Quarterly export issue of the company magazine

2 2014 Since 1997

We are building a happy and green company

LIKO-Stories

SUMMER BE PRAISED WELDING IN AUSTERLITZ

LIKO-S DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

WHY THE CONNECTION OF LIKO-S AND ICYNENE®? • EVERY IDEA OR INITIATIVE IS WELCOME • ICYNENE® INTRODUCED OUR UNIQUE HALL SHEATHING TO THE WORLD

LIKO-S INTERIORS EN ROUTE TO CONQUERING EUROPE!

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INTRODUCTION

SUMMER BE PRAISEDFor the past 12 years, my family‘s summers have been associated with sport and the tra-velling around the world that comes with it. By sport I mean BikeTrial, which has given and taken a lot. Besides our son Jan‘s spor-ting success and, hopefully, a good influence on his habits, we had to give up our comfor-table and quiet way of spending summer, for which I am grateful to my family. When Jan quit top level sport, our summers became less busy. Now, we finally have time to just travel around leisurely.

I have not yet lost touch with BikeTrial, though. Exactly ten years ago, representa-tives of 12 European countries founded the European BikeTrial Union and I was chosen as the first and so far the last president of this international organization. It is an en-tirely voluntary post which only costs me a little bit of time and money when I travel to European competitions. In ten years we organized 35 European Cup and European Championship BikeTrial events. The compe-titions were attended by hundreds of riders of age 6 and higher, including world champi-ons and other professional athletes. I think we influenced a generation of young athletes in a way that they can, thanks to EBU, travel around Europe with a specific goal, to places they probably would not otherwise visit, and learn how people from different corners of Europe live and work. It is interesting to watch how travelling to such places for the first time affects Czech families. Considering these competitions take place away from tourist resorts, people used to different conditions are progressively changing their outlook. A beautiful transition. Travelling with a goal is a part of learning. It helps me a lot as well.

This year, BikeTrail brought us to the Eu-ropean Cup in northern Italy, to the town of Valgoglio. This is what I like about this sport. It brings its „victims“ to places outside of ge-neral interest since it requires a location full of rocks, boulders, trees and such. This way we can stay in forgotten guest houses, small hotels, camping sites and observe the eve-ryday work and habits of those wonderful people. Besides that, for two or three days, I also have the privilege to lead an interna-tional team of hosts and watch the different approaches of people from Sweden, Fran-ce, Germany, Italy, Spain in rather tense situations connected to the rivalry, mostly caused by mad parents, using their children to treat their own complexes, a flaw shared

by people of all nationalities. However, that does not apply for everyone. Although such people make our organization profitable, making money is by no means our goal.

This year after the competition, I stayed in Italy a little longer and visited our new dis-tributor of Smartisol® Daniele Gualeni from the town of Darfo Boario. Daniele is a for-mer 22-year-old Italian BikeTrial rider who worked in our company for almost a year as an insulation foam applicator. Then we offered him a three-month training at ICY-NENE®, the dealer in Kentucky, USA, where he broadened his professional experience. It all culminated in him establishing a com-pany, where he set up his own application technology that outperforms our equivalent in many regards. Recently he started selling our insulation in Lombardy (which is, by the way, a region of 15 million inhabitants). Dear readers, Daniele is a brilliant example of a young man full of energy, drive, enthusiasm, that is well-mannered, loyal, respectful and self-confident – a treat I would very much like to see in our company as well, as oppo-sed to young, tired bodies that do not know what they want, which also appear in our company from time to time. Daniele is gra-teful for the opportunity to work, he does not mind sacrificing his time for the good of the business and, on top of that, he decided to bear a great risk by taking a big business loan at only 22 years of age. I wish him the best of luck and we will help him as much as possible. And he is very grateful for that.

Similarly, we help the young employees that start working in our company. In most cases they do not bring much and we have to teach them everything. That is just how it is and the reason lies within families and schools. We are not solving this issue, only fixing its outcome. The young people after graduating, however, nowadays feel that they need to change their employers often to gain as much experience as possible. That is a bad habit, superficial, simple and thus ineffi-cient like all other simple ways. This habit could be applied in the past era of almost no unemployment when companies hired em-ployees to meet deadlines. While travelling with young athletes I see how this approach has changed in Spain, Italy, Germany ... For our young generation, it is more difficult to wade through the company structure year after year, have energy to convince the older, more experienced co-workers of their ideas and finally become a valuable expert. We,

Giuliano Gualeni (right) with Libor Musil in front of a vehicle inside of which Daniele (back) hand-assembled an application technology.

The new Italian colleague of Smartisol® Daniele Gualeni inside the vehicle for the application of Icynene® spray foam insulation.

For one word, our young colleagues!

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the managers, make mistakes as well, when we are putting millions every year into new employee training, only to see them leave later to seek a new job. When we ask: „What new job?“ – They say: „I don‘t know, I‘ll see.“ This is a matter of approach to life, to re-sponsibility to the people that surround me, to those that taught me and expected I would repay them for their efforts. I sup-pose we cannot make people in their late twenties change this attitude. It is a matter of their personal approach to life and values. I see what conditions the employees of other companies and in other countries have. At LIKO-S we create good working conditions, but we also want something in exchange. When these „wanderers“ suddenly decide to leave us, we cannot stop them, but we have to ask them for something after all. Something more than just the minimum set by law. We also offer our people more than the law requires us to. The law sets the minimum limit and that should apply to everyone, be that in our firm or in life in general. To both employers and employees. Upon being handed a notice, we often hear ridi-culous assurances like this: „But I will keep working here for another two months!“ That means: „Even though you as an employer provided me with more than just the mini-mum required by law, you should be glad I will keep the law. It is, in fact, common to leave even before those two months pass. Goodbye!“

The only thing we can do is to give the wan-derers this assurance: „Our company invested a lot of money and energy into you to make you a proper employee of a top-notch European company. We hate to see you go but have no option other than to respect your decision, even though we do not think it is a good one. Give your team at least a chance to fill the hole you are leaving behind. Train your successor the way we trained you. The law, however, does not require you to do so, but we kindly ask you to do it anyway. That is what polite people would do, and we want to remember you as a polite per-son and further spread this reference.“

Anyway, back to „my“ BikeTrial – seeing how difficult life is in certain parts of Eu-rope and the world, I am convinced that Bohemia and Moravia are currently among the best places to live. Today‘s young gene-ration grows up in affluent circumstances thinking it will stay like that forever. It will not. Staying on top requires hard work and ubiquitous competitors will always gladly fill the spots we leave. We need to use the prosperity to prepare for tough times, to fortify our positions in companies and markets. The wanderers cost companies a lot of money, which then eventually lacks in the global competition. And we do not want to play second fiddle!

