The past year of STAL-West Zrt. was once again affected by the Covid epidemic, which also have affected all areas of life. Despite the difficulties, the company was able to post good results. The company has retained the world-leading companies - HAKI, Putzmeister - with which it has long-standing relationships, and has also succeeded in expanding the number of foreign customers. However, the shortage of skilled labour remains a serious problem, with virtually no people available for either aluminium welding or locksmithing. Annual review interview with Zoltán Hugyecz, CEO of STAL-West Zrt.

Before the concrete evaluation, we would like to know more about the name change in January 2021 and its background.

At the end of 2020, our Dutch partner no longer wanted to own a share in the company, so I bought out his share. The name change was necessary partly because of this and partly because we wanted to get out of the shadow of our Dutch partner, and we have been working for several other companies for years, so we thought we would choose a name that fits our work. Hence STAL-West, which stands for Steel and Aluminium Welded Structures.

What year did STAL-West Zrt close in 2021?

The year 2021 was a successful one, as the company continued to increase its turnover and consequently its profitability. Despite the high inflation, employees kept their real wages and we were even able to give them extra benefits. We have delivered on our planned investments and further improved efficiency. We have started to work with new customers and have developed our own product which we will launch in 2022. The only thing missing is the certification of this product, which is currently in progress.

As the CEO of the company, how do you assess the current situation of the metal industry in our country and, in the world?

I do not think that I am lying when I say that we have had a very difficult year. Unfortunately, in addition to the fact that raw material prices in the industry have gone up, both the regular monthly costs and the parts that have to be purchased have followed the trend, and drastic measures had to be taken. Fortunately, most of our customers have understood the current situation and have agreed to price increases. Of course, without the hard work of the company's staff and without our customers and buyers, we would not have been able to get through the year smoothly.

The metal industry is one of the 'driving forces' of the Hungarian economy, but there is a growing shortage of labour, especially of highly qualified, practice-oriented professionals. Does STAL-West Zrt. face such problems and, if so, what are you doing to combat them?

Ofcourse we are also struggling with the lack of skilled workers. We try to recruit through advertisements, with varying degrees of success. For the time being, we are using external staff to fill the gap, but we hope to be able to fill our ranks with our own employees soon, and as the forecasts for 2022 are higher than last year, we are planning further staff increases in all areas, as we will not be able to meet the increased demand with single-shift production. We are also trying to address the shortage of skilled labour through robotisation. We currently have three robotic welder and we plan to outsource powder spraying (painting) to robots as well.

What are you most proud of when you look back on last year?

We seem to have gained a new partner, and we have again improved our company with a new robot welding machine. I'm also proud of the entire physical and staff of the company for their perseverance and outstanding work during a tough year.

How do you see the year 2022 ahead for the company's economic role?

As I mentioned before, the company is facing serious challenges from our customers and new customers. We are also challenged by increases in raw materials, energy and annual inflation, as it is not always possible to absorb these cost increases in the international markets to which the company sells more than 90% of its turnover. So we have to keep working to produce more efficiently. There is also work to be done in the area of quality. It is precisely for these reasons that we have chosen the path of robotisation. Of course, it is also increasingly important for our employees to understand that quality and efficiency are not just an expectation of management, but also have an impact on the pay of our employees. We got to the point where we are all in the same boat in 2021, now we have to get to the point where we are all rowing in the same direction in 2022.

After the economic issues, let's talk a little about sport. For years, the company has been supporting a young tennis talent, Melinda Bíró. How do you see that the support is/was "in the right place"?

I definitely feel that the support is going to the right place, Melinda is doing an excellent job. Melinda is a tremendously talented athlete with huge potential. We want to give her the chance that so many other talented athletes get. We are sure that we can help, even if not significantly, to give Hungary a tennis star again who will be able to play on the centre court at Wimbledon one day, and then we can be there in the stands to cheer her on.