Lingva, d. o. o.

From a workshop in the attic to a global company

The story of the Lingva family business dates back to 1985, when a handful of friends from the village of Grahovo started talking about  setting up their own company. “The girls used to tease us, saying that we were dreamers, all talk and no action,” remembers Branko, an electrical engineer by profession, who at the time worked at Brest. The desire to set up his own business never went away and eventually he and his friend decided to embark on the entrepreneurial path. “We did not care what we sold, until we came up with the idea of selling printed circuit boards. At first, we didn’t even know what they were; if we had, we probably would not have got involved in it. At the time, we were told we needed 1.5 million German marks to start this type of activity. However, we were starting from scratch,” says Branko, describing the early days.

A year later, he and his business partner and friend Miro Levar left their jobs at Brest and established their own company. “My business partner was director of procurement, while I was the system manager for large computers. When we established the company we agreed that after 10 years, we would split and each pursue our separate goals.” Therefore, in 1997, they and a third partner, who had joined them subsequently, went separate ways and Branko moved the company’s headquarters to its current location. “Prior to that we worked in the garage, in the attic, even in the old barn. We then invested in the premises of the former Brest warehouse, which was no more than four walls and a roof. We built up the empty space and arranged it according to our needs,” explains Branko. 

Branko is confident that the decision to part ways was correct, because over time different interests develop that are difficult to control. “Thus, each one of us bought a new company. We bought the Lingva company from a lady from the Loška dolina, who was involved in translation. We changed the activity; however, the name had to remain and thus our company is called Lingva,” explains Branko.

Orders from abroad cannot wait until morning

Today, Branko remains the owner of the company, while his son Blaž has assumed its leadership. Branko still helps with advice based on his many years of experience. “Two or three times a day he still asks for my opinion, but otherwise he has completely relieved me of my duties, which is quite a challenge, as we receive a vast amount of e-mails daily and Blaž had to learn to respond quickly to customer enquiries,” explains his father. Branko’s wife Breda, a teacher by profession, is also involved in the company. She runs the administrative part of the business and takes care of the staff. Initially, she helped while still holding her full-time job as a teacher, but subsequently she left this job to devote her time and efforts to the company. “It gives me great satisfaction to see the company growing and developing. Our son has proven to be a good leader and we lead a good life,” says Breda.

Blaž joined the company after finishing secondary school. According to him, he has never been interested in anything else and has always known that he would eventually join the family business. He started his working career in production, gradually moving to other areas to learn about the company’s operations until he began to take on managerial positions. “I had to step into rather large shoes, because my father has a very wide social network. He knows a great many people and is more communicative than I am. Above all, he is a great teacher,” says Blaž of the succession. Branko is very proud of his son, who has overcome many obstacles and has independently taken over the company’s reins, as well as managing all the other staff working in the family business: “We are lucky to have a couple of key people who are very important to us. For example, Gregor Felicijan started working in production as a student of geography. Today, he is a very successful salesperson and one of our key staff members.In the past, I had to work 16 hours a day to make sure all the work was done,” remembers Branko, but that is in the past. Blaž is now the one busy working until late in the afternoon, dealing with clients abroad, as orders cannot wait until the morning. All three family members point out that they have orders for only three days in advance as they strive to respond to them promptly. They all confirm that this high level of responsiveness is their competitive advantage. “The German customers are very tough on us. Although our products are not cheaper than theirs, our advantage is that we can deliver them the next day. If a German customer orders products from a German manufacturer, they will have to pay double for next day delivery. Speed and responsiveness are our greatest competitive advantages. We strive to ensure next day supply of stencils to all European locations,” firmly assures Branko.

Golden investment in lasers and foreign markets

While in the past they were unsure who their final customer was going to be, today printed circuit boards are found in almost any product. “Our first customer was Riko in Ribnica. It was due to this transaction that my business partner and I left our regular jobs. Later we did major work for Iskra, the Jožef Stefan Institute and others. Anyone who is involved in electronics needs printed circuit boards. We have a large customer base across Europe and only 20% to 30% of our products are produced for the Slovenian market,” explains Branko. Every customer who orders rinted 

circuit boards from Lingva also needs a stencil that allows all elements to be attached to the printed circuit board. At first, they used to etch them, but later they decided to invest in a laser and this investment proved crucial. “Due to insufficient quality produced by etching, I decided to buy a laser. I was ready to invest up to 100,000 German marks, but found that the actual price was twice that amount. To date, I am not I sure how we managed to gather sufficient funds. When you enter the market with a laser stencil your position changes completely,” proudly explains Branko.

Sometimes the growth of the company seems to be overwhelming. Last year they achieved about €2.4 million of revenue, while this year it is estimated to reach €2.8 million. “I feel that the breakthrough occurred two years ago, although growth has been gradually increasing ever since the acquisition of the first laser in 2010. We invested in additional lasers in 2013, purchased two in 2015 and one last year. Monthly we produce between 2000 and 2500 stencils,” reveals Branko. One of the lasers is also located in their joint venture in Turkey. Although they are a small family business, it is due to lasers that they rank among the major players on the European market in the field of laser stencil manufacturing.