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In business the future belongs to powerful people and new ideas - Interview with Mrs. Antonia Ceposu
15.05.2005 - "Produs de Marca" Magazine
Out of the thousands companies sprung up after the ’89 events, only few of them managed to cope with the economic collapse and secure a future in which dramatic and on-going change would become the only certainty, a way of life itself. One can easily notice that the wit of Mrs. Ceposu, General Manager of Metabras SA Brasov, has always been the key factor in finding the best development solutions for the company she runs. The development and technological level reached allows the company to meet all the professional criteria required for providing flawless quality products and undertaking trading activities in the field of metallurgical products and construction materials. To this end, Mrs. Antonia Ceposu pays great attention to the complex activity of researching the free markets and securing enough clients and contracts to fully cover its delivery capacity. The private constructions field is moving forward slowly, but surely, despite the amount of problems faced in their turn by other activity branches. Nevertheless, constructions business is not exclusively capitalizing on the industrially-driven advantages of a country, but counts extensively on having qualified staff on all the operational and management levels. Under these circumstances, METABRAS SA Brasov have been a lively, active and imposing presence in the economic life of the country, in the process of implementing and up-taking the latest developments in construction business.
Mrs. Ceposu, how does METABRAS looks like today in 2004, after 10 years of activity?
I decided to set up this business in 1994, with one thought in my mind: in business the future belongs to powerful people and new ideas. We started trading construction materials and metallurgical products with limited financial resources and a rented office, without having any means of transportation. After 10 years of activity in which we mingled a professional approach to business with paying the due respect to our customers, Metabras is widely known today as a reliable business partner that offers a wide range of products, and is able to meet even the most demanding customer requirement. As a matter of fact, our main objective was to meet the demands of all our clients, and we focused the management actions and plans on achieving this. Later on, together with my husband, that has a constructions engineering background, we laid the foundations of a construction business that flourished and that we used in building and endowing in a modern fashion our own office and warehouses. In the same time we took interest in developing the business of Metabras Prod by launching into production: welded gauzes, plait gauzes, nails, mat hard wire, etc. Metabras lend support to its customers by enlarging its services portfolio and acquired in this purpose a high capacity production line for processing fastening iron out of bindings of up to Ø 12 mm (stirrups, bindings, etc.) and of fastening iron bars of up to Ø 32 mm, according to the production drafts and plans provided by the client.
So you’ve been traveling a high-aimed journey, in a very complex and quite crowded environment, from the competition point of view?
I believe the figures are actually a proof our spectacular development - from a one employee company, myself Antonia Ceposu, with a turnover of 26.3 million lei in 1994, we’ve reached a staff of 123 employees and a turnover of 440.9 million lei. I need to highlight that in all my initiatives I’ve been supported by my family, all the time aware that success asks for great sacrifices. The company owes its success in a equal extend to the management team, the professionalism of the staff and the team work approach.
You’ve managed to build a team that respects work, the manager, and last but not least, the idea that quality is the key factor in developing a company?
The respect and support we provide to each employee helped us build a trained and efficient team. We made sure that our employees are provided proper working conditions that meet the highest standards. The quality of our products is and will continue to be a major objective of the top management strategy. Therefore we documented and implemented ISO SR EN 9001/2000.
Which are your business partners and suppliers?
We’ve been granted distribution contracts by the Romanian iron and steel works: ISPAT - SIDEX; ISPAT - TEPRO; ISPAT SIDERURGICA Huneodara; DUCTIL STEEL Buzau; LAMINATE S.A. Bucuresti. This is a proof of our reliability as business partner. The products and services of Metabras Group are used by important players in the field of constructions, car-building industry, etc. I need to point out that, regardless of the number or notoriety of our business partners, we’ve been always concerned with implementing an European business environment, though many times grounded on a rigid foundation, namely the Romania law. Moreover, the clients and their needs drove the development of our services and transportation capacity, enhancing the professional assistance provided to our customers, launching new products, enlarging the activity by endowing and streamlining the offices and production units, all of these being actions that need to be taken by any company that wants to develop on a crowded market in terms of competition.
C.D. & E.P.
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