Elcoteq wins Estonian Excellence Award

Elcoteq was awarded for the best quality management performance among the nine Estonian companies that took part in the contest. This is the second time Elcoteq participated in the competition and won the award. The Estonian Excellence Award is the state's acknowledgement to an organization for achieving and maintaining high quality standards, for implementing modern management concepts in Estonia and for the achievement of excellent results in quality management. The auditors visited Elcoteq's Tallinn facilities during three days in October 2006 and interviewed employees from different functions in the plant in order to find out Elcoteq Tallinn's strengths and improvement areas. The auditors were also very impressed about Elcoteq's performance and practices concerning work environment, health and safety issues, the company's own training system for employees, efficient communications system as well as customer focus and collaboration with partners. Ms Maret Maripuu, Vice-President of Estonian Parliament handed over the award to Mr Risto Gaggl, Director, Operations for GA Europe of Elcoteq SE and General Manager of AS Elcoteq Tallinn and Mr Jukka Jäämaa, COO of Elcoteq SE on November 30, 2006 in Tallinn, Estonia. "Quality management is an integral part of our operations in all our locations throughout the world, and therefore we appreciate this award greatly," says Mr Gaggl. "This award officially proves the excellence of our Tallinn unit and underscores the fact that Elcoteq Tallinn, and Estonia in general, is an excellent location in Europe showing high efficiency and good results," Mr Jäämaa says. Elcoteq started pilot production in Tallinn in 1992. Today the Tallinn plants are among the biggest manufacturing units of Elcoteq SE. Elcoteq Tallinn operates in two plants with the total plant space of 42,000 square meters and employs approximately 3,100 people. AS Elcoteq Tallinn manufactures terminal products and communication network equipment. Quality is emphasized through the value chain of products - from product development to after-sales. According to the Estonian Statistical Office, Elcoteq Tallinn has been the biggest exporter in Estonia since 1994.