Below you can read the article about us in Robinwood magazine. We are very proud of it, so we are publishing it as it originally appeared, without any changes.
The above title seems generous, but it is true. When we visited the company’s headquarters in Kaposvár, we were quite surprised. This is a company that covers the entire manufacturing process, where everything is in place, from the selection of the logs to the entire design and production process, and right down to the last element of the sales concept, so there are not many companies like this in Hungary today.
But the real question we are looking for answers to is what value this kind of thinking and company building has in the European market today.
One thing is for sure, the complex knowledge and expertise of the company and Lamello’s management is a guarantee of security, a high degree of independence and, above all, a guarantee of quality.
The company is a 100% family business, founded in 1993 and focused on furniture manufacturing from the very beginning. All family members are still working within the company. Conscious building has always been a key factor not only in the development of infrastructure and technology, but also in the training of new generations. The company has evolved over the last 3 decades through the expertise of wood engineers, architectural thinking and engineering disciplines in general.
Balancing an engineering approach with sales demands is evident in every single piece of the portfolio.
The vision of a business that started in the nineties is still considered bold, and perhaps even more so then. Understanding and overseeing the entire production process and then building an independent, self-sustaining sales concept, with some of the design and design work done in-house, is a complex and highly skilled task.
Today they employ nearly 100 people and have their own showroom, webshop and a unique range of solid wood design furniture. In cooperation with national and foreign designers, the range of products, which is well marketable in Europe, is constantly expanding and becoming more colourful.
During our visit, Miklós Dévai, the partner responsible for the smooth running of sales and production, took on the role of host and guide.
Fortunately, in Somogy it is perhaps easier to obtain good quality raw material, oak timber, which we use in large quantities, than in other parts of the country. Despite this, we manage the selection of raw material, sorting, lumber processing and, perhaps most importantly, the coordination of drying ourselves.
We work with live material, so knowledge of wood, not to mention experience in processing and drying in this area, is of paramount importance.
Obviously, such a raw material provides a solid background and is very convincing for customers, but it is also a lot of extra work and a huge investment. Is it worth it?
This kind of holistic vision has been a feature of our business from the very beginning. Obviously my father, as the founder and CEO of the company, has a decisive say in this. It is true that maintaining a large stock of raw materials requires a strong and liquid business, but it is a prerequisite for continuous high quality production.
After the lumber has been dried, the base material is cut into friezes and the board materials are prepared. It is a combination of highly skilled manual work and state-of-the-art technology.
How important do you see this process?
Good quality materials are essential in the production of solid wood design furniture. The people who select, combine and qualify the materials have decades of experience and routine. In other words, excellent technology and high levels of mechanisation are in vain if they lack expertise. We are striving to achieve this balance in all areas of production.
Today, machining solid wood is unthinkable without CNC machines. In this field, and in the development of technology in general, what are the dominant selection criteria at Lamello?
We look for the best solution in the given area, or more precisely, the optimal solution for the given task. Most of our machining machines are BIESSE. Simply for our style and the quality we expect, the services and portfolio of Formance Ltd. are ideal. The cooperation between the two companies goes back more than two decades. It was important to us that there was a constructive partnership between us and the company that was helping to develop the technology.
Surface preparation, carcass assembly, CNC machining, I could list some of the areas where they offer us solutions to the tasks we face.
In terms of production development, we get help from them from the visioning stage and we always work together to find the optimum answers.
Coming back to solid wood machining, we bought our first CNC machine, a Biesse Rover machining centre, twenty years ago. Today we have five BIESSE Rovers to help us to produce fast and high quality, three of which are 5-axis machines.
I think this is a nationally outstanding potential and it perfectly shows the mentality that we were looking for and found in the Formance team.
I don’t want to be cliché, but nowadays no one wants to buy just a machine, but a reliable machine, help in case of problems, quick spare parts. What we have seen is that over the years Formance has invested a tremendous amount of energy in its showroom, in training its service staff and in its parts warehouse.
Machines are increasingly dependent on the software that runs them. Biesse’s software is easy to use, user-friendly and the support from Formance is very useful for us.
Co-operation with external designers, in-house design are both present in product development. The price/value ratio of our products is adapted to the European market. How mature do you see the domestic market for this quality?
We are present in many countries in Europe, but we know and feel that the domestic market is in many ways more difficult. We are firm believers in quality furniture manufacturing and we see a growing demand for solid wood design furniture. We also see that there is a narrow segment where our range can be relevant, but we cannot be successful without very well targeted marketing work.
Speaking of marketing. Perhaps the title was more aptly titled
“from log to showroom…
Yes, we are going our separate ways, a little bit differently from the market. We are trying to make sure that the understanding and the relationship with our clients is the way we want it to be. It’s important that we can show the real value of our furniture. Not just because we are proud of it, but because otherwise it won’t sell.
That’s why we’ve set up our showroom and our webshop.
Customers need to know what they’re getting for their money. Not everyone can be a wood engineer, we can’t assume they ‘get’ the underlying content. So it is our job to provide correct information. Generations of design and materials, all in high quality, that’s what we want to communicate with our furniture.
