Finland-based Stalatube Oy (www.stalatube.com) has officially opened a production facility in Poland to improve its competitiveness and significantly reduce delivery times in Central Europe.

The new facility will focus on more labour-intensive processed tube and profile products destined for global markets.

Stalatube is seeking to strengthen its position in the stainless-steel tube and profile products markets; its largest export market in Europe is Germany, within 300km of the new plant in Lodz.

The company has leased a new 9,000m² production facility for its operations, investing around 7 million euros in new equipment.

The new high-tech plant is largely automated at all stages of the production process and meets stringent environmental criteria, plus safety and energy efficiency requirements.

The facility has two product lines — one for tube components and the other for welded tubes and profiles.

After further investments to be made this year, the plant will also start producing ready-made welded structural solutions.

The tube component production line uses structural steel tubes manufactured at Stalatube’s Lahti plant in Finland, processing them into end products for various customers, particularly in the bus-manufacturing sector.

Component production consists of various types of processing steps, such as laser cutting and marking, tube bending, welding, kitting and logistics — including delivery to the customer’s own production line.

Poland is one of the largest bus-manufacturing centres in Europe.

Stalatube Oy CEO Jukka Nummi said: “Further processing in Poland supports the Lahti plant, as only about 10% of our invoicing will remain in Finland.

"More than half of our sales go to the European market, and the processed products from Poland can be delivered to customers in a matter of hours, while shipping from Finland to Central Europe would take three or four days.

"In addition, Poland has become Europe’s fifth largest stainless-steel market.”

Pauli Rumbin, Stalatube Poland’s managing director, said: “Our goal is to provide an ever-improving, tailored and faster service.

"We also produce customised welded tubes and profiles for both wholesalers and end users, with extremely fast delivery times.

"Our investments in this product category cover the entire production chain, from material pre-treatment to surface treatment of the finished product.

"Tube and profile products can also be further processed according to customer needs.”