Libor Musil, Chairman of the Board

Nowadays in administrative buildings there is a big emphasis on both acoustics and de-sign. Therefore we must be able to offer to the architects and developers a solution without any compromises. The newly developed profi-le by LIKO-S called Time For Detail (P97) results in a faultless transition of a partition to a sus-pended ceiling, ensures perfect stability of the connection and improves the system in terms of acoustics. Additionally it creates a seamless design and the emphasis on suppressing the visible profiles.

Our new Time For Detail (TFD) solution can be used for all the LIKOform® systems. Its advantages include the possibility to use it for both new and current suspended ceiling and a simpler installation of the acoustic barrier. Also the variability of the system is improved since the space created by uninstallation can be closed with a cover and everything is ready for a repeated use without further intervention into the interiors.

The P97 profile is hung from the ceiling con-struction with Nonius suspenders in a maxi-mum distance of 1.2 metres. The suspenders allow for soft rectification of the ceiling une-venness and ensure a sufficient stability of the suspension. In case of connecting the profile on a vertical structure, we can stabilise it with steel squares.

Radovan Cek, Designer of the development

OUR DEVELOPMENT

Connection of the partition and ceiling without compromise

TIME FOR DETAIL

Profile P97, agriKomp, Střelice

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Project visualization (view from the north).

OUR DEVELOPMENT

LIKO-S DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

Lukáš Kovařík (left) presenting the development centre project to Ivan Bureš.

Project visualization (view from the west).

The final preparation for the modern de-velopment centre is currently under way, a place dedicated to the development of our core products. There will also be an envi-ronmental and an anechoic chamber. The anechoic chamber will be used for the mea-surement of acoustic parameters of interior particles connected to various structures. This will allow simulation of a real building situation and to achieve the best possible sound insulation parameters of modern interior segments. We will thus be the only company of its kind conducting such tests on real sites, as opposed to optimal laboratory conditions. The customers will, therefore, be provided with the maximum assistance in solving of their problems and needs. The environmental chamber will be used to deve-lop modern Smartisol® constructions for the most demanding conditions and structures. It will also allow us to conduct cyclic loading testing on products that affects the product lifespan, helping our company offer the best that can be bought in a given segment, which has always been our primary objective.

The facility will also contain a training centre, where young technicians will be pro-vided with training for future construction experience. They will actively participate in the development of our products and in the extending of our cooperation with foreign companies, investors and research institu-tes. As a result, we will be able to keep track of all modern technologies, which will then be implemented in our products. For instan-ce, it will be possible to project a building plan on a movable wall and to mark changes and details on it, while everything is recor-

ded and projected on the wall of a coopera-ting architect or builder in any other part of the world. Our products will thus help investors easily connect their business with foreign markets, enabling their companies to grow dynamically.

The building itself will be unique from the structural point of view and its operation will be completely independent of the power and water supply. The roof of the building will contain a water filtration system, also used for cooling of the building surface in the summer months. The building will be also shaded by a green facade consisting of plants, mitigating the temperature changes affecting the building. Everything will be connected to a surrounding lake functioning as a water reservoir. This development cent-re will also serve as a real model for modern commercial buildings that our company will hopefully build for our clients in the future. A part of the facility will be a children‘s area designated for the children of the employees, since our company has always based on the three solid pillars important for good life: work, family and hobby.

We can all imagine an autonomous family house, but what about an industrial building that will operate independently, manufactu-re products and thus generate profit? All in balance with nature, which the humanity has already devastated to a substantial degree by its actions. We have to start repaying the debt we owe to the environment, to preserve it for future generations!

Lukáš Kovařík, Technical director, Energy

and knowledge of water treating.

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Mr. Fránek, could you describe the opera-tion of your studio to us?Our studio consists of ten to twelve people, sometimes only six if needed. That is a ma-nageable amount, I want to have everything organized and be the author of the majority of ideas coming out of my studio. We work on all types of buildings the clients want us to. We are trying to make our creation compliant with the environment as much as possible, to make it extraordinary, yet con-siderate from all perspectives. Making good architecture, often in spite of all deep-rooted habits, requires us to constantly and strenuo-usly fight for the good cause.

Which major projects have you personally designed and which do you consider most successful?I can reply to this question only from my po-int of view, i.e. which buildings are significa-nt to me. In a way, every building I designed was essential for me since they all gave me something new, which pushes me forward. I like my civil buildings - the churches in Litomyšl and Černošice, and now also the LIKO-S project. I have a feeling it will be ex-traordinary. I have an emotional attachment even to some of my unrealized buildings that pushed me forward as well.

What projects are you currently working on?At this time there are 10 buildings under construction and I‘m working on about

20 other projects of apartment buildings, civil buildings but mainly family houses. For instance, we are planning a construction of an apartment building in the immediate vici-nity of the Convent of Saint Agnes in Prague, located on the Vltava waterfront. It is a diffi-cult task, full of surprises. What brings me the most joy is working on the LIKO-S deve-lopment centre project. It will be a unique, lively structure that will push all the people working on it forward. I learn a lot from this project and the whole crew is very interested in it.

At what occasion did you start coopera-ting with our company?I have known your company for about 20 years, you have realized a lot of producti-on halls that were designed in our studio. We also use your partitions. This all was, howe-ver, tended by my employees. This year I was contacted by the owners, Mr. and Mrs. Musil, who offered me a cooperation. The meeting was warm, very unexpected and at least for me, more than pleasant. In my opinion, every architect desires an investor and a partner like this. I will take our cooperation very se-riously and put all my effort into it.

The LIKO-S development centre project is very unusual and, more importantly, very timeless. Is this your first building of this kind, or have you realized similar projects before?We conduct surveys in lots of different fields. We have used some aspects of this building before, e.g. the facade and roof design, the dis-

position, solar energy, water management, etc. This is, however, the first time we com-bined all these aspects of an environmental building of this complexity. It is a challenge and you are the first, who has such vision and who is planning to build a complex structure like this. I am happy to be a part of it.

Could you tell us more about this project?It is going to be a small, energy independent development centre built on a body of water. We decided it to be a wooden structure cove-red by round, vertical gardens and marsh, in a way that the building is connected to the surrounding nature as much as possi-ble, while providing maximum comfort and energy independence at the same time. And it does not produce any waste! That sounds like something out of science fiction.

How do you see the future of modern architecture?The architecture of the future will develop in many directions. One of these directions will be in compliance with nature, considerate of it as much as possible, like this very project. It will teach us to live embraced by nature, making us realize that we are merely a tiny part of this world.

We thank you for the interview and wish you every success in this cooperation.

