej’s journey with Lean and Fortaco in his blog, link in the comments. 👇🏻 #fortacogroup #lean #toyotaway #development

FORTACO x TOYOTA | Keen on Lean ⚡️ Our partnership with Toyota is strongly driven by our shared values, and for years, the Fortaco team has been learning Lean Management from the best.   The driving theme is Toyota’s scientific approach to achieve goals, solve problems, and develop such the daily routines we need, to have an understanding on every level of the organization, including the top leaders. The Fortaco team has been learning from Toyota since 2018, gathering insights and learnings at their events and masterclasses. 💭 As a part of the collaboration, a practical problem-solving workshop was held at Kurikka Business Site in October.   In the three-day training, the team could delve deeper into problem-solving - first with a ready-made problem in the training material and finally with a genuine topic that came out of our production.   In the workshop, the team identified the problem, narrowed it down based on the data, determined the goal, analyzed the root cause, and created a list of development measures that were also evaluated by using an impact analysis. 💡   Many development ideas were represented, and the work done will be utilized by adopting the generated ideas in production - the lessons learned can also be used to solve future problems.   We thank the Toyota team for their continuous work on the development and for supporting us on our journey with Lean! 👏🏻 Toyota Lean Management Centre 📍 #fortacogroup #fortacofinland #toyota #toyotalean #leanmanagement #workshop

A LEAP FORWARD | Fortaco Inaugurates Gliwice Business Site ⚡️ The opening ceremony took place on 3 October in Knurów, Poland, gathering together several hundred guests, including the President of Knurów.    The project was exciting, and we are looking forward to all the pioneering solutions it will bring to the off-highway industry. Our Gliwice business site is the first business to open in Knurów’s Economic Zone.    ”The groundbreaking ceremony took place one year ago, and shortly after that, we are celebrating the grand opening – wow, what an impressive project execution! Especially, I appreciate the attention paid to Safety - the top priority of Fortaco”, says Lars Hellberg, President & CEO, Fortaco Group. 💭   "Fortaco processes over 80,000 tons of steel every year, and our operation in the Gliwice region will centralize 50% of Fortaco steel processing to help us streamline our operations. We're employing the latest technology to automate the process as much as possible, making operations both safer and more efficient”. “We are very excited about this greenfield project. Eventually, the Gliwice plant will process 40,000 tons of steel, and next year a robot welding line will be added to produce advanced steel structures”, says Jaroslaw Szytow, General Manager of Business Site Gliwice. 💭   The factory is a greenfield project occupying 35,000 square meters that will employ up to 250 when its ramp-up is complete.   Fortaco’s steel fabrication footprint covers four modern factories with the best-in-class equipment in Estonia and Poland and offers manufacturing capabilities to world’s leading OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) customers, including design and engineering, and aftermarket services.   We thank our team and partners for making this milestone come true! 🌟 #fortacogroup #fortacopoland #gliwice #knurow #steelfabrication