Componenta, one of the forerunners in the Finnish and European foundry business, will be 95 years old on 8 November 2013. From its origins as a small workshop in Helsinki, it has grown into an international group. Today Componenta is the second largest supplier of cast components and casting solutions in Europe, with 4,500 employees, production in four countries and customer service centres in ten countries.
Foreman Matti Lehtonen set up a business and established his workshop in 1918, and right at the start he named three factors that were essential for him to be successful and win the trust of his clients: high quality, competitive prices and fast deliveries. These same factors form the basis for the operations and competitive standing of Componenta today.
Over the decades, Componenta, originally the family-owned business, nowadays a listed company with more than 2,000 shareholders, has gone through good times and bad times, through wars and stock market crashes, global turmoil and market upheaval, and these have all had an impact on the company’s operations. Componenta’s biggest shareholder, President and CEO Heikki Lehtonen, tells that the Lehtonen family in four generations and the company have seen and faced many challenging times in an ever changing environment. “This has demanded flexibility, quick decisions and the ability to adjust to new situations on many occasions, right up until the present day.”
Componenta as it is today was formed in the first decade of the 2000s, when the Santasalo business was sold to Metso and Componenta focused on supplying cast components and solutions made from these. Through acquisitions the Netherlands and Turkey joined Finland and Sweden as countries where the company has production. Today roughly half of Componenta Group’s business and personnel are in Turkey, where the Group has an iron foundry and machine shop in Bursa and an aluminium foundry and production plant for aluminium wheels in Manisa.
Componenta has a global market. Its clients are well-known manufacturers of vehicles, machines and equipment, market leaders in their sectors. One of the key factors in Componenta’s operations and in its success has been that it has continuously introduced new ways of working. Componenta has developed its own knowhow and the tools it uses, and has been involved in creating the standards for the sector and in the reorganization of the entire casting business. The new generation vehicles and machines of the future require new materials and product designs, and Componenta’s committed professionals are cooperating with the clients to design these. Componenta is Casting Future Solutions.
“ Componenta – A Company with Nine Lives ”, written by Harri and Selim Saukkomaa, gives a brief account of Componenta’s operations over the period 1918 - 2008. The company is only celebrating the anniversary in-house, “in the family”.
Componenta is a metal sector company with international operations and production plants in Finland, Turkey, the Netherlands and Sweden. Componenta had net sales of EUR 545 million in 2012. Componenta Corporation’s shares are listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki and the shares of its subsidiary Componenta Dokümcülük AS are listed on the Istanbul stock exchange. The Group employs approx. 4,500 people. Componenta specializes in supplying cast and machined components and total solutions made from these to its global customers, who are manufacturers of vehicles, machines and equipment.
Helsinki, 6 November 2013
COMPONENTA CORPORATION
Heikki Lehtonen President and CEO
FURTHER INFORMATION: Heikki Lehtonen, President and CEO tel. +358 (0)10 403 2200