Jiří Stratil, editorIn cooperation with Lukáš Kovařík,

Technical director, Energy

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR – MR. ZDENĚK FRÁNEK IS DEDICATED TO ARCHITECTURE FOR NEARLY 30 YEARS, AND CURRENTLY WORKS AS DEAN OF THE FACULTY OF ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE AT TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY IN LIBEREC. WITH GREAT PLEASURE AND DETERMINATION HAS UNDERTAKEN THE PROJECT AND PREPARATION FOR OUR DEVELOPMENT CENTER. ON THIS OCCASION WE ASKED HIM FOR AN INTERVIEW.

INTERVIEW

ZDENĚK FRÁNEK: PROF. ING. ARCH.

Meeting at the Fránek Architects studio, from left: Lukáš Kovařík, Libor Musil, Zdeněk Fránek.

Every architect desires a partner like this

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We have been noticing for quite a while that the requirements of our customers, regar-ding our partitions‘ design and functionality, are changing significantly. We are ceaseless-ly trying to come up with new changes to our partition systems that would satisfy our customers as much as possible. For instance, we have focused on the use of mostly unu-sed glass or solid partition filling. When we asked ourselves how to use this space effec-tively and give it a function other than room separation, we found the answer in everyday office life. Where do I place a flip chart I just bought without it being in the way? Where can I put the important graphs and informa-tion for my co-workers?

The solution may seem prosaic, yet it is functional. Using the glass as a board on which we can write, or even hang documents by magnets if we provide the wall with a mag-netic foil. Glass panes in office interiors are currently very popular and utilizing either fully or partially glazed walls in this way ma-kes it both stylish and functional.

Another option is the use of notice boards built in the partitions in a way that it does not interfere with the surroundings. The custo-mers can choose from a variety of different surfaces.

These are examples of the functional de-sign we offer to our customers.

Roman Macko, Manager of the Bratislava Branch

PSJ, AZ Tower, BrnoKentico, Brno

Česká spořitelna, Ostrava

INTERIORS DIVISION

THE CONNECTION OF DESIGN AND FUNCTIONALITY

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Abbvie, Bucharest

Amazon, Bratislava, relocatable partitions are both aesthetic and functional.

Salvus, Bratislava Galeria Gagarinova, Bratislava

AgriComp, Střelice

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Pilsen is becoming the European Capital of Culture in 2015. This is one of the reasons why a new theatre is being built on Jízdecká street, where we were given an opportu-nity to show what we are capable of in the field of interior design, acoustics and tech-nical functionality. The theatre, being of industrial design, allowed us to implement two Liko-Space® movable acoustic walls for the rehearsal room of the orchestra and for the „Little Scene“. Both walls have a visible track, suspension and a black steel structu-re, which is anchored to a concrete ceiling.

LIKO-S also delivered Sonorbery acoustic suspensory units used for sound absorpti-on at different frequencies. We have suc-cessfully completed this difficult task and contributed to the general impression the theatre will give in the upcoming event and to every future visitor.

Jozef Ferjo, Sales manager of the Prague Branch

LIKO-SPACE® MOVABLE WALLS

INTERIORS DIVISION

for a Pilsen theatre

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The order consisted of the delivery of MICRA II partitions with inner blinds and LIKOform® veneer panel partitions as well as the adjustment of the existing plasterboard partitions. One of the client‘s requirements was to apply the profiles used for MICRA II partitions also to the plasterboard and the LIKOform® veneer panel partitions, to create an impression of a unified construction. Ano-ther special requirement was the placement of slanting plasterboard walls connected to

a MICRA II partition with a slanted blind. LIKOform® veneer panel partitions include horizontal and vertical tongue and groove joints. Part of the veneer panelling also co-vers the existing plasterboard structure. Sin-ce the veneer was imported from Italy, it was delivered later than expected and that com-plicated the overall coordination to a certain degree.

Lukáš Mikyska, Project manager of the Prague Branch

A MODERN FIT OUT FOR REBUY STARS

INTERIORS DIVISION

THIS IMPLEMENTATION OF A RELOCATABLE PARTITION SYSTEM IN REBUY STARS, SEATED IN THE AMAZON COURT BUILDING IN THE KARLÍN DISTRICT OF PRAGUE, WAS ADDED TO OUR LIST OF GOOD REFERENCES.

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OUR PARTNERS

LIKO-S INTERIORS EN ROUTE TO CONQUERING EUROPE!

I must say that a lot has happened since I was writing about our vision for the first official LIKO-Stories in April. Our Ex-port team has been extremely busy with day-to-day business which is a very positi-ve sign on our journey to conquering the European market and we definitely want to keep it this way. However, further steps and actions must be taken by us to further develop our strength and improve the sup-port and service for our partners. I believe we have also been successful in this regard in the past months.

Firstly, we have done process improve-ments in our internal daily operations. Our everyday work on the projects of our part-ners is the core of our business and we are always trying to get ourselves better at this. Operations in terms of pricing, ordering, quality control, logistics and on time deli-very must be as efficient and error-proof as possible to ensure that we can focus on the most important part of our work – our part-ners! And I believe that we are on the right path with this. However, we will not stop in our efforts. Thanks to our debriefing sys-

tem we know very well that there is no such thing as a flawless project. One of the prin-ciples of our company philosophy is the im-portance of details and that is where we will focus our attention now.

However, developing our Export is not something which can be done from behind the office desk. I am very glad to have been able to visit (and host) many of our partners from all over Europe.

My first journey this year of course cou-ld not have been to any other place than the beautiful Switzerland. Our partner the-re, AMINA products, with its network of customers has over the past years become the real example of a successful member of the international LIKO-S group. Rolf Ri-tter, the owner and managing director, is how I imagine a true business partner and I believe this is one of the main reasons for AMINA’s continuous success. Very soon af-ter my visit to Muri I was able to meet Rolf and his colleagues Markus and Stefan once again, this time in our company headquar-ters in Austerlitz. This two day meeting was

aimed at sales and calculation training and was once again very productive. The Swiss market is open for us and I believe our AMI-NA team with their enthusiasm and dedica-tion is to be even more heard of.

At the end of April I have visited our Bri-tish partner company INTERFINISH UK and met with the owner and manager Stephen Hobbs. Even though 2014 has not been the best year for IF UK so far, the market poten-tial seems motivating and it seems like our English partner is on the right track.

In our last LIKO-Stories we have published an article with our new Romanian partner, Bucharest-based company Corporate Office Solutions. COS has become a very strong and reliable LIKO-S partner in the past months but only after my visit to Bucharest did I realise what an amazing company this really is. From the remarkable story of the owner and managing director Christophe Weller to their beautiful headquarters which also function as a showroom – I saw commitment every little detail. Their bu-siness model which ranges from project

Our collegues from Amina products accepting small good-bye gifts from Jan Musil after the sales and technical training.

