umdasch The Store Makers invests in the expansion of the Czech production site
At the production site of umdasch The Store Makers in Litomyšl, Czech Republic, the ceremonial ground-breaking on 7 November 2023 marked the official start of construction for the expansion of the production area. With the investment, it is planned to triple the wood production on site by the beginning of 2025 in order to create additional capacity for current and future large-scale projects.
The Czech site in Litomyšl was originally founded as the shopfitting company Story Design and has been part of umdasch Store Makers, one of Europe's leading shopfitting companies, since 2015. Through the acquisition around eight years ago, the production site with wood, metal and plastic production has established itself as a strong partner for international customers with standardised and multipliable store concepts. umdasch The Store Makers was also able to strengthen its own production in Central Europe with the acquisition, which is now being pushed further through the expansion of the production area.
In total, the existing production area in Litomyšl will be expanded by around 5,000 square metres by the end of 2024. The new buildings will triple wood production at the site. Commissioning is already planned for the beginning of 2025. By increasing the level of automation in production, the investment will take an important step towards digitalisation, a key issue for the entire company. "The newly created space will increase production capacities in particular by increasing the automation of the various systems. For this purpose, new, modern machines are being purchased, such as a robot-assisted saw and a fully automated edge processing cell," Tomáš Nadrchal, General Manager at the Litomyšl site, describes the investment. For him, the investment represents a significant measure in the company's development: "This step creates great potential for further growth."
In addition to the production units, the expansion will also create space for a shipping warehouse. New social rooms for the workers will also be created on another 600 square metres, which will be added with an additional floor. Existing production will not be affected by the construction work on the additional building unit, which will take about a year, as the old and new areas will not be merged until the planned completion date in early 2025.
Sustainable investment on the way to Net Zero
As part of the company's sustainability strategy, several measures are also being implemented in order to meet the goal of the entire Umdasch Group of achieving Net Zero in greenhouse gases by 2040. For example, the first step in the expansion of the production halls in Litomyšl is to equip the entire new building with a photovoltaic system. The variety of plants at the site will also be significantly expanded. In addition to trees and shrubs, the company grounds will be landscaped with around 10,000 plants and will become an important habitat for bees and other insects. The new buildings will also be equipped with vertical green spaces as well as climbing plants, which are intended to have an additional cooling effect. In order to keep the soil sealing as low as possible, it is also planned to equip the additional parking spaces for employees with lawns and trees.
More flexibility in project handling
Due to the larger in-house production, the expansion of the location also increases flexibility towards customers in particular. Ladislav Lána, General Manager for Sales at the Litomyšl location, is pleased, because "for large Europe-wide projects, where we sometimes refit more than a thousand stores in stages, we will be able to significantly optimise our delivery times in the future and thus also offer our customers a decisive advantage." With 230 employees, the Czech site is the second largest of umdasch The Store Makers. The expansion is expected to create around 50 new jobs.
The ceremonial ground-breaking took place in the presence of representatives of the owner family and the board of Umdasch Group AG as well as the management of umdasch The Store Makers. Silvio Kirchmair, CEO of umdasch The Store Makers, sees the expansion of the site as an important step: "The increase in our production capacities in the heart of Europe enables us to produce close to the customer. In this way we keep our lead times very short and can act highly flexibly. We are convinced that the investment will also enable us to offer our customers significant added value and we want to use it to further expand our position as one of the leading shopfitting suppliers on the European market."