Page 18 - Parquet International luglio 2014

MARKET
FROM EAST
Exotic parquet with a green heart
A producer of wood floors since 1991, and an exporter to every continent.
Other distinctive features? Giver of
a manual finishing to an industrial structure FIAMMETTA REGIS
The name is Forestry Timber Export. FTE produces and exports wood floor- ing around the world. What makes it so special? It was founded in Malaysia in 1991 by a family with a long woodworking tradition and locates its production in In- donesia. Representing the founding family's new generation today, Managing Director Gurjeet Singh was happy to illustrate the in- novations in the new collection to the inter- national sale force at the Riese Parkett head- quarters in Cologne, Germany. Now at the company's helm after completing his uni- versity studies in Australia and previously working in the company's Sales Office for 6 years until 1999 and then in its Market- ing Office for another 11, we interviewed Gurjeet Singh. Here's what he had to say.
Tell us something about your propensity for internationalization?
Gurjeet Singh: For us, this has been a natur- al evolution, the only way to grow and obtain the resources we need to re-invest in ourselves, the positive spiral of evolution. We like to say that we work with every continent, and are perhaps the only company that sells from Is- land to New Zealand.
What are the biggest differences between the Asian and the European markets? Gurjeet Singh:Parquet today is a fundamental part of the internal décor sector and its style tran- scends national borders. Trends migrate from one country and continent to another. For this rea- son, only a few technical details that have very little influence on the product's look may change. Undoubtedly what will change is the marketing, which must prove capable of adapting to the dif- ferences that exist in the various markets.
What are your company' figures?
Gurjeet Singh: Our company gives work to around 1900 employees. Our current produc- tion is approximately 4.5 million square me- ters, but an investment plan already underway envisions an output of 6 million. Our 2013 turnover amply exceeds 150 million US dollars and we expect it to rise by 30% in 2014.
What are your company's brands and what are their characteristics?
Gurjeet Singh: At present FTE manages four commercial brands: Timber Top, Woodline Par- quetry, Elyseum, and Floorart. The products are the same but the need to differentiate the brands is the way we achieve a widespread distribu- tion while reducing commercial conflicts to a minimum.
What are your company's objectives, aspi- rations, and projects?
Gurjeet Singh: Our objectives are primarily four in number: continue dedicating constant attention to the quality of our products, antic- ipating market trends, maintaining, and wher- ever possible, increasing our international di- mension, and - last but not least - achieving higher productive efficiency through focused investments. One big step forward was the de- cision we made in 2012 to provide manual fin- ishing to an industrial product. Contrary to what most people think, it's not simply a ques- tion of having more manpower available - la- bor is certainly necessary, but hand finishing is, above all, the product of a long and difficult project that includes an accurate and not easy analysis of the products that must be used to obtain the results desired in addition to new productive/organizational processes, and per- sonnel training. The finishing cycle, the prod-