Competition for employees forces investment in new generation industrial premises | Business

Ignas Vosylius Axiom Metering the CEO is pleased that the construction of the second factory, which is expected to employ about 300 workers in higher value-added functions, has been completed as planned. According to him, employees are highly motivated by the fact that they are not just executors, they can create – in a company with Lithuanian capital, engineers from Lithuania design production lines themselves and create the final product.

Meanwhile Sirin Development manager Laurynas Kuzavas notices that more and more employers are trying to ensure the best possible working conditions for their employees and therefore decide to invest in modern production, logistics and storage facilities, where both work and rest spaces are thought out – from daylighting to modern shower rooms.

Aistė Čičirkienė UAB Freda II the general director states that the lack of employees is being solved in accordance with the company’s philosophy of paying the highest wages in the sector.

Convenient communication is important

However, A. Čičirkienė admits that today there are situations when even solid salaries do not necessarily mean that the company will not feel the lack of employees: “Sometimes the decisive factor why people refuse even very attractive offers is the distance to the workplace or inconvenient transportation.”

Agreeing with the director of “Freda II”, the head of the Kaunas SEZ V. Petružis points out that while the business grows by generating a significant tax contribution to the budgets, its needs for the quality of the business environment inevitably grow as well: “We share this challenge with the municipalities of the region. The supply of labor in the Kaunas region is really high-quality and it seems that this resource will be enough to provide both growing companies and new investors for a long time to come. It is also natural that the flow of incoming workers from other municipalities increases at the same time, so the issue of job availability becomes more and more important.”

According to him, this trend will eventually require finding and making decisions for integral and direct communication with the Kaunas SEZ, in order to meet the needs of both existing and potential investors.

Sirin Development manager L. Kuzavas also mentions the importance of a comfortable environment “An important reason why SEZs are becoming more and more attractive to both real estate developers and businesses is infrastructure. The roads are fixed, there is more flexibility in choosing premises for rent, there is a perspective for development”, the interviewer mentions.

Ensuring the well-being of employees not only in offices but also in warehouses

“We observe the situation that it is difficult to attract employees not only to offices, but also to warehouses. Therefore, employers are fighting for employees, their well-being is becoming more and more relevant not only in offices, but also in production facilities. Taking into account these actualities, we are already presenting a new product to the market today – a warehouse of the future, which helps the business to optimize not only operating costs, but also to attract employees”, says L. Kuzavas.

He says that in order to ensure the well-being of employees, new warehouses are built in such a way that the working conditions are significantly better: there are rest areas, green areas, modern shower rooms, more daylight in the workplaces.

“I sometimes joke that although most managers choose new cars, none of them drive firefly, but if you look at the production facilities or warehouses of some companies, you can see images reminiscent of the Soviet era. I think it’s high time to take a big step in this area as well and renew,” L. Kuzavas says about the importance of an attractive environment for employees.

The manager of Sirin Development says that he notices a trend that more and more businesses make decisions to move from older buildings to new, more energy efficient and sustainable ones not only in order to attract and motivate employees, but also to reduce operating costs. L. Kuzavas notices that although the rent of a new warehouse is usually more expensive, but since less space is used, lower operating costs and utility taxes, such savings often outweigh the increase in price.

LEZ business support: the most important thing is not to stop processes

V. Petružis, the general director of the Kaunas SEZ, says that he is guided by the principle that the SEZ is only as successful as the businesses operating here. “This is what dictates the zone’s development strategy – we cannot lag behind the growth rates of investors. One of our priorities is to ensure opportunities for companies to physically expand in the vicinity.

Therefore, we are actively working on the issue of preparing plots of various sizes for investment. Therefore, our success so far has probably been determined by the fact that we can provide conditions for the growth of the Kaunas SEZ. In order to continue to provide such conditions for business development, we must think about the development of the SEZ territory. This is one of the priorities of our activities these days,” he says.

Speaking about the creation of new jobs and the development of the company, I. Vosylius is happy that Axioma Metering has become a global player and is proud that all processes – from design to production – take place here in Lithuania: “We sell smart water meters in more than 60 countries. We evaluate the market globally, we observe where digitization is coming to the water market. We participate in projects and I am happy that we win most of them.”

“We have already forgotten the lost Chinese market, now Western Europe, the Middle East, India, North America, Australia are on our map. A few weeks ago, we opened the second factory in the territory of the SEZ, which expanded the total area from 7.2 to 17 thousand square meters. sq. meters. When it starts operating at full capacity, it will be twice as efficient as the current one.

If until now we were able to produce 2 million smart water meters per year, then in the second year we will be able to produce 4 million, so a total of 6 million per year”, says I. Vosylius and promises that such changes will create about 300 more jobs.

V.Petružis states that the almost completely filled territory of Kaunas SEZ 1 is an assessment for the management company and notes that currently about 20 ha of land is subleased per year, and customers located in the SEZ territory are growing within the limits of available plots:

“For example, “Continental Lithuania” is constantly conducting physical expansion, other companies are growing by investing in more and more advanced technological solutions, such as “Pienas LT”. Other investors, having implemented planned projects on existing plots, are expanding by renting new areas. The best examples of this are Sirin Development and Freda II. These two companies are among the largest in Kaunas SEZ in terms of occupied area.”

On the other hand, according to V.Petruži, it is the end of one stage. “At the moment, all resources are directed to the integration of territories, the development of the territory of LEZ 2”, – the manager mentions about further development.