Nowadays, it is not a problem to find displays of mass production, to make the order and quickly equip a new sales outlet. But the trend towards custom-made products is gradually replacing ready-made one. Moreover, business owners often have their own sketches of displays, so they shall only find someone who can implement the ideas. We can write as much as we want about high-quality of our display racks, but only looking at the process from the inside, will make you understand what our strength is.

Own production

Ustor team is involved in every stage: from the production of displays to their installation. The production is located at 900 sq.m. facility. It allows to have equipment for:

+ cutting rolled products (sheets, pipes and others). Hydraulic guillotine shears and laser cutting center are used for cutting sheets, automatic saw — for pipes;

+ blanks stamping and drilling. Sheets are stamped by various presses, pipes are handled with the help of non-arbour ones.

+ blanks bending. Bending hydraulic presses are used for sheets and arbor benders for pipes;

+ welding and assembly. These processes are performed on semi-automatic machines for TIG and MIG/MAG welding;

+ coating. Powder coating is applied in automatic coating line with previously prepared surface;

+ packing.

What happens at production site

The "story of a display" begins with the preparation of design and manufacturing documents. Design Department works on the displays design and get production forms and records ready.  Engineers develop design drawings, get involved in the production, check the finished constructions. Even if the customer has provided their drawings, we develop our own documentation for the production, which contains the necessary information for the manufacture, assembly and packing, taking into account our production cycle.

The next stage — materials and semi-finished products ordering. The company’s Supply Department deals with orders and delivery of raw materials, semi-finished products and consumables for production. This department specialist checks quality assurance certificates, agrees on delivery. He is the first to check the condition of the material in the supplier's warehouse. If the equipment provides for additional elements made of glass, wood or plastic, then it’s high time to contact the partners.

After receiving the materials the manufacture stage starts. Each production site is assigned to employees [workers and craftsmen], who perform all work with basic materials: from cutting, cutting-out and welding to preparation for powder coating.

After the racks, shelves and other elements of the future display rack are ready, they are sent for coating. To do this, the production is equipped with an automatic coating line. This is a complex stage that includes the surface preparation line [chambers for cleaning and drying] and powder coating line [a spray booth and polymerization oven]. We work with powder paints upon RAL color chart. By the way, we have already written about their advantages, as well as about the step-by-step process of application in one of the previous articles. The main advantage of automated technologies is an even coating and full control over preparatory and spraying stages.  

Prior to shipment the items are packed and stored in warehouses of 500 sq. m.

We plan to introduce laser cutting technology and new welding equipment to our production. This will help to expand the production options of individual constructions, as well as affect the timing. At the moment not all stages are carried out on our production, that's why we work in partnership with suppliers. This means that we spend more efforts, money and time. Therefore, in the future we want to group all facilities in one place.

Roles and responsibilities of the employees

There are 30 employees in the company, 21 of them work in production. The rest are engaged in clients services [search and communication], documents, marketing, materials supply... Everyone knows what to do and what is expected of. The team is like a living organism — sales director executes deals, foremen controls the production process, workers pack and assemble display racks... Each employee is responsible for his area and, at the same time, helps to develop the company as a whole.

Briefly about roles:

+ Company Director — manages the team, distributes responsibilities, makes a plan for the development of the company;

+ Production Director — supervises the entire production process of the trade equipment, works with partners;

+ Sales Directors — negotiate, conclude agreements, make presentations;

+ Engineer — prepares orders before production;

+ Designer — creates the designs of the hardware and deals with production forms and records;

+ Supply specialist — ensures availability of materials and cooperates with suppliers;

+ Foremen and workers with their hands [and equipment] implement the custom designs.

About Quality

There are several stages of quality control in Ustor:

+ Incoming inspection. After delivery of materials to the production site, the team checks the quality and quantity of materials and semi-finished products. They examine the surface and geometric dimensions of the rolled products, moisture of the powder coating paint, color matching, thickness of the coating and so on.

+ Operational control. During the performance of a certain operation or at the end of the production, the administration [team head, foreman, head of the production] checks the products or the result of the technical process.

+ All the stages of the production are accompanied by a designer. He verifies the result with the design documentation.

+ Assembly verification. The Director personally assembles each product from the first order and selectively from the following. This way he can be sure that the team has fulfilled all the requirements of the client.

In order not just to work "for show", after the delivery of the end products, we analyze the customer's feedback. Thus the team will know in which direction to move and what to improve, as well as what else can be offered to the client.   

According to the law of Ukrainian the manufacturer can work without certificates of conformity or conclusions of sanitary and epidemiological expertise stating the displays are safe to use. A verbal declaration is enough. However, the quality of our work is confirmed not only in words but by recommendations from the loyal customers. Among them is a Development Director of the Bembi company, Deputy Head of Operation and Development Department of Antoshka shops network, Director of Krisstel and so on.  

Who we focus on

In our work we focus on large plants and global trends. We observe what technologies are used for mass production, what creative design studios come up with, what foreign companies are guided by. We consider the store as a universal space, where you can not only buy a couple of new shoes, but also to have a cup of coffee or a snack. The shift in people's behaviour leads to the transformation of the space, thus shopping centers have become the places of meetings and emotional discharges. And trade equipment should not stand aside. It should follow the trends and fit into this multi-format approach.

Also, we constantly visit exhibitions, monitor news [foreign sources in priority], communicate with our peers. We get most of information at the exhibitions and forums. Here are a few interesting ones:

+ EuroShop 2020 is the most important exhibition for us, which is held once in 3 years. There are revealed new trends, the most innovative equipment and interesting ideas, which then get spread to regional markets. We have talked a little about this exhibition last December.

+ EMO Hannover 2019 — exhibition of metalworking equipment and smart technologies. It will be held in September in Hanover.

+ XVIII International Industrial Forum will be held in Kyiv. The forum includes 10 exhibitions: metalworking, protection and behavior in the workplace and so on.

+ Tube Dusseldorf 2020 is another exhibition in Germany, which will bring together manufacturers of metal products to demonstrate products made from pipes, technologies and equipment.

How we see Ustor in 5 years

We definitely would not have vanished in the mass market, but remained at the level of individual production. After all, the production of custom goods is one of the trends in retail, which we simply cannot ignore. Shop owners will always be looking for something that will help to make the commercial space practical, convenient and beautiful, unlike other points of sale.

We will continue to grow and develop in the field of metalworking and automate the production line to the maximum. There may be a few new employees, but that's secondary. The latest equipment, which is not even in Ukraine, will be installed. And customers order only complex and unusual displays, which we still will do with all our hart:)