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Rivaka company is located in Katauskiai village, Raseiniai district. The latter’s name even left a mark on the company name. According to Vidmantas, the name was born by combining the name of his wife Rita, the surname of Vasiliauskai and the toponym of Katauskiai.
Home – Buy and Sell
The company started in 1992.
“It just came to our attention then. I started with a buying and selling session. I left the public service and started buying, selling. I made money very easily. But the money also had a different value. Let’s say 10 thousand dollars was a lot. money.
I started with a buying and selling session. I left the public service and started buying, selling. I made money very easily.
I moved around a lot, I was young, I was 30 years old. I worked a lot with Russia, Belarus, I earned my first money, and it happened that I became the director of the “Fredos” factory. At that time, the average age of the board members of this corporation was about 70 years. Like me now, I feel like I’m slowing down, I need to withdraw as soon as possible, and it was there.
All my attempts to do something new reverted to his “we know it all, we’ve tried it, we did it” position. I realized that I would not do anything there. I decided to go. I sold the shares and bought the premises here, at a fairly low price, ”says Mr. Vidmantas about starting the business.
He admits with a smile: “I have never taken money from banks. The whole company was built on its own. Because the place was cheap. We buy in steps, I think five steps, I give some litas. So it’s your five steps. In this way, we bought, designed, built several additional warehouses, brought equipment and began to work ”.
Vidmant makes no secret of the fact that he had to see the world, and his experience in the West changed his understanding of business opportunities.
Photo by Julius Kalinskas / 15min / Vidmantas Vasiliauskas
“The Soviet mentality was such that it seemed that the factory could only be big. In those days, we imagine that if there is no railroad, there are no thousands of kilowatts of electricity, there is no gas, there can be no factories.
And I drove through the west, it was difficult, I had to wait for visas overnight, but I saw a lot. You go to a small town like ours in Germany, where there are several businesses. At that time, I thought there was no need for this railway ”, the businessman recalled the new understanding formed by Western countries.
The Soviet mentality was such that it seemed that the factory could only be big. If there is no railroad, thousands of kilowatts of electricity are not used, then there can be no factories.
According to him, the location in the Raseiniai district is very convenient due to logistics; after all, it is a crossroads between Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda and Riga.
The “male ambition” has been activated
Initially, only bathroom furniture was produced here. According to V. Vasiliauskas, while still working on Freda, he looked at the closest thing to him nausea. Later, however, the toilets were taken away. As he admits, it all depends on those masculine ambitions.
“Once we started making furniture, it was such a masculine ambition that I probably wouldn’t allow it to manifest itself now. And then we had a Polish company that made washbasins. The washbasin is very relevant to bathroom furniture – after all, practically everything contributes to the sink, because a person has a certain area for him, according to which he adjusts the furniture.
We were looking for suppliers, there were many. Some expensive, where you pay for the brand, too expensive for our market. The Bulgarians made such good sinks, but their range was too small. And Poznan Poles produced what they needed: a great deal at an affordable price. We started buying from them, we bought more and more from them.
Julius Kalinskas / 15min photo / The bathroom furniture is made in the Raseiniai district
I once tried to arrange monopoly purchases from Lithuania so that they would no longer be sold to anyone here, but distributed through us. That is what we had to do according to sound logic: we had to become our representatives and not drag other people from Lithuania who were driving and buying directly.
But that businessman flatly refused that there was no such deal, they would sell it to everyone who came. That affected me. I was young, I had a lot of energy, that’s what I said, oh yeah, then we’ll make those sinks ourselves. I started thinking about how to do it and in the end we did something ”, recalls V.Vasiliauskas.
Then I drew my sword and advanced. But I faced the biggest problem for technologists, engineers, who could do quality.
It was a very risky maneuver, admits the director of the company, now that he understands: “So I drew my sword and advanced. But in the Baltic countries there was no such production, I faced the biggest problem due to technologists, engineers who could do quality.
We still have a technologist from Belarus. At that time, our bureaucracy did not interfere, lost the way of crossing between himself and other specialists, seeing that they were chemical-technologist specialists, issued a residence permit in Lithuania. He has been working for us ever since. If you leave, you will have to bring others, so far there are no such specialists in Lithuania. You have to contract in Poland or in Belarus, in Russia. “
Manufacturing, not factory
The company now has about 80 employees. Mainly from the Katauskiai people, locals, as well as from Raseiniai, Tytuvėnai. Only those in higher positions tend to move on. Here is the new production manager, from Panevėžys, therefore, according to V. Vasiliauskas, in addition to his salary, a new car is bought for him.
Julius Kalinskas / 15min photo / The bathroom furniture is made in the Raseiniai district
“During the quarantine, a lot of people work remotely, merchants and designers. There are a lot more people working in production.
I wouldn’t call it a factory here, it’s more of a factory. Of course, we have modern furniture technology, we can say that it is closer to the factory. But the production of sinks is manufactured and the difference is in the use of technology. We use primitive technologies in the production of sinks ”, says the director of the company.
But investment is needed to undertake development. Until now, in addition to bank loans, V. Vasiliauskas, who prospered with European aid, said that he would like to seek EU funds and equipment for the youth, and more precisely for his daughter, who should take over the management of his business.
I was once in middle Klaipedos, at the beginning of the business, then the director took a pen there and said: it is probably a bank here. I got caught up in it. These pens are our company.
He himself says that he did everything on his own. “Once I was in Middle Klaipedos, at the beginning of the business, because we had common affairs, then the director took a pen there and said: it is probably a bank here. I got caught up in that. These pens are our companies”, awakens Vidmantas after remember the stagnant moment.
However, he himself does not intend to start with loans, as he himself says, he is tired and no longer has energy: “It all depends on energy, how much they can give away. When you are that age, how long can you work here? Two hours a day. And I worked after 18, 20 hours. There was a time when my wife and I drove a car from Austria. At Suwalki, the wife fell asleep and even blood began to drip from my nose. This is how we did business. “
Generational change
Now the company is going through a generational change, says V. Vasiliauskas, because he is already the last of the generation that started this business. “I really hope I can leave soon,” he smiles.
Julius Kalinskas / 15min photo / Bathroom furniture is manufactured in the Raseiniai district
About half of the bathroom furniture and sinks manufactured in Katauskiai remain in Lithuania, the other half goes abroad, via the main Senukai partners to Latvia and Estonia, as well as to Germany and England. Here between 5 and 7 thousand tons are produced per year. several cabinets and about 4 thousand. sinks.
What is the secret of business success? Work hard, says Vidmantas Vasiliauskas, and have a good team, people who go hand in hand. Then everything works out.
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