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Project logistics specialists
It is difficult to imagine what it takes to pack and transport a 5.6 meters long, 5 meters wide, and 4.3 meters high generator weighing 86 tons from one end of the world to another in an efficient, quick and reliable fashion. In this case, the generator was transported on the road to the Donava river port, moved along the river on a barge to a northern sea port, transferred to a container ship headed to the USA, where it was unloaded at the port and transported on the road for the final leg of the journey to its final destination, a hydroelectric power plant. Comark, a Ljubljana-based project logistics company specialized in large, heavy and difficult transports, can easily meet such challenges. The company has celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2022 and they are proud of their ability to ensure high-quality out-of-gauge transportation all over the world. 61% of Comark’s revenue is generated by foreign clients on the global market and 39% by domestic customers, with whom they mainly collaborate on industrial production export projects and on imports projects that required the transport of investment equipment. In collaboration with their related company Paklog d.o.o., a seaworthy packaging specialist, they can offer comprehensive solutions for their clients’ products. The related companies generate over EUR 20 million in revenue and employ around 80 people. The driving force behind this remarkable story is a strategist and visionary Branko Butala, co-owner and Executive Director of Comark, d.o.o. His vision is also carried out and expanded upon by his son Klemen and daughter Patricija.
Comark is a logistics engineering company with all the necessary knowledge, references, partners and supplier network to make sure our clients are always satisfied with our logistic solutions. Our personal approach and agility will remain an advantage regardless of the direction of the global transport and logistics.
A visionary with an unstoppable thirst for improvement
Branko Butala, born in Novo Mesto and now living in Črnomelj, completed schooling to become a railway worker at 18. He enjoyed the work and, at the age of 21, became in charge of the railway station in Metlika. After he came back from the mandatory military service, he and his wife started creating a family. As Branko continued studying alongside his work, his wife took on the majority of childcare. Branko’s interest in package distribution was already apparent at the time, and he even made it the topic of his graduation dissertation. At the time, he worked for the Slovenian Railways as a Commercial Director of the Small Packages Transportation Section. However, his plans for improvement of package distribution were not welcome there, so he quit his job and found work in Intereuropa in Novo Mesto, where he built the logistics department from the ground up. “I wanted something more, so I continued studying and got another degree in organization of special transports. At that time, I also took over the Special Transports Department at the company Intereuropa Transport,” explains Branko. Soon after, he was promoted to a regional manager and in just a year, he built up a new subsidiary Intereuropa Kosovo. Next year, he also became the regional manager for Northern Macedonia. In 2007, after he came back to Slovenia, he said goodbye to Intereuropa and became the Commercial Director of a privately-owned company Ploj in Maribor. “I was interested in logistics engineering and I wanted to go back to special transports, where I saw a great potential and amazing opportunities,” says Branko. In the four years Branko was in charge of the commercial department,the company constantly grew and became an industry leader.
While he studied and worked at Intereuropa, Branko met Jože Škreblin, who became his good friend and business partner. In 1992, Jože Škreblin founded the company Comark, which focused on special transports for hydroelectric power plants and transformer stations. “Even at that time, I knew that Jože will change our lives. He had so many ideas, he was a true visionary. He became my mentor, I could even call him my second dad,” remembers Branko. When Jože chose to retire, Branko bought Comark with the help of business partners. Two years later, he left his executive position in Ploj and focused on acceleration of Comark’s ambitions.
Strategically related companies offer comprehensive solutions
Comark has developed several services. Since 2009, they offer organization of special road transports, industrial packaging, and oversea transports. They also provide special transport escort with their pilot cars and offer relocation and assembly services.
But Branko’s entrepreneurial spirit could not rest. He knew that Comark often needed to rely on other companies for high-quality packaging. In 2012, he and his business partner Bojan Ploj bought a small packing company based in Zagreb, Croatia. They formed business relations with the Italian family-owned company Transpack from Padova and Director Andrea Sancin form Trieste, and sold them a part of the Croatian company. That year, Branko’s packaging vision started to come true in Zagreb. Emboldened by the success, the same business partners established the Paklog company in Črnomelj, Slovenia, and Branko’s 15-year-old dreams of building his own company that would bring success to his home town finally came true. With the help of his business partners and co-workers, he started writing a robust, comprehensive success story in the filed of logistics and packaging. “Paklog is focused on quality packaging, and in Comark, we can add this service to our offer as needed. This way, we can offer our clients a complete logistic solution. We still get our trucks and special trailers from the market, but our own packaging is definitely an advantage,” explains Branko.
