In 1989 four technically minded people with no funds of their own, let alone any financial backing, came up with the idea of producing curved plywood furniture components.
Their first step towards production consisted of building a generator – and two years later Saga Ltd was founded.
Initially the company hired production facilities of just 200m² where it manufactured simple furniture components.
Hard work and perseverance, combined with technical knowledge, has seen Saga Ltd, which had just four employees at the outset, develop into the Saga Group. Today the group has four factories in and around Riga with production facilities amounting to 42,000m² and employs more than 900 people.
Company director Aris Liepins said: ‘The experiences of our company have not been typical. It was founded shortly after Latvia regained its independence and at the time it was very popular to found joint ventures or local companies, many of which suffered from bank crisis and inflation.
‘Saga Ltd, with 100% local capital and without any loans, has found the right way to the customer and today the Saga name in Europe is known as a quality sign,’ he said.
The Saga Group – now one of the leading furniture component producers in Europe – is split into three factories, each of which specialises in different products.
Saga produces specific furniture and furniture components; Laiko Ltd, the biggest factory, produces curved plywood components and Tuko Ltd produces solid wood components and furniture parts.
Components range
The range of the Saga Group is very wide and comprises chair components – chair legs, armrests, chair bases, seats and backs, shells; table components – table legs, table tops, table frames; bed components – bed slats and frames, bed legs; components for cabinets, shelves and other furniture.
Most of the components are finished in the factories where they are lacquered, stained or painted. There is a wide palette of colours available, but components can be finished to customers’ individual colour specifications as well.
‘We are now using more than 30 presses – both microwave and electrical heating, up-to-date machines, including CNC and several painting lines,’ said Mr Liepins.
‘In the main our raw material is Latvian birch which has been either peeled in our peeling line for plywood components, or dried in our dryers to get the quality material for solid wood products. In the processing we use Akzo Nobel glue, which guarantees high quality and hardness. If customers require it, we can also use other veneers such as beech, maple, oak, teak or cherry, mainly on the upper layer. For bed slats and frames we offer different finishings such as decorative paper and we can also do different styles of slats such as waved or patterned.’
Over the years the company has achieved remarkable turnover and growth of production volume. In the first few years it stood at 100% per year, but has steadied at 20% per year. During all this time Saga Group has never changed its basic stance and this, it maintains, has helped it achieve successful and rapid growth year on year.
The main emphasis has been placed on the customers’ needs and on the trends of the market. Mr Liepins explained: ‘We believe that only by working side by side with the client can we reach the best results to satisfy both parties.’
The main products with which Saga Group deals are curved plywood furniture components. These products are sold mainly in Scandinavia and western Europe. The approximate division of the market is 30% Scandinavia, 30% France, 15% Italy. It also exports to the US, Japan and New Zealand. Mr Liepins said: ‘We have very good relationships with many Scandinavian furniture producers – especially the Danes and the Swedes – who have ordered furniture parts from our company for nearly a decade.
‘Our customers are mainly furniture producers who use wooden furniture parts in their collections. Almost every customer has his own collection and pretty often our technicians work together with the customers’ designers to find the best solution for the technical and visual styles.
‘We also have special models for every product, which are created by our designer, and we can offer these products to clients who do not have their own collections.’
Solid wood
Two years ago Saga opened a factory specialising in the production of solid wood components and furniture.
In the main, Saga Ltd’s work involves following drawings created by the customer’s designers. These are sometimes so precise that the components cannot be made using traditional machines.
Mr Liepins said: ‘To deal with that we have our own mechanical department, where we manufacture machinery and press tools to carry out the work. Essentially it decreases production time – which is one of the main reasons why customers choose us.’
Following the latest market trends, Saga has started to co-operate with well-known designers from Europe, creating new chair and table collections. ‘These collections give many novel ideas in the furniture fashion world,’ Mr Liepins said.
Plans for the future
‘Looking to the future, we see ourselves as a producer of furniture components, but with a more serious line in the furniture market. We are currently working to offer new products and ideas, because nothing is more stable than changes in the market and every producer should adjust to them.’
The company recently took its first steps into the UK market. ‘We have begun some projects and also taken part in the ASFI exhibition in Birmingham to get more acquainted with the local market and build up relationships with potential clients.
UK opportunities
‘We have discovered that the English are big furniture producers and admirers of solid wood furniture and we hope we will add the UK’s name to our market lists in the near future.
‘In conclusion we would like to recall the strong traditions of Latvian furniture producers who, in the 1930s, even made furniture for the Queen of England.
‘We think the time has come to renew that tradition.’
