“At present, the plant operates at full capacity, producing almost 40 million porcelain items a year. Thus, Apulum has become Europe’s biggest porcelain manufacturer with production being carried out in a single location,” Ioan Voican, chief executive officer of Apulum, told ZF Transilvania.
The company says that now the number of orders from abroad exceeds the production capacity of the plant by around 30% and new investments are needed to boost production. For this project, which also involves the creation of 150 jobs, Apulum plans to access EU funding.
The company generated revenue of almost 44 million lei (around EUR10 million) in the first half of the year, up 32% from the year earlier period. In 2013, Apulum reached revenue of RON75 million (EUR16.9 million) and has budgeted EUR20 million for this year. Currently, the company exports 90% of production, with IKEA as the most important client.
In early 2014, the company’s officials said they were in talks with IKEA on the development of a new product series, set to be launched at the beginning of 2015.
The company’s products are also sold in Metro, Cora, Carrefour and Tesco stores. The company has budgeted investments of EUR2.6 million this year to acquire equipment in a bid to increase porcelain quality.
Apulum porcelain plant was set up in 1970 in Alba Iulia, being taken over six years ago by Italy’s group Rody Time.
Apulum’s main client, Swedish concern IKEA, the world’s largest furniture retailer, has built a 40-supplier network in Romania. Local suppliers include Aramis Invest, Ecolor, Taparo, Plimob, Sortilemn, Apulum and Cesiro.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)