"Our company is stable and we keep our core employees," says the head of Zálesí, a.s.

As of 1 June, the current situation in the largest industrial enterprise Zálesí, a.s. in Luhačovice was revealed to us by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of this company Ing. Jaromír Semela. The company, which he heads, has several differently focused plants in Luhačovice and the surrounding area and hundreds of employees. How do you assess the current situation in the company?

Author of the article: Nikola Synek | Last update: June 1, 2020

We pride ourselves on our stability, which is built on a broad diversification of our business areas and at the same time on a stable team of core employees. Zálesí now employs 520 people from the surrounding area and many of them have been with the company for a long time. The period ahead of us will not be easy, but we can build on these stable foundations and values.

Can you compare the situation in March, when the anti-epidemic measures started, with what you have to deal with in the company now?

Back then, the epidemic affected us "only" as a health threat and risk to our employees. We set up a number of preventive measures against the introduction and spread of the coronavirus. As a result of these measures, not a single person in the company was infected.

How did the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis manifest itself later?

We had not yet felt any impact on the company's finances in March. Only the operation of our Wellness Hotel Pohoda was closed as of March 16, 2020, based on a decree of the Government of the Czech Republic. The economic result of the first quarter of the entire Zálesí company was very promising and marked a successful start to the new financial year. With the passing of the next two months, the situation has of course shifted.

How do you perceive the impact now in early June?

We are feeling the negative effects of the shutdown of all the world's automakers by reducing or shifting orders. In April and May, most of these companies did not produce and we, as major automotive suppliers, were forced to reduce production as well. As a result, we reduced the number of agency workers to a minimum, but we did not lay off any core employees. In recent weeks, the world's automotive companies have been opening their plants and the car production merry-go-round is slowly starting to turn. This is good news for the employees of the Kovo and Plastics plants, who were most affected by the shutdown.

The production of laminated tubes at the Packaging plant has not been affected by the past months?

Here, on the contrary, production is developing very dynamically. Tubes from Luhačovice are the European top and Zálesí sends over 100 million of them to the world every year. This year will be no exception. We are preparing a significant investment in the development of this plant with product innovation.

Do you have other good news?

The Agro plant, the Commercial plant and our hotel have been operating as standard without economic impact since 25 May 2020. The first impatient guests are already enjoying the comfort in the beautiful surroundings of the Wellness Hotel Pohoda, and orders for the stay of more guests are coming in.

In Luhačovice you also have a division focused on high-end development and production of robotic applications for various areas. It is also doing well?

The Robotics plant is now in its third year of operation and already has tens of millions of orders, and I think it has a great future. We have even received significant financial support from European sources to support the research and development of industrial intelligence devices. The success of our youngest industrial Robotics plant contributes to the renowned name of Zálesí. Our achievements can be seen on our website

https://robotics.zalesi.cz/

Just as life in the Czech Republic is gradually returning to normal, so too is Zálesí starting to get back on track. How do you see the future of your business?

There has been a shutdown of companies that is unprecedented in modern history and it will take some time to return to the economic levels of previous years. But I believe that we will overcome the economic crisis and return to our original position as an even stronger company.

PHOTO: Plastics plant of Zálesí (image: archive)