Avant Tecno is expanding its manufacturing premises in Finland
Avant Tecno Oy has purchased the former industrial premises of Pilkington NSG, a 44,000 square-metre property located on the neighbouring plot. The property sale is significant in scale for Avant, and even for the entire region. Avant’s factory hall space will more than double after the transaction.
“We were in a situation where we would have had to expand our premises in any case. For some of our operations, the facilities were just becoming too small. The property sale enables us to move our operations into new facilities quickly, providing us much-needed space for our production”, says Jani Käkelä, Sales Director for Avant.
Avant will not take the entire property into use immediately, but a part of the production and shipping operations will be transferred there quickly. The glass manufacturer Pilkington NSG will remain a tenant in the property, and will clearly be the largest individual tenant. For Avant Tecno Oy and its subsidiary Leguan Lifts Oy, which manufactures access platforms, the property sale enables the expansion of production in Ylöjärvi for a long time to come.
“With such a large facility, we now have too much space for our own operations, so at first we will be leasing a large part of the property out to external operators. However, the property sale will ensure our growth potential for the foreseeable future”, Käkelä says.
Avant Tecno is seeking growth in the United States – wide markets stabilise Avant’s operations
Avant’s sales have grown continuously in recent years despite the extremely challenging economic situation in Europe and Russia. Turnover for the financial period that ended in September 2014 amounted to a total of 82 million euros, which is the largest turnover in the company’s history. At group level, turnover exceeded the level of 100 million euros for the first time. At the moment, Avant loaders are sold in more than 50 countries around the world. One of the reasons behind the success is the extent and versatile nature of the marketing area.
“We believe in a minimum annual growth of five per cent. The goal is to maintain our growth at approximately the same level in Europe. We will seek growth in the United States, where we established Avant Tecno USA approximately two and a half years ago”, Käkelä comments.