Finland Times

 

FTimes Photo.

Moscow has become the largest market for Lappset Group Oy, a leading manufacturer of playground equipment worldwide, company officials said.

 

Lappset, which manufactures sport equipment and lays out playgrounds using environmentally sustainable methods, caters to the need of millions of children and adults in more than 40 countries, with 70 per cent of its turnover coming from overseas operation and export.

 

Lappset, which began as a family business in 1970, coped with the challenges of efficient products and their delivery. The company employs people from members of the families of people related to the company so that the employees can get to learn the strategies to ensure the quality of products.

 

Officials at the company headquarters in Rovaniemi said that the group has three factories in three countries, employing 345 people. Its manufacturing sites are in Rovaniemi, Tallinn and Enköping.

 

“The company has set up more than 800 playgrounds in Barcelona in Spain,” said Petteri Ilkäheimo, a director of the company which works to create fun in a futuristic manner with a passion for growth.

 

“The company has recently started focusing on the Asian market,” Petteri said. “Singapore is one of the target markets.”

 

Most of the products that the company manufactures use wooden raw materials as much as possible. “Our forest if our bank. We are much sincere about safety, health and environmental issues,” he added.

 

“We also use colours that are safe for humans,” he said. “Babies see products in ways that are different from the way adults see. Colours are important for babies.”

 

With an eye on the sports market in Singapore, “we will introduce vertical products as recreational spaces there are small,” Petteri said.

 

A team of nine members from Arctic Business Forum visited the company to know of its operation and strategies and the team was satisfied about the quality it adheres to.

 

Antero Ikäheimo, who founded the group 45 years ago, floated the idea of warmer and softer-looking sports environment different from the usual. He wanted to create a new kind of sports environment where children could climb about and have fun with the equipment independently.

 

Antero also wanted to make the equipment a fun so that exercise literally becomes child’s play.