Next generation fits right in
“My wife and I never forced any of our children to work in the company,” says Branko, “but they both grew up with Comark and learned about entrepreneurship along the way.” Today, both children, daughter Patricija and son Klemen, work for the company. Klemen was the first to join his father in creating his vision at the age of 18 and is now in charge of sales and logistics. “If you know how to learn from others, everything goes smoothly,” says Branko, who readily admits that his son is now better than him at the logistic side of things. “We complement each other. Klemen is my co-Director and has the same authority as I do,” he adds. In 2022, Klemen’s excellent work was also recognized at the Project Logistics Fair 2022 in Antwerp, where he was named among the top 40 leaders in logistics.
Klemen takes much responsibility for his work and explains that the key to success is knowing the basics. “If you want to do things better than competition, you need to understand the details. And you can only understand the details if you start with the basics, in our case the road,” says Klemen, who is now in charge of the entire team as the Commercial Director. “I have mastered the expertise in project cargo. My leadership abilities are improving every day, but I have less knowledge in the managerial field, where I can still learn a lot from my father,” he adds.
Patricija joined the company four years later than Klemen. She started her internship at Comark as soon as she finished high school. At the beginning, she did whatever needed doing, but later she started focusing on accounting and finances. Today, Patricija is also the Director of Paklog in Črnomelj. “It really means a lot that you can always turn to someone, if you run into problems. I hope we will be able to learn from Branko and take advantage of his wisdom for a long time to come,” says Patricija.
“It really means a lot that you can always turn to someone, if you run into problems.” Patricija and Klemen hope to be able to learn from Branko and take advantage of his wisdom for a long time to come.
A different path to a family enterprise
As the Butala family became more and more intertwined with Comark, they came to a decision to gradually buy off the other partners until the company was completely family-owned. Currently, Branko owns 80 percent of the company, and Klemen and Patricija each own 10 percent. Wife and mother Renata is an important part of the Comark story, even though she was never formally part of the company. In the future, Branko wants the ownership shares and the guidelines for the future of Comark and Paklog to be written down in a family constitution.
All family members are deeply invested in the companies, but they also try to separate the work from their personal lives. They try not to talk business at home, but save these discussions for the office, business trips, fairs, etc. “When I’m at home, I think about what needs to be done around the house. The company definitely drives us forward, but so does family. You only get one life, so we all try to find some balance,” says Klemen.
Future ambitions
The Butala family and their coworkers have ambitious goals, but they know they can reach them. Last year, they founded a new company in Belgrade, Serbia. They also recently opened new offices in Rieka, Croatia, and they plan to build and open offices in Koper in 2024. Branko also points out that their complete solutions help redirect transport from North European ports to Koper, Trieste and Rieka. In the future, they want to increase this flow. Their mobile packaging and project teams allow them to take on any project in a 1000 kilometer radius.
And how do they recruit and retain their employees? “Large logistics companies are workforce incubators. It is normal for talents to leave these big systems to work for smaller, more flexible companies. After all, I did the same. But we also raise our own talent,” says Branko. “The only way to prevent people from leaving the company is to be a good employer, to offer a good working environment, to give people options for the future and to ensure they want to stay. And if anyone decides to leave, we always make sure not to close any doors. We invest into our people, our knowledge and our long-term story.” One thing is certain: Comark will never run out of challenging projects and large cargos that need to be safely packaged and transported to the final destination.
Company name: COMARK, d.o.o.
Number of employees (2021): 20
Net sales revenue (2021): €11.2 million
Interviewees:
Branko Butala, Co-owner and Director
Klemen Butala, Co-owner and Commercial Director
Patricija Butala, Co-owner and Finance at COMARK, d.o.o.,
and Director of related company PAKLOG d.o.o.
Summary
Comark in a nutshell: Safe transport of large and heavy cargo.