WIth 120 years to look back on, the detergent producer is proud of its heritage but also wary of relaxing on the slippery market
Saponia today is a modern company built on a hundred year tradition and innovativeness of employees. From a craft workshop for soap production it developed into the largest detergent and household washing agents producer in this part of Europe, Poslovni Dnevnik writes on June 12, 2016.
Company foundations were laid by Samuel Reinitz who in 1894 in Osijek founded a craft workshop for the production of soap. Reinitz’s factory merges in 1922 with the then world known company of Georg Schicht, with new products introduced and production increased. Novelties kept coming, with 1929 seeing the beginning of production of VIM, an abrasive cleaning agent still being sold today. In 1930 the soap factories of the Schicht concern merge with Rotterdam concern Lever Brothers. After WW II in 1946 the company was nationalised and continues to function as “First Soap Factory Osijek”, changing its name to Saponia in 1953.
Management president Damir Skender explains that due to the company history of over 120 years they decided upon the slogan “Tradition of Innovation” as it paints best the picture of a positive approach to values built through many years of work. “We believe that a long tradition emphasizes the importance of Saponia in the market, as we always connect it to the continuity of development and quality advancement of our products. Our strength are our brands, we proudly name the years when a product was invented,” Skender details. He reminds of the recent campaign marking 120 years of Saponia where they drew attention to the most significant brands: Faks Helizim, Likvi, Arf and Ornel.
“From a technological point of view, we can observe the continuing investment activity as Saponia was always the generator of trends, especially in washing and cleaning where technological support is paramount,” he adds, while the tradition of Saponia was created by people who built expertise and knowledge into products, with company strategy aiming to incessantly invest into the advancement of experts who will write a new history of Saponia as a leading detergent producer. Saponia is traditionally present i all markets of the Adria region, with half of income from export, focusing on Adria markets where the brands are known.
“This gave us good starting positions in the years when new markets were formed, as Saponia always had a good image and we quickly regained the trust of consumers and reached leading market positions,” says Skender. He points out that numerous market shuffles and arrival of foreign market chains continually demand new accomplishments. Tradition does not play a large role here, but it motivates them to raise expectations on both domestic and foreign markets. “Tradition is a company mark, we don’t hide our pride of every year of existence, as the history of Saponia was marked by many generations who worked here. But in the market game we must continually look forward and focus on qualitative and technological competitiveness as it is the condition of survival and progress,” Skender sums up.
