October 27, 2020 - Continuing our look at the economic boom town of Sveta Nedelja just outside Zagreb, meet Montelektro, keeping beer production on schedule all over the globe.
I really had no idea what to expect.
A recent invitation to spend a long weekend in Sveta Nedelja, home to Rimac Automobili, as guests of the town was a welcome break for the daily grind, and it included a very full programme on the Friday, visiting some of the successful businesses in the town.
And if I thought that Rimac was the only show in town, I could not have been more wrong - this town is ROCKING.
Some simple stats will suffice to explain how Sveta Nedelja is bucking the national trend of emigration and economic doom and gloom. The population has increased by more than 10% since the last census in 2011 (18,000 to over 20,000); jobs have increased by 20% since the current administration took over in 2017 (from 7,200 to 9,000), and unemployment is down to just 3.9%. Not bad in a time of global economic turndown and much higher unemployment all over the country.
My hosts were keen to show me as much as they could, including the mandatory visit to Rimac. It was a fascinating day, full of surprises. Not least, perhaps to find that Rimac was actually not the biggest show in town - that honour went to a Syrian entrepreneur, whose main company turned over a stunning 250 million euro last year, and who currently employs 829 people. Learn more about this incredible story in Meet Sveta Nedelja's Biggest Company, a Success Story Born in Syria.
The tour of successful businesses continued, with yet one more success story showing strong growth in both turnover and employees over the last decade, and a business which has gone truly global from its bases in Sveta Nedelja and Kastav.
Celebrating 30 years since its founding in May, 1990, Montelektro is a major engineering and Process Control System integrator company offering engineering solutions to a wide range of sectors worldwide, including brewing, food and beverage, cement, steel, pharmaceutical, and tobacco industries.
Especially the brewing industry.
With an A-list client list of breweries that includes Heineken, Carlsberg, ABInBev, Molson Coors, Diageo and Castel, Montelekro's systems are in more than 250 breweries around the world, making sure that the systems powering the production of this most essential liquid operate without problems.
Montelekro's turnkey solutions range from the small and simple – to the most demanding and complex projects. These include:
- Design and installation of Medium Voltage and Low Voltage systems
- Electrical engineering/Control panel design and manufacturing
- Process Control System design and delivery
- Installation material specification and delivery
- Automation software engineering
- Installation
- Commissioning
- Packing and worldwide delivery
- Project management
- Training
- Maintenance
- After sales support
At the more complex end of the spectrum - and an insight into the complexity of some of the projects it delivers - a 5-year project at the giant Heineken Den Bosch brewery in the Netherlands gives some idea of the complexity of the tasks at hand.
Montelektro was tasked with replacing the existing automation system for the production and utility areas, using a different platform, ProLeiT brewmaxx. As one can see from the numbers above, the scope of the task was immense. In terms of human engagement, the project required 20 man-years of office engagement (up to 10 engineers simultaneously) and 4 man-years of onsite presence (up to 8 engineers simultaneously). With production stops no longer than the planned 24-48 hours, all systems have now been overhauled, and the project completed on time and handed over.
Yet one more example of how Sveta Nedelja excellence is performing on the global stage. So the next time you are driving along Zagreb's southern motorway between the Slovenian border at Bregana and the airport, raise a glass as you pass Sveta Nedelja to the team at Montelektro for its global contribution to keeping the beer flowing around the world.
You can learn more about Montelektro and their services for the brewing, food and beverage, cement, steel, pharmaceutical and tobacco industries on their official website.
I am not surprised by either, and we shall continue our mini-series looking at the business success of Sveta Nedelja Beyond Rimac on TCN shortly.
For the latest news from Sveta Nedelja, visit the dedicated TCN section.
