2024-01-27 08:56:06
Feniks Cleaning & Safety is a company from Seville dedicated to the manufacture of fire-fighting and emergency vehicles, as well as vehicles for urban cleaning and the maintenance of solar thermal plants. The company plans to continue growing and innovating with new products that consolidate its image abroad as well.
Juan José Castro is a founding partner of Feniks, a finalist company in the CEPYME 2023 Awards in the SME of the Year category.
¿How did you decide to submit to the CEPYME Awards?
We know them from other editions and due to the great growth we have experienced we thought it would be interesting to present our candidacy.
What conditions does your company meet to attend them?
The significant growth experienced and the consolidation of clients in the different sectors served makes us a good candidate for the awards.
Do you think that the CEPYME 2023 award could improve the image of your company in the eyes of clients, suppliers and future investors?
We believe that with the appropriate impact it can be relevant to our company by communicating our achievements to all external agents with whom we have a relationship.
Growth
How has your company faced the increase in costs and the consequences of the pandemic?
As this new scenario has coincided with significant growth in production, we have managed to at least avoid increases with volume negotiations and rebates and, in some cases, even cost reductions in relevant equipment for some projects. In a period of so much uncertainty, at Feniks we have found advantages that have favored us in the financial and production areas:
At a time of significant growth and therefore new resource needs, we had access to financing formulas created specifically to help during the pandemic period.
The increases in deadlines in chassis manufacturing have allowed us very long-term planning, going from the average of 6 months, in the pre-pandemic period, to 12 months later. With the significant increase in projects in a short period of time, it allowed us a more adequate fit of both financial and human resources.
What measures have they adopted to face this new crisis caused by inflation and the lack of some supplies?
Regarding inflation, our Purchasing department has carried out a search for similar products in those affected by price increases to minimize the impact of these cost increases on contribution margins.
We have solved the lack or delay in some supplies naturally since our project deadlines have lengthened over time. In the case of private clients who have to provide the chassis, this period increased significantly. On the Public Administration side, in tenders where the deadline was not realistic with the situation, they allowed extensions in deliveries.
Have they recovered their pre-pandemic activity and results?
Our trend has been upward, we have not suffered any cuts as a result of the pandemic.
Objectives and main challenges of your company for the coming years
Continue growing and consolidating our position with our customers in all our products, always accompanied by the development of new solutions as an objective pursued since the creation of the company.
Innovation, development and sustainability
What are the strengths of your company to become the SME of the year?
The constant commitment to the development of new products in the search for efficiency and prevention using new designs and materials and managing to reduce the carbon footprint; the important deliveries of large urban cleaning and firefighting projects in the main cities of Spain; the innovative cleaning and maintenance vehicles for solar thermal plants delivered all over the world and the strong growth in billing, personnel and facilities.
What areas do you consider key to improving the competitiveness of your company in the coming years?
Construction of new facilities, adapting them to current and future size and providing them with different testing and analysis areas. Also the improvement of production efficiency after having consolidated the current capacity and established the work teams.
How has your company approached digital transformation?
We have tried to adapt to the new environment in two fundamental ways:
From marketing, using all the tools at our disposal for correct communication to third parties of products, corporate image and achievements and from the global organization, starting the implementation of what we believe is the most powerful ERP on the market and with the most possibilities for the future, Microsoft Dynamics 365, with the aim of integrating production, design and sales tools.
How has your company approached the internationalization process?
Feniks was born through international projects in South Africa, Algeria and Morocco. We subsequently promoted growth in the national market. Currently we continue to be hand in hand with large companies in the energy sector in the different projects that are currently being developed around the world. In the future we plan a deeper incursion into the international firefighting sector starting with the South American market.
What role does innovation play in your company?
It is a fundamental leg for the consolidation of our products. Our main advantage is that our clients see us as an innovative company and ask us for support in new development and innovation projects. This allows us to make constant innovation without uncertainty since all approaches are immediately put into practice by our clients.
How has employment evolved in your company in recent years?
Growing to face the significant increase in production. The growth has been very important in our personnel directly linked to production, we have grown to a lesser extent in positions more related to the structure of the company. We started 2022 with 47 people and by mid-2023 120 people were already part of Feniks.
How do you address the challenge of sustainability in your company?
Because we serve two sectors that contribute to this global sustainability objective: renewable energy and the environment, our products always include a sustainability objective in their design. The key aspects in which we contribute are to maximize machinery performance using the least possible fuel; minimize water consumption by maximizing cleaning results; use of new materials that reduce the harmful impact on the environment; new developments with the use of electrical energy and the implementation of CNG and LPG equipment replacing more polluting fuels.
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