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The history of the company dates back to 1993: in that year, Saulius and Loreta Valaičiai began to produce furniture together with their families, then they began to hire employees, and in 2005 the Lauksva brand appeared. L.Valaitienė, who worked as a math teacher, was always drawn to furniture production and design. And S. Valaitis previously worked as an employee in a furniture manufacturing company.
According to the founder of the company, it is a family business. Daughter involved in sales and marketing, son in charge of logistics.
“We have four children and we will try to involve them all in the company”, 15 minutes says S. Valaitis.
Photo by Žygimantas Gedvila / 15min / Saulius Valaitis, founder of the Lauksva furniture manufacturing company
Jamie Oliver’s Furniture and Restaurants
Lauksva’s first clients were domestic consumers, and since 2005 the company has been working with companies in the catering and hospitality sectors.
“Now more than 50 percent. We transport the company’s products abroad to more than 20 countries around the world. Sometimes we don’t even know where the products are going. Let’s say we work with some of the most important Italian furniture designers. , they send us the drawings, we make the furniture and then we send it to Italy. And where do they go after that … As far as we know, there are the United States and Africa, but they don’t talk about it “, says Audrius Bernotas, manager of Lauksva marketing.
According to him, he had to see that the furniture produced by the company is also in the American edition of The New York Times, in other famous buildings in the world.
“Our products are also found in the restaurants of the Jamie Oliver’s Diner chain in the Netherlands, France. At the Hotel Marriot in Cannes living room area and restaurant are furnished with our products “, – says A. Bernotas.
Photo by Žygimantas Gedvila / 15min / Furniture manufacturing company “Lauksva”
Among the latest achievements is a step into the cruise market. According to a representative of the company, it is difficult to get there because there are many requirements to be met, but in 2019 we managed to get the first order for a cruise. And S. Valaitis adds that a project with a cruise yacht is currently being implemented.
Lauksva furniture can also be seen in various places in Lithuania: Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuanian airports, the Maritime Museum cafeteria. The company also works with the Caffeine coffee chain, the Palanga and Druskininkai hotels. However, most of Lithuania works with domestic consumers.
Photo by Žygimantas Gedvila / 15min / Audrius Bernotas, Marketing Director of Lauksva Furniture Manufacturing Company
“Working with foreign partners requires a lot of requirements, so this experience is useful with domestic consumers in Lithuania. If a person has a sofa, then it will be of high quality, because we apply a 50-month guarantee to our products, ”says A. Bernotas.
According to him, at the same time, the company also produced wardrobe furniture, but when the furniture giant Ikea arrived in Lithuania, it was decided to abandon it and focus on the production of custom upholstered furniture.
Currently, the company has 7 stores in Lithuania, the most recent one opened in Panevėžys. As S. Valaitis says, they want to open a store in Alytus and one more in Klaipeda and Kaunas. “The goal is to have at least 10 showrooms located in Lithuania.”
The companies also work with the large platforms “Varle.lt” and “Pigu.lt”, but, according to A. Bernotas, upholstered furniture is such a purchase that a person wants to touch and sit down before buying.
“I always say here like a car: you can collect all the information online, but you will still make the final decision when you come to the salon,” explains the man.
Photo by Žygimantas Gedvila / 15min / Furniture manufacturing company “Lauksva”
And how was the business affected by the pandemic? A. Bernotas says that at that time the company started taking orders by phone, then the idea of producing outdoor furniture came to him. According to him, it was a justified decision. During the first wave, the company also sewed masks and protective suits. The costumes were provided free of charge to district medical facilities and the fire department, and contracts were entered into with other municipalities or agencies.
According to A. Bernotas, before the pandemic, the company had a lot of orders, so after the introduction of quarantine, production still had something to do for a while. In addition, he points out that the hospitality industry abroad has recovered very quickly.
“Companies in this sector probably live better abroad than in Lithuania, because here restaurants are looking for a living, and abroad, at the end of the second wave, they have already started to think that this is a great opportunity. to renew their furniture. Orders have begun to float, “explains the interlocutor.
However, hotels and the catering sector in Lithuania are already on the mend. According to A. Bernotas, “Lauksva” works with SPA hotels, it is planned to work with larger partners.
Photo by Žygimantas Gedvila / 15min / Furniture manufacturing company “Lauksva”
Allow employees to make mistakes
Lauksva, who has 112 employees, in addition to other companies in the country, did not escape the global problem of staff shortages. It is difficult for a district-based company to compete with urban businesses and attract employees. The fact that the standard of living in Šakiai isn’t cheap doesn’t help either.
“We have to mentally work here, but that then leads to a fairly high level of employee loyalty, probably more than 60 percent. Employees have been working here for more than 10 years. Low staff turnover, which ensures that the professional opportunities with us are high. You can come to work in production on a machine tool and then become a builder “, says the interlocutor.
There are other success stories, for example, a Ukrainian employee started out as a seamstress and is currently the director of a sewing workshop. Another woman worked as a cleaner, but after passing the necessary courses, as A. Bernotas calls it, she “discovered herself” and now works as an accountant.
Photo by Žygimantas Gedvila / 15min / Furniture manufacturing company “Lauksva”
“There is an employee who drives from Kaunas. He graduated from Kaunas University of Technology with an engineering degree, but wanted to work as a designer. He is well aware that other Kaunas companies may not get that position, because experienced people come to them and they have to show the result right away. And you can sit and study with us, ”he says.
According to him, lately, when hiring a person, more attention is paid not to the sciences that he has completed, but to whether he is working well.
“Of course, it is also the case that we make a mistake: it turns out that a person knows how to sell well and does not have much desire to learn. It takes half a year for a person to start adding value. investing in it during this period. But we discovered that there are real pearls, “says the interlocutor.
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