Jan Musil, project manager of Hent Lennard Lessnert and lead installer Jan Tongel‘ in front of a school in Norwegian Bodo where we have installed ceilings.

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OUR PARTNERS

Our collegues from Amina products accepting small good-bye gifts from Jan Musil after the sales and technical training.

design to installation seems to be working very well and thus it was a natural that soon our meeting in Bucharest we were glad to be able to organise FARplan training for COS technicians Paul and George. Not only did they learn all the features of FARplan (including the newly developed MICRA ver-sion) but George also managed to basically destroy the LIKO-S team in a couple of ga-mes of laser tag.

Lately, I have also managed to visit our Belgian partner YALTA. This company is run and owned by whom some people might

describe as the most experienced salesman of relocatable partitions in Europe – Jan Beerteens. Jan has been in the business for a long time and is also a LIKO-S partner sin-ce a few years. After YALTA’s successes in the past years with LIKO-S, 2014 has so far been a bit of low point in our cooperation. However, after spending a full day with Jan and Jonas in Antwerpen and seeing YALTA’s newly restored energy towards achieving highly on the Belgian partitions market, I feel very confident about our com-mon future. Thanks to their technical expe-riences over the many years, partners like AMINA products and YALTA are also very beneficial to LIKO-S in terms of develop-ment of new products which is another gre-at synergetic effect of our Export business.

In the past issue you also had the chance to read a little about our project in Bodø. Bodø is one of the fastest growing cities in Norway even though it is more than 150 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle. Our team was installing suspended ceilings and acoustic wall panels on this project of a new local school which was contracted by

one of the biggest construction companies in Scandinavia – HENT. After 7 months of a lot of travelling and thousands of ceiling tiles installed, we have successfully fi-nished this project with a full satisfaction of the customer. This is of course a great refe-rence for us and I believe this is not the last project we have carried out in the north of Europe.

As I have already written before, Germa-ny will for the coming years be one of the main focuses in our activities. From our ex-perience, German market is one with a gre-

at potential where our quality, lead times and personal flexibility have quite a value for the customer. With that in mind, I also met with our German partner from Lüden-scheid – company LIKO-S Germany run by Dirk Van Aerschot. Dirk’s company has been steadily growing since their entrance into the LIKO-S group and from what I have seen and heard there is more to come. I trust that LIKO-S Germany will benefit from our activities in Germany and that we will to-gether build up a strong LIKO-S brand which represents quality, innovation and flexibility.

Additionally, I have had the pleasure to meet another interesting German company. HVP from Hamburg is a business owned and operated by the Karacic family. Over the past 29 years HVP has become a well-known leader in the dry-wall industry in the regi-on of Hamburg and now they also want to take on the LIKO-S relocatable partitions. Thanks to their very good name, hard work and enthusiasm it seems that becoming the Hamburg leader in partitions might not also be too far away. Even though our coo-

peration only started a few months ago, we have already carried out two projects. On one of them, Kontorhaus am Fischmarkt, we have also met with the infamous Ger-man Strähle which have installed 3 of the 5 floors of this building with their partitio-ning system. Nevertheless, Mr. Karacic ma-naged to persuade the investor to go for the LIKO-S system for the 4th floor. In the end, the customer was very satisfied with us and it seems that the last remaining floor is not the last project in Hamburg that will bear the connection of LIKO-S and HVP.

All in all, 2014 seems to be a success-ful year for the LIKO-S international group. Even though we still have a few months to come, we are already planning our next year. I believe 2015 will be a big break-through point for our Export with very exciting new products coming along and our Export activities becoming even more intense. But more about that the next time …

Jan Musil, Head of Export

Ladislav Ravas and Jan Musil with general manager of COS Christophe Weller and COS sales manager Stefan Olarn in the newly refurbished HQ of COS.

Two Jans (Beerteens and Musil) and the YALTA technician Jonas Verheyden at dinner after a fruitful meeting in Antwerpen.

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Part of our visit by COS was a dinner in the oldest pub in Bacharest.

LIKO-S team together with our new partner from Hamburg, Company HUP (on the picture the Kovačič brothers who own and manage HUP).

OUR PARTNERS

Interior of a new building of a college in Bodø, where we have installed ceilings. Quite nice college, don’t you think?

This is also a benefit when you work in Export.

The biggest vortex in the world in Saltstraumen near Bodø. Our installers handled a vortex on a building site very well.

At dinner in a port Bodø from the left lead installer Jan Tongeľ and installers Jiří Dubský and Roman Leitgeb.

OTHER PHOTOS FROM EXPORT

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ENERGY DIVISION

Specializing in the production of prefabri-cated ‘Living Buildings’, Icynene’s licensed contractor in the Czech Republic, LIKO-S, built their own production plant in the heart of the South Moravian Region using Icynene H2Foam Lite™.

In the heart of the Czech Republic’s South Moravian Region, licensed Icynene® con-tractor LIKO-S works with clients to develop high-performance pre-fabricated buildings known as ‘Living Buildings’.

Tailored to suit the individual needs of each client, LIKO-S has built a series of ‘Li-ving Buildings’ in a variety of building types including offices, warehouses, manufactu-ring plants, car dealerships and even par-king garages.

The adaptability of these buildings allows clients to design a structure that not only fe-atures the latest energy efficiency materials and solutions but also allows them to use a multitude of different materials without breaking the bank.

Showcasing the ‘Living Building’ conceptThe new production plant for LIKO-S in the town of Slavkov u Brna (Austerlitz) showca-ses the ‘Living Building’ concept. The team designed and built their new production plant using a variety of different materials and finishes to emphasize how flexible their patented system truly is.

The patented prefabricated wall systems feature Icynene’s open-cell light density spray foam product, Icynene H2Foam Lite™. Ideal for both residential and commercial construction, Icynene H2Foam Lite™ has a soft, flexible composition that maintains a complete air seal all year round, even af-ter seasonal expansion and contraction. Furthermore, the spray foam is able to ad-here to a broad range of substrates in a wide

range of weather conditions, making it an ideal complement to the prefabricated wall system.

Icynene H2Foam Lite™ is a 100% water--blown, half-pound foam that is HFC- and PBDE-free.

Constructed in a record time of only 45 days, the new LIKO-S production plant has a floor space of 720m2 and features an array of external materials including grass.

The use of Icynene® H2Foam Lite™ spray foam insulation means that employees can continue working in insulated comfort throughout the year creating ‘Living Buil-dings’ systems equally as effective, ener-gy efficient and visually stunning at the LIKO-S production plant itself.

For further information, contact your local licensed Icynene® dealer.

