Although the last year was challenging, Inmold managed to accomplish significant growth that followed after the largest investments in the company’s history.
Inmold Plast is a family business that produces high-quality tools for injection moulding of plastic and non-ferrous metals. Inmold Plast is a member of the most prestigious toolmaking associations and the recipient of the Iskorak Award for achieved success and conducting business responsibly in the challenging year 2020. We talked to Slobodan Janković, Business Development at Inmold Plast d.o.o. Požega about the challenges and the importance of introducing standards in the business.
What is your experience with implementing business standards and what certificates do you have?
Year after year, standards are becoming increasingly important in business. They have become a kind of entry ticket into the supply chain of foreign companies. From the very beginning, Inmold organized its business in such a way as to be as attractive as possible for cooperation with foreign companies. In addition to the ISO9001 and ISO14001 certificates, our company has had the IATF16949 standard since 2019, which is intended primarily for automotive companies. Although you have to have quality products and services to keep customers, companies also need to cooperate with other companies and to do that, they need certificates.
Inmold became a member of the German Toolmakers Association (VDWF) and is the only member outside the German-speaking area. Tell us a bit more about the importance of this prestigious membership.
VDWF is the umbrella organization of the toolmaking sector in Europe. The opportunity to exchange experiences with our counterparts from Germany and other countries has undeniable value. For the first time, I met an association that functions in such an organized and efficient manner. It is a great honour and privilege to get acquainted with the work of such an association from inside and to be its member.
In addition to being committed to innovation in the production of top-notch tools, the company is also focused on its youth scholarship programme. How do you implement it?
Companies need to invest in people, equipment and infrastructure all the time if they want to grow. If any of these elements are left out, the company will encounter problems at some point. This year we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of our high school education programme. We started this programme with the goal of overcoming the problem of a lack of a skilled workforce. Even then, we were aware that if we did not do something, that the further development of the company will come into question, due to the lack of qualified people. Today, this is a well-organized unit of our company, which takes care of 40 high school students every day, along with several other students at the faculties of mechanical engineering in Belgrade and Kraljevo. The programme is devised in Inmold and modelled on similar programmes in Austria and Germany. This past school year we had a record-breaking number of students with scholarships – 40.
“Companies need to invest in people, equipment and infrastructure all the time if they want to grow”
In the final year, we had 18 students and they all started working right after high school. For the first time, students of the Technical School in Priboj entered our programme. Also, this was the first time that we employed six programme graduates in Inmold.
In 2020, you won the Iskorak Awards given by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia. How much of an incentive was this award for you?
Although the last year was challenging for the global economy, Inmold managed to overcome challenges and record substantial growth compared to 2019. The growth was accompanied by the largest investments in the history of Inmold. We have invested in purchasing new premises and new machinery and hiring new people. The award is an additional incentive for us to accomplish even better results in 2021. It is important to note that our company has over 70 engineers and that the average age of Inmold workers is only 31 which tells us that our company has great potential and a bright future ahead.