The end of the year brought MELACO a great success – an award in the Forest Stewardship Council® competition. What does it mean for the company?

It is very important because we are talking all the time about the sustainable economy in practically all areas of life. If we are part of this aspect of forest protection, forest management, and the protection of our resources, that is, what we leave for the future of our children and future generations, it is very important. And at MELACO we have been doing this for 8 years.

Also read: MELACO with the FSC award Furniture Awards

However, for me personally, it is interesting that after receiving this award and publishing information about it in the media, many of our business partners not only expressed their congratulations for the award but for the fact that we are working in this way thinking globally. This is a great satisfaction.

Has anything changed in the company since receiving the FSC® award? In production plans or in contracts concluded with partners?

Our production in terms of the raw materials used has not changed, because now all the raw material we work on is FSC® certified. What has changed and is of great importance is the greater proportion of customers who now receive certified products.

The customer has the option to choose whether the product we deliver is to be produced from certified raw material or not. For some customers, this was not relevant before. However, we noticed, after the publication of the information about the award, that the cooperating companies started looking at it differently. I think it was a bit mobilizing because since it was the first international edition and other companies can take part in the competition next year, it becomes important for them that they work with certified materials and that they sell certified products.

Is it a change in consciousness? Does price cease to matter in the face of environmentally friendly solutions?

I think that the issue here is not about the price in general, but more about the fact that now the end customer has started to pay more attention to what they are buying. I also talked about that when we received the award. There has been a certain generation change and what was of little importance to the current group of clients is important for young people. Young consumers look for products on the Internet, the e-commerce market is developing, there is enormous competition, and in order to stand out, and draw the customer’s attention to your products, you need to attract attention with such nuances. Current end customers are more willing to choose an ecological product and this group is, in my opinion, the most aware. It shapes the market.

Also read: FSC® certification – what is it and what does it mean?

The price is not so important, because at the moment the cost of raw materials with and without a certificate is similar. A few years ago, when we started to import certified boards to our plant, this difference in price was noticeable. Today it’s no longer the case.

Are there any new projects due to the award and wider information that MELACO operates on certified raw materials? Has the profile of the partners you work with changed?

We still operate largely with bigger companies that have a stable position on the market and have existed for years. However, there were companies that became interested in our technologies. Especially those related to the tool-free assembly, i..e the Flick&Click™ system based on the Threespine® tool-free assembly technology and the CORNER90 connection, derived from this technology. Therefore, we received inquiries regarding product prototyping and in the fourth quarter of last year, we dealt with the implementation of these prototypes. This year, the arrangements have been finalized and we are currently executing subsequent production tranches.

Find out more: Flick&Click™

These are companies from the German, Dutch and British markets and these are very interesting products based on laminated boards, but also more unusual. For example, for one of the clients, we started to prepare products on a thin 12-mm plate in the CORNER90 technology. It was an interesting challenge for us.

Tool-less assembly is the main reason why customers choose Flick&Click™, are there any other important aspects?

There are several reasons. On the one hand, new technology increases the value of the product, and its prestige, because it is a novelty on the market. On the other hand, the convenience of the end customer, who receives the product in packages and thanks to the Flick&™ system, can assemble it quickly and intuitively.

Another aspect is innovation, which allows you to stand out in a market where there is a crowd of goods and the price is no longer a distinguishing feature. There used to be a noticeable tendency that the lower the price, the greater the chance of getting more customers. Today, customers are convinced by the aforementioned ecology, the material from which the product is made, and its functionality. In this case, both the use of FSC®-certified raw materials and the Flick&Click™ system, which helps to reduce the size of the shipment and the carbon footprint, are solutions that can meet these expectations.

Thank you for the interview.