Welcome to the SKS newsletter!

21 April 2009: We at SKS hope you will like our short notices giving you information and news about us. We would like to receive your comments and tips about this newsletter, or anything else you would like to raise. We can all look back on a fantastic year in 2008, with settled conditions in our factories and a lot of belief in the future. For SKS in its first year since the move, it was a very positive year, with sales up by more than 50 per cent.

I would like to thank our customers for the good work we did together in 2008 and for your efforts and patience during the move. Now, SKS stands well equipped with modern plants in Sweden and Estonia, adjusted overheads and a fine new development unit. Let us now seize the opportunity to work together with old and new products alike so that we can stand well equipped when the market turns!

Urban Olsson SKS.

Svenskt Konstsilke (SKS) shows growth in China and offshore

There is some positive news, you see! This is despite the fact that we are in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression in the 1930s. “This year, we have had a good growth in sales, particularly in China and the offshore sector,” says SKS’ Sales Manager Hans-Eric Gustafsson. “We have current orders from our Chinese customers, who are now also beginning to indicate that the demand from the Chinese vehicle industry may be about to increase even more. I see this as a good indicator of the state of the market. If more cars are built in China, SKS sells more yarn.”

The new SKS looks to the future

From having been a traditional supplier of cord fabric to the rubber industry, SKS today is one of the most skilled manufacturers on the market of top-quality cord yarn, an input goods item used for demanding technical applications such as advanced high-performance tyres and industrial hoses, for example. On 1 February 2007, Urban Olsson and his wife bought out the company from Borås Wäfveri along with Kjell Berggren – an investment which today has been a success.

The restructuring of the business took place in two stages. The first was when the wage-intensive twisting of the yarn was transferred to the factory in Estonia. The second was the move from Viskastandsgatan to state of the art premises on Getängsvägen in the town of Borås, Sweden. From a logistical point of view, SKS’ plant at Borås is extremely efficient. Its unique layout that create conditions for a more effective flow.
– This generates a high level of productivity, says Nijaz Smajovic at SKS dipping facilities, (picture).

The goods arrive from Estonia, are loaded into the machines, produced and delivered. The openness of the premises makes them perfectly adapted for cost-efficient production, with no unnecessary stores, transportation or staffing. This generates a high level of productivity.

Welcome to SKS at the TechTextil fair Techtextil 2009

SKS is investing in this year’s edition of Techtextil in Frankfurt from 16–18 June. “The trade fair is a ‘must’ if we wish to show ourselves and our products off to potential customers from all over the world. This time, we will be demonstrating some novelties and also showing off our latest products,” says Managing Director, Urban Olsson.

The interest in Techtextil 2009 this year has been enormous. Back in October last year, 70 per cent of the exhibition space had already been booked up by companies from all over the world – including Sweden. The organisers are counting on a record number of exhibitors and at least 25,000 visitors. Hall: 4.1 Monter:F53

Read more about the trade fair>>

Sweden is amazing – a whole town in Lapland is being moved!

Under the town of Kiruna in Swedish Lapland, a fortune lies waiting: ore worth billions. In order to reach this new “goldmine”, the municipal executive board decided on 8 January this year to move all buildings to the southern slope of Luossavaara mountain. The move, which will be complete in 30 years, has already started. New pipes and cabling for water, district heating, electricity, telephones and computers are already being diverted. Everything has to go. The move of the church and municipal hall will be the most spectacular.
Read more about Kiruna>>