Steady growth for PKC

Finnish PKC Group had a turnover of 230 million euro in 2006 and the company employs now over 5200 workers in 11 factories around the world. PKC were owned till early 80’s by Nokia, but today PKC has grown to become a major EMS and ODM provider in Europe. PKC has through the years had a steady growth that is expected to continue even in the future. PKC was established 1969 under the name Pohjolan Kaapeli Oy in Kempele, Finland. Main business was the production of cables and wiring harnesses. To be more cost-efficient, the company started to co-operate with an Estonian subcontractor in 1991 and 1992 another subcontractor were brought in, this time in Russia. 1994 a management buy-out occurred at the company and the name was changed to PK Cables Oy. Three years later, 1997, PK Cables were listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. 1998 the company established a factory in Curitiba, Brazil and 1999 the company’s electronics manufacturing were seriously started by the acquisition of the Finnish EMS company, TH-Elektroniikka Oy. In 2000 the name of PK Cables was changed to PKC Group. In 2002 and 2003 the company respectively acquired its partners in Estonia and Russia and started to invest heavily in these sites. During 2006 the company opened up two new wiring harness factories, one in Pskov, Russia and another in Suzhou, China. During 2006 PKC also acquired Electro Canada which has a manufacturing plant in Mexico and sales offices in Canada and the US. This January PKC grew again in China by the inauguration of a new electronics factory in Suzhou. The new Chinese EMS/ODM factory today has only 50 employees but before this year ends the plant is expected to have more than 100 employees and the growth has planned to stay steady. 80% of PKC’s 230 million euro in revenues come from its wiring harness business in 2006. One of PKC’s major customers is Scania which has PKC as its main supplier of wiring harnesses and cabling systems for its vehicles. 20% of PKC’s turnover is from the electronics business and from that about 50% is connected with PKC’s ODM business, where also the growth has been the fastest. During the last two years PKC has increased their personnel in R&D of electronics products. More and more of the PKC’s customers want nowadays full service, including product development, sourcing, manufacturing, logistics and maintenance. PKC releases its figures for 2007 on February 8th so when evertiq meets PKC Group’s vice president Jarmo Rajala, he doesn’t reveal much of the figures, but he confirms that the company’s growth will persist. On this market, Jarmo Rajala tells evertiq that also the logistics is very important. “Logistics is an important issue.You have to be close to your customer and you also have to be able to provide short leadtimes and local services. When our clients’ manufacturing is transferred for example to China, India or Mexico we also have to follow them”, Jarmo Rajala told evertiq. PKC has grown steadily during the last years and that development is expected to continue. Acquisitions ahead are possible but in what business area; electronics or wiring harness business, Jarmo Rajala would not reveal.