Gagnefs Industrisnickerier, GIS, is a family-owned company that develops and manufactures windows. Since its inception ten years ago, the company has come a long way and recently GIS also received the municipal award "Company of the Year".
- But of course we want to continue to develop, and the HIT program has been a great help here. It was just what we needed," says Olle Holman, the company's CEO.
The HIT business development program is run by Dalarna Science Park and is aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises in Dalarna. The acronym HIT stands for sustainable, innovative growth and GIS is one of about fifty companies that have completed the program so far.
Sustainable construction
GIS is based in Mockfjärd, a town that was heavily influenced by Elementhus and other small house industries in the second half of the 20th century. The era was over in the early 1990s and Elementhus closed down, but some of the premises remain and are used today by GIS, which has developed its own window model. The company also manufactures "everything around a window replacement", as Olle Holman puts it.
- Window sills, shades, window screens and so on. It has taken us many years to get to where we are, but today we have the business that was originally planned. We just needed to solve quite a few things on the way there, such as equipping the premises and updating the machinery.
GIS sells mainly to professional window changers and shares premises with its biggest customer: Fönstereliten.
- "As a private individual, you can buy from our webshop, but otherwise we keep a low profile on the consumer market," says Olle.
What is special about GIS's window construction is that the various parts that make up the window can be easily replaced. Should the window break, only the damaged part needs to be replaced.
- With most other brands, you need to discard the whole window and we don't think that's sustainable," says Olle.
In recent years, GIS has also invested heavily in sustainability in other forms, including energy efficiency improvements, new machinery and its own solar energy.
- From a sustainability point of view, we have done many things right, as confirmed by the HIT coaches.
Clearer objectives
Olle has participated in the program together with his colleague Josefin Holman, to whom he is also married.
- Being two has been a good strategy. We have thought very differently about several things, so there have been many good discussions and reflections. Josefin works closely with retailers and customers, while I focus more on production. So the fact that we now have both perspectives is very valuable and it has also made it easier to take things further to others in the company.
Olle thinks that HIT has been useful from several aspects, but perhaps most importantly because the program included an analysis of the company's goals. These are now fine-tuned, written down and communicated internally.
- Getting everything down on paper has meant a lot. When you say things, they can be interpreted in many ways, so it's good that we now have a common target matrix to work from.
Since HIT was a success, Olle and his colleagues will participate in HIT Acceleration this fall, an in-depth study lasting 6-8 months.
- We have achieved a lot during HIT Step 1, but there are still topics that we want to delve into and others that we have not yet touched much. Therefore, it feels right to continue to benefit from the help provided by the program and the coaches.
FACTS
HIT - a business development program for sustainable innovative growth
Program duration: Approximately eight months. Former HIT participants are welcome back for HIT Acceleration, an in-depth program lasting another 6-8 months.
Content: Workshops and knowledge-enhancing seminars approximately once a month, with individual coaching in between.
For whom: SMEs that want to increase their readiness for change, create concrete business benefits and increased innovation through access to expertise, tools and networks.
Organizer: Dalarna Science Park.
Funders: European Regional Fund and Region Dalarna.
Next program start: The program starts a few times a year. Here you can read about the next program start.
Application and more information: HIT- a business development program for sustainable innovative growth