Icynene Inc. would like to thank Icynene con-tractor, LIKO-S a.s ENERGY for their assistance with this document. Source: icynene.co.ukPhotographs supplied by LIKO-S a.s ENERGY.

OUR METALWORK PRODUCTION PLANT WITH A UNIQUE SHEATHING COMPOSITION, WHICH WE FEATURED IN OUR MAGAZINE SEVERAL TIMES, WAS INCLUDED IN THE SUCCESS STORIES LIST AND WILL BE PRESENTED TO THE WORLD WITHIN THE ICYNENE® GROUP.

ICYNENE® INTRODUCED OUR UNIQUE HALL SHEATHING TO THE WORLD

Icynene H2Foam Lite™ is a 100% water-blown, half-pound foam that is HFC- and PBDE-free.

‘living building’ production plant

Slavkov u Brna, South Moravian region, CZeCh rePuBliC

icYnEnE inc. • icYnEnE.Eu & icYnEnE.coMThe Evolution of Insulation™

In the heart of the Czech Republic’s

South Morvian Region, licensed Icynene

contractor LIKO-S works with clients to

develop high-performance pre-fabricated

buildings known as ‘Living Buildings’.

Tailored to suit the individual needs of

each client, LIKO-S has built a series of

‘Living Buildings’ in a variety of building

types including offices, warehouses,

manufacturing plants, car dealerships and

even parking garages.

The adaptability of these buildings allows

clients to design a structure that not

only features the latest energy efficiency

materials and solutions but also allows them

to use a multitude of different materials

without breaking the bank.

Showcasing the ‘living building’ concept

The new production plant for LIKO-S in the

town of Slavkov u Brna showcases the ‘Living

Building’ concept. The team designed and

built their new production plant using a

variety of different materials and finishes

to emphasize how flexible their patented

system truly is.

The patented prefabricated wall systems

feature Icynene’s open-cell light density

spray foam product, Icynene H2Foam Lite™.

Ideal for both residential and commercial

construction, Icynene H2Foam Lite™ has a

soft, flexible composition that maintains

a complete air seal all year round, even

after seasonal expansion and contraction.

Furthermore, the spray foam is able to adhere

to a broad range of substrates in a wide range

of weather conditions, making it an ideal

Specializing in the

production of prefabricated

‘Living Buildings’, Icynene’s

licensed contractor in the

Czech Republic, LIKO-S,

built their own production

plant in the heart of the

South Morvian Region using

Icynene H2Foam Lite™.

SL-0

41-0

1 M

arch

201

4

• Ic

ynen

e® is

a re

gist

ered

trad

emar

k of

Icyn

ene

Inc.

For further information, contact your local licensed Icynene dealer.

The Evolution of Insulation™

icYnEnE inc. • icYnEnE.Eu & icYnEnE.coM

complement to the prefabricated wall system.

Icynene H2Foam Lite™ is

a 100% water-blown, half-pound foam that is HFC- and PBDE-free.

Constructed in a record time of only 45 days, the new LIKO-S production plant has a floor space of 720m2 (7,750 sq. ft.) and features an array of external materials including grass.

The use of Icynene H2Foam Lite™ spray foam insulation means that employees can continue working in insulated comfort throughout the year creating ‘Living Buildings’ systems equally as effective, energy efficient and visually stunning at the LIKO-S production plant itself.

Footnotes:1. Icynene Inc. would like to thank Icynene

contractor, LIKO-S a.s ENERGY for their assistance with this document. Photographs supplied by LIKO-S a.s ENERGY.

14

ENERGY DIVISION

The close and beneficial cooperation between our company and ICYNENE® is stretching back nine years and our relations are very good. It is an honour for LIKO-S to cooperate with the world‘s best company in the foam thermal insulation field and to be ICYNENE‘s first-class business representati-on in Central Europe. Our mutual business, as well as the quality of our cooperation, kee-ps thriving.

Is it a coincidence that LIKO-S chose ICY-NENE® as its strategic partner in the in-sulation field? What does this connection bring to the construction industry?

Our cooperation began after a then export director of our company was sent to a con-struction fair in Toronto, where he was sup-posed to look at new progressive constructi-on technologies in North America. Besides many other interesting things, he brought a small booklet about a new house insulation technology that uses a soft open-cell foam. It was the time of a massive expansion of ICY-NENE® over the whole North America and our company searched for a new and innova-tive impulse in the insulation field, where we expected a market growth due to an increase in energy prices. We have never walked the well trodden path, the reliable path chosen by most companies. We have always been seeking something new and different. This has been innate to our company from start. We have done this many times in the past. Examples?

These are the examples of our compa-ny‘s innovative successes and their outco-mes. Right after the Velvet Revolution, we became the first company promoting and se-lling suspended acoustic mineral cassette ceilings. We became partners with a Danish company Rockfon® and, in 1998, we were its largest foreign representative and the leader

of this field in Central Europe. We ourselves managed to install 20 hectares (200,000 m2) of acoustic ceilings, bringing new quality to office interiors.

In 1995, we became the first company in the region providing relocatable aluminium partition systems. In that time, brick and plasterboard partitions were much cheaper and more widespread, but our partition sys-tem provided new, different quality for the customers and secured its spot in the market among popular high quality technologies. I am glad we still are at the top of the Central European market and that we are one of the world‘s best companies.

In the late 90‘s, we came up with a new sys-tem of prefabricated buildings for medium and small businesses that we called Living Buildings®. The idea of providing a building system flexible to the needs of the customer was revolutionary in times when compa-nies had to be built as cheaply as possible. We could not build at low cost. However, we

advised our clients against scrimping on in-vestments in their premises and explained to them the importance of letting the premises serve the business and make money in the future. And the result? We built almost 1,000 business buildings in Central Europe and our customers keep coming back.

LIKO-S also enriched the Czech language by a new word, „vestavek®“ (inhall unit). We were wondering how we should call the system of divided spaces for production halls and warehouses that we constructed and manufactured ourselves. After a long regis-tration procedure, it was acknowledged that LIKO-S was the first company bringing the word and the product into the Czech market.

We have prepared some surprises for this year‘s construction market as well. Also our metalwork is planning nice surprises for the customers. But all these will be announced at the right time.

Currently, we are pushing the way for a new generation of thermal foam insula-tion. We helped to start a new era of thermal insulation. Just like before, we are aware that we opened the construction market for a very progressive trend and that this trend will have a great future, bringing our custo-mers a lot of satisfaction. We have been using this technology for nine years already, and we pushed its way not only in the Czech Re-public, but also in the whole of Europe, whe-re we were the first company receiving the European certification for this type of soft foam insulation.

Polyurethane foam has been used as insu-lation for many years. The formula inven-ted in Canada, however, bestows the ICY-NENE® foam insulation with exceptional and unique qualities. We provided our buil-ders with this patent on water based expan-

WHY THE CONNECTION OF LIKO-S AND ICYNENE®?And what does this connection bring to the construction market in Europe?

Libor Musil with his son, Jan, on a photo for an interview in the magazine „Ekonom“.

15

ENERGY DIVISION

ding foam and started applying it in houses. There are now almost 6,000 satisfied hou-se owners who have our company‘s foam in-sulation installed in their homes.

Why did those customers choose us and ICYNENE®? In case of modern technologies, it is always good to know the background of the companies that came up with the inno-vations. The background of the Canadian company ICYNENE® consists of a 30 year de-velopment of a soft open-cell water-based foam. None of our competitors are even close to that. When a company applies a new material in my house, it is important to know what kind of company that is, what quality it guarantees and how much I can trust the whole system. The company culture of LIKO-S has developed its own meaning of the words many other companies use to pre-sent themselves as well. Our interpretation of these words is their true meaning:

Our company is reliable – our business partners and employees can rely on us, we do not promise what we cannot deliver, we fully met our commitments. Quality and results are of utmost importance to us.

Our company is correct – our people must provide correct information, we do not fool our business partners. The specification of our work and its result must be in compli-ance with our client‘s expectations and the instructions.

Our company is solid – solidity forms the foundation of our company. We are a Czech family business that has been in the market for 22 years already. We have no debts with banks; we meet our liabilities in time. Our ca-pital and company assets with reserves fully cover all our commitments. When we give warranties on our products, we know we would meet them. This is possible thanks to the stability of our family business and our financial prudence.

It is often entertaining to observe how many companies use these words in empty phrases. What are they willing to promise their custo-mers just to generate instant profit or at least to survive.

I am glad I am surrounded by capable pro-fessionals who provide the Central European market with the most advanced high-quality product in the family house thermal insu-lation segment that can be made. Once again

we open new future and show the path. I wish our customers to enjoy our cooperation and I want to assure them that we always await their wishes and comments. We are looking for every inspiration to our never-ending improvement.

We know that being the best is the best.

Libor Musil, Chairman of the Board

Sprayed Thermal insulation Icynene® - Smartisol® ensures the best possible insulation.

Installation

Insulation

US Housing Starts

Note: Companies indexed to 2003 revenue. Icynene figures based on volume, Owens Corning and Masco figures based on revenue Source: Company Filings, Equity Research

0%

50%

100%

150%

200%

250%

300%

350%

400%

450%

500%

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Insulation Market Growth (long term)

Long term development of the insulation market in the United States. Note: Company incomes indexed to their turnover in 2003. The value of Icynene was derived from the realized amount, the values of Owens Corning and Masco are based on company turnover.Source: Company Filings, Equity Research.

38151064

27

Icynene 38%

Demilec 15%

BASF 10%

Lapolla 6%

Bayer 4%

Other 27%

Market shares of the open cell insulation foam market in North America for year 2013. Source: CPI data.

16

The training took place on LIKO-S premises. On the first day, all participants were welco-med by Martin Diviš, Director of Energy Di-vision, and acquainted them with the succe-sses of Icynene® spray foam insulation in the world and informed them of changes to the Civil Code. Václav Pěnička was giving advice on creating a successful regional company. This was followed by a popular informal dis-cussion about improvement and innovation.

In the afternoon, we moved to Austerlitz Golf Resort where we used the services of a professional golf instructor. On the golf course, we also had the opportunity to meet Roman Šebrle, Ivan Lendl and Libor Sion-ko, and watch them play, which was a great experience.

The training continued on the next day with a favoured technical part prepared by Lukáš Kovařík. As a bonus, there was an in-teractive lecture on selling Smartisol® over the internet, led by Mr. Diviš in cooperation with Viktor Janda from Seznam.cz. Mr. Janda went through the distributors‘ web pages and gave everyone advice on how to improve

them from both the graphic and search engi-ne optimization perspectives.

The meeting in general created a great opportunity to share opinions and experi-ence, which improved the team cooperati-on and contributed to our goal of being the most successful and respected construction distributors.

Jana Vránová, Assistant of Smartisol®

AN ANNUAL MEETING OF SMARTISOL® - ICYNENE® DISTRIBUTORS TOOK PLACE IN SUMMER 2014. I WOULD NOT EXAGGERATE IF I SAID IT WAS AN INTERNATIONAL MEETING. THE CZECH REPUBLIC WAS REPRESENTED BY SALES MANAGERS OF LIKO-S TOGETHER WITH THE REPRESENTATIVES OF DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES MUSIL, SPOL. S.R.O., KP – IZOL S.R.O., ZAIZOL S.R.O. AND ZDENĚK HAVLÍČEK. THE MEETING WAS ALSO ATTENDED BY REPRESENTATIVES OF DOM MONT S.R.O. FROM SLOVAKIA AND ERNST STOCKER FROM AUSTRIA.

We provided attendees with a lot of technical material they can utilize in practice.

The „Live Room“ came alive again, a regular meeting of our sales managers and regional Smartisol® distributors.

ENERGY DIVISION

A FRUITFUL MEETING OF THE SMARTISOL® TEAM

Jana Vránová deserves praise for the organization of the training.

Show by Martin Diviš.

17

The prize for the most interesting project was awarded to the Musil company, led by Aleš Musil.

Zaizol, a company seated in Smržovka and led by Martin Pilz, became the top distributor of 2013.

Smartisol® in action.

Vašek Pěnička and Ernst Stocker at the Austerlitz golf course.

The ladies of Smartisol® , Mrs. Havlíčková (from the Zdeněk Havlíček company in Sedlčany) and Patricia Sotolárová (Dom mont, Žilina).

Mr. Libor Musil presenting the benefits of a connection between distributors and strong companies like LIKO-S.

The Smartisol® team members about to begin their golf training in Slavkov where they would learn the basics of this sport.

18

PRODUCTION DIVISION

The Production Division is an integral part of our company. It naturally developed over time. Over the past 22 years, shareholders of this company invested into our division around EUR 5 million in total. These resour-ces, with the help of our division‘s employees, were used to build a shop floor where produ-ction lines are manufactured using modern equipment. We focus on the field of stainless steel and special heat resistant materials. The welding of these materials in various positi-ons is the most difficult task one can encoun-ter in this field. Nevertheless, it is a sphere in which we are deep rooted after 20 years of

know-how building. We expect it will stay like that even in the future. The craftsman-ship of our welders and the knowledge of our technologists helped create the Welding in Austerlitz brand. The brand is based on ex-perience and knowledge, and their constant expansion. Our brand has also been positive-ly evaluated abroad, in countries where our production lines were delivered.

