Ryszard Rychlik, president of Profim, talks to Elżbieta Wrzecionkowska.

■ Profim was established 15 years ago. You are one of the Polish companies which emerged in the early 1990s in the wake of economic transformation. Why the decision to manufacture furniture?
Like many Polish entrepreneurs, initially we wanted to do something completely different from what we do now. Initially, we imported and sold furniture from Taiwan, including office furniture. Furniture made of polished brass imitating gold was most popular with buyers. One can still find it in many homes, not only in Poland but also in Germany. We presented this furniture for the first time at a fair in Poznań in 1992. We, the company’s owners, manned the stand ourselves—the company was small and we employed only a few people. Interest from buyers surpassed our expectations. The goods were sold immediately and we were behind with deliveries—all the furniture which was being shipped to us in containers had already been spoken for. We had customers and suppliers but lacked cash. At that moment we were greatly helped by a bank, which issued us a letter of credit. Our business was brisk but we were looking for new ideas. We took an interest in office chairs because such chairs were not present on the Polish market. Moreover, in 1993 the import tax on finished products soared to 30 percent. The tax on components amounted to 10-20 percent so we decided to import parts and assemble chairs here. I think that one of the decisive factors behind our decision was also our bent for engineering. We were not afraid to construct; this is what attracted and still attracts us. One of our sub-suppliers was the State Factory in Turek. The plant, however, had financial problems and couldn’t find buyers for its products. The province governor proposed that we acquire the factory. We thought it over and decided to take part in privatization with a benefit and guarantee a package for the employees. The plant’s most valuable asset were the skills of its work force. These people were able to do anything we showed them. The first chairs were made by a process of trial and error.

■ Did you base your success since the very beginning on high-quality chairs?
We quickly realized that without our own design and brand, we stood no chance of success on the market. Moreover, Nowy Styl was already present on the market in the segment of inexpensive office chairs. The only room for expansion was the higher-end segment. We based our success on good quality chairs at higher prices. Over the years we managed to produce a few lines of office chairs. They find buyers not only at home but also on foreign markets. This is particularly visible at the fair in Cologne. Currently, 55 percent of our total output is exported to Western European countries, including IKEA (30 percent of our total sales). We cooperate with Polish and foreign designers.

The agreement we signed with Sedus, a German producer of one of the best office chairs in Europe, is a good indication of the quality of the products we manufacture. Some time ago, when I visited a Sedus factory, I was impressed by the organization of their production process. This was the example we always wanted to follow. After Poland’s EU accession, we received a few proposals to cooperate from Western companies. Soon after a Sedus representative called us and after his first visit to our factory in Turek, we signed the agreement.

■ Few Western office furniture producers have their own laboratories. What prompted you to invest in R&D?
When we decided to base our success on quality we had to invest in our own laboratory. Quality is a priority in our development strategy. Today, I cannot imagine m without the laboratory. This offers us enormous development potential, not to mention quality control. Let me give you an example. In our lab, we not only test ready-made products and prototypes, but also components delivered by our subsuppliers. We are able to detect batches that do not meet specific parameters. The lab helps us maintain high product quality. All the chairs we manufacture are tested for compliance with the EN-1335 standard. The most important element of our quality management system, based on the DIN EN ISO 9001:2000 standard, is orientation towards the consumer—efforts to precisely identify the consumers’ requirements, meet their needs and evaluate satisfaction with the chairs they have bought and use.

■ How do you assess the current situation of Polish office chair manufacturers and their growth prospects?
I do not expect the Polish market to grow in the immediate and more distant future as fast as it did in the mid-1990s. Today one cannot count on such rapid growth, but the chair has become the most important piece of office furniture with increasing importance attached to its quality.

This is a result of the popularization of knowledge about the impact of ergonomic factors on labor productivity. Around one half of all working Poles have problems. Bad chairs cost us millions of zlotys in treatment costs and disability pensions. As a result, good chairs will be increasingly needed, perhaps not today but definitely tomorrow. Here I see a chance for Polish producers. In our sector, reputable Western companies did not manage to win a major position on our market, in contrast to the Hungarian market, for instance. We owe this first and foremost to effective cost cutting, thanks to which Polish office chairs can compete not only in quality but also in price. The Western competition can beat us only in the manufacture of the highest-end chairs, whose prices range from 1,000 to 2,000 euros. Good-quality Polish office chairs for staff members sell increasingly well in the West. This is indicated by the exports statistics of Polish office furniture producers.