Our division holds Pressure Equipment certificates:• EN 15085-2.2008 • ČSN EN ISO 14001.2005

• ČSN EN ISO 3834-2.2006 • ČSN EN ISO 9001.2009 • and EWT.

This all, however, has no value to us if our customer is not satisfied. The satisfaction of our customer is our only criterion. That is why we have our own internal quality man-agement, consisting of certified and trained employees who inspect welds and choose which of them is the best each month. The welder is then financially rewarded and acts as an example for others. This way we for-

WELDING IN AUSTERLITZ

TECHNOLOGY

We also use SolidCAM for CNC programming and SolidWorks for product modelling.

Roman Zouhar Welding in Austerlitz.

CNC latheMT 820I CNC 3000 Swing over bed: 820 mm Swing over cross-slide tool box: 530 mm Distance between centres: 3,000 mm Max. work-piece weight: 2,500 kg

CNC milling cutterVERTICAL MACHINING CENTREDMG - DMC 1035 V ecoline Working range: X 1035 mm, Y 560 mm, Z 510 mm Maximum speed: 8,000 rpm

In the machining area, we use numerically controlled (CNC) machines – a milling machine and a lathe.

19

med a team of welders where only the best remain.

This project goes beyond the borders of our company. We are building a base in voca-tional schools through LIKO-S classes and, of course, also in the Austerlitz welding school.

This secures the continuity of the Welding in Austerlitz brand. This brand has already spread into most European countries. Our brand‘s welds can be found on products exported to Germany, Netherlands, Den-mark, United Arab Emirates, Norway, Swit-zerland, Austria, Brazil, China, India and New Zealand. Our know-how does not only

dwell within our employees, but also in the technologies we bought and applied on our products.

Thanks to the combination of our tech-nological capabilities, which are on the Eu-ropean level, and our weld execution, we can confidently present our products in international trade fairs, such as Elmia Sub-contractor 2014 in Sweden and Kooperation-sbörse im Erzgebirge in Germany. We look forward to meeting you in these fairs or on any other occasion.

Roman Zouhar, Director, Production

Stainless steel water tank.

CLEAN and GREEN production

PaintshopWet paint booth is a place where we perform surface finishing of our products.Dimensions: Length 8m, Width: 4m, Height: 2.8m, Airflow: 36,000m3/hr., Maximum temperature: 60°C.

In the metal forming area, we employ a bending machine and a hydraulic four-cylinder centering machine.

Blasting unitsCapacity: 18,000 m3/hr Total pressure: 2,600 Pa Electric motor: 18.5 kW, 400/690 V, 50 Hz Dimensions: Length: 15,000 mm Width: 5,500 mm Height: 4,100 mm

A LETTER OF THANKS FROM A FRENCH CUSTOMERIn the April issue of LIKO-Stories, we have informed you about the production of transit shed vehicle cockpits that was under way in our metalwork shop. The cockpits have been implemented in transit shed vehicles which are now fully operational. We are delighted by the letter of thanks we have received from our French partner, praising the work of our craftsmen and technicians. One of the received photos is attached below.

Editors

11/6/2014

Dear partners,

In the attachments you will find a photo taken on the Gaussin open day from last week. In total, we assembled 31 vehicles, a docking station and four prototypes. The event was attended by 160 potential customers.

The presentation of the Gaussin com-pany and taking of these photos was possible thanks to your everyday work.

I thank you for your cooperation on the PELINDO project and believe we will soon start working together on a new se-ries (20 vehicles for the Hamburg port or 40 electric vehicles for Turkey).

Best regards,Aleš Jindřich / Sociéte AJIS /

Gérant - Directeur OperationnelAJIS s.r.o., Jilská 4, 110 00 Prague 1

PRODUCTION DIVISION

CLEAR and GREEN production

20

Martin, did anything take you by surprise when you started working as a head of the Support division?I was surprised by several things, especially by the way everything is organized. The com-panies I encountered, for example, rarely had such a well-organized and labelled stor-age system like the one in this company, even though it is one of the most essential things. I have witnessed situations where, due to insufficient storage organization, even a se-arch for a single item was very problematic and taking several hours. This applies to production as well. I have everything I need for work at hand and do not lose valuable time searching. Thanks to such system I can accomplish a great deal of work every day which gives me lots of satisfaction.

For which goals have you aimed first and which goals followed? What have you and your team achieved since you began wor-king for our company?One of our first and ultimate goals is to re-duce the number of complaints to zero. In February, the month I started working, there were seven justified complaints in total. We managed to come up with corrective measu-res helping to eliminate these flaws. There were only two complaints in March.

I have also focused on the LIKO-Space® pro-duct, together with Lukáš Hromada. The pro-blem we were trying to solve was that the de-livery of the panel material usually took four to five weeks. We have succeeded in making adjustments to the production in a way that the standard panel material can be delivered within a week. On top of that, we also impro-ved the acoustic parameters of the product.

Zbyněk Macalík helped me address the issue of cooperation with suppliers. This is also a part of our goals for this year labelled as „supplier-buyer relations“. We are nego-tiating with them about the conditions and

quality of deliveries to make them satisfy our needs. We only want high-quality and reliab-le suppliers.

As for the matter of glazed partitions and their capacity planning process, I am coope-rating with Aleš Spálovský. Due to the high amount of modifications in the production, however, we could not accomplish much. Ne-vertheless, we will keep trying to find a way to succeed in this task.

We have managed to enter our accounting documents into a system. Martin Slimák and I can thus keep track of every document, see which supplier‘s documents we are lacking and then request their provision. We are gra-teful for the support of Martina Polová, who helps us with routine activities and ensures that every member of our team attends to things that matter, thus contributing to the operation of the whole company.

How does your team cope with your intentions?My team consists of great people that sup-port and help each other. They fully realize

Jiří Silnica is our glass expert.

Jiří Králik preparing one of the hundreds partition profiles for milling.

MARTIN VÍŠEK WAS CHOSEN AS THE HEAD OF THE SUPPORT DIVISION, FACING DEMANDS FOR CHANGES AND INNOVATION RIGHT FROM THE START. I ASKED HIM HOW HE MANAGES HIS NEW POSITION AND WHICH GOALS HE HAS REACHED SO FAR.

PRODUCTION DIVISION

Martin Víšek:

EVERY IDEA OR INITIATIVE IS WELCOME

21

the importance of all decisions. We all know how important these changes are and anyone can come up with new ones. Every idea and initiative is welcome, whether it comes from my head or any other.

Are any of your team members contribu-ting to the development in practice? Yes, it is one of the most important proce-sses. We are constantly working on impro-vements to our products and services. Every day we carry out an inspection to identify the causes of problems and delays and to check if there is anything not functioning as inten-ded or visibly flawed. We approach every issue and try to find an improvement. Inno-vation and development are essential parts

of every company‘s philosophy. Companies neglecting innovation and development will eventually fail in the market.

What are your plans for the near future?We are planning to implement weekly pro-ductivity evaluation. Every production em-ployee will know exactly how effective he was in the previous week. A certain degree of competitiveness is important and should be present on the workplace.

Another major plan is to complete the unfinished project of running individual production operations and then the final product through terminals, together with the bill of delivery. This is connected to the already mentioned capacity planning, which will help us optimize the production process and reflect better on the deadlines required by customers.

Thank you for the interview. I wish you every success.

Jiří Stratil,Editor

My team consists of great people that supportand help each other. We all know how important these changes are and anyone can come up with new ones. Our common goal is quality and therefore elimination of complaints. We are not only making products, we are also trying to improve them.

Every detail matters! Dalibor Kučera (left) and Martin Hrabovský.

Martin Víšek in „his“ operation... ...and with Marek Novozámský, supervising the making of doors.

To wrap everything up and prepare for expedition - that is the job of Patrik Škultetý and Ondřej Holásek.

22

EXAMPLES INSPIRE

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE FAMOUS BAŤA FAMILY

I belong to the generation who grew up in the socialist era and started a business after the revolution. For the past 24 years, I never cea-sed to search the best way to do things. How to improve the effectiveness of our company, its competitiveness, how to motivate our em-ployees, how to constantly develop and inno-vate, how to connect the company and family life in the best way possible. Our competitors to the west of our borders had the opportu-nity to both learn in top quality schools and gain experience and inspiration from their surroundings. I am very grateful for eve-ry good advice, especially from people that know our field and have similar experience. There is a lot of theorists, but their advice is not convincing enough.

Tomáš and Jan Antonín Baťa did not attend manager schools either. Nevertheless, they accomplished what has been accomplished only by a few people on Earth and left us a great heritage. The written life stories of Jan Antonín Baťa and his brother Tomáš lay the groundwork for the Czech business envi-ronment. It is hard to find similar literature anywhere else in the world. These books describe the business lives of particular Czech businessmen and workers. I learn a lot

from their stories and often feel ashamed. I feel ashamed realizing how slowly we often carry out projects even with the help of mo-dern technology, compared to the way these gentlemen from Zlín carried out theirs, back in the day and on every continent. In the era between the First and the Second World War, The Baťa brothers set up the right standards. We still have a lot to learn.

In LIKO-S, we are trying to follow the basic principles of the Baťa system. We perceive our business as a service to customers, our employees are the foundation of our compa-ny, we are trying to ensure their professional and personal growth by systematic training, our teams trade with each other and mem-bers are paid from the income of their teams. We reward active employees who show ini-tiative, we want our company to be nothing but the best in its field. We are convinced that the only way to success is a hard everyday work, using brain instead of muscles where possible.

LIKO-S is a Czech family business. The Baťa company was also a Czech family business at its peak. Therefore, the Czech owner of the company learns a lot from the life stories of Tomáš and Jan Antonín. Both positive and

negative lessons, such as: How can a Czech family conquer the world and earn huge glo-bal respect? How can Czech politics and envy destroy this national fortune? How can a fa-mily raise a thriving successor to the compa-ny (Jan Antonín in this case)? How can fami-ly conflicts damage the whole legacy (in the case of Tomáš Baťa Jr. taking over the compa-ny)? How can a Czech family make their com-pany the best example of the international business history? How can we twist the his-tory, erase the phenomenal Jan Antonín and replace him with Tomáš Jr., who transferred the pre-war world-famous concern into an insignificant company of the present?

I consider Tomáš Baťa, the founder, to be the best example of a visionary and a man-ager, and his brother, Jan Antonín Baťa, to be the example of a world-class business person, manager and thinker. They both are the best examples of Czech businessmen and patriots.

In LIKO-S, we are trying to enhance their legacy. We are building Happy and Green Company.

Libor Musil, Chairman of the Board

The Musil family at the Baťa Cities exhibition in the Brno House of Arts, which our company financially supported last year.

Jan Antonín Baťa in his house in Batatuba.

23

JAN ANTONÍN BAŤA: „NOVÉ KNÍŽECTVÍ - ROMÁN Z PRŮKOPNICKÉHO ŽIVOTA“WILL BE PUBLISHED WITH THE SUPPORT OF LIKO-S

The fourth volume of a unique edition of a so far unpublished literary legacy of a brilliant Czech-Brazilian industrialist (the 10th „Baťa“ volume including reprints and the 42nd vo-lume of the Nakladatelství Marek Belza pu-blisher). The story of this begins to unfold in Zlín at the times of the Second Czechoslovak Republic, at the beginning of the protectora-te era. The Baťa „youth“ undergoes a difficult 200 day trip to Brazil through southern Fran-

ce. They arrive in Sao Paulo where they begin working in the Sapaco company in Água Bran-ca and experience the life in Brazil. Then the expedition is divided, some people stay and the others travel to the emerging Batatuba. In the second half of 1940, the protagonist, Jarka Rotal, and his family travel to Indiana, to a place where also the boss and his family arrive to plan a colonization of Mato Grosso. The Baťa youth first takes part in the coloni-zation project in Indiana and Somambaia. The process is complicated by blacklists. Pla-nning to build a city in a rainforest, thinking about emigration in the history. The need to revitalize the Viacao company in the terms of blacklists - finding a solution to the crisis, several people in doubt. First attempts to es-tablish Somambaia, finally the building of the city of Batamato.

„TRUTH ALWAYS SURFACES, IT IS ESSENTIAL TO BELIEVE IN TRUTH AND NOT IN

COINCIDENCE. HONOR TRUTH, VALUE TRUTH AND WISH TRUTH TO EVERYONE.“

the last words of Jan Antonín Baťa, written on a piece of paper in São Paulo hospital after

the last of his heart attacks in August 1965

EXAMPLES INSPIRE

VALUABLE AND TIMELESS THOUGHTS OF JAN ANTONÍN BAŤAOUR MAGAZINE WAS GIVEN THE HONOUR OF PUBLISHING CHOSEN QUOTES FROM THE SPEECHES OF JAN ANTONÍN BAŤA.

It is necessary that you keep this upswing of humanity, nation, craft and the world alive and unbroken for the future. It is important to stay positive even in this negative world of destruction and firmly hold the belief, the direction and the goal which connects everyone in this world together, regardless of race, nationality and religion: The service for the people.

(Nové knížectví, non-dated, exile, first pub-lished in 2014 with the support of LIKO-S, taken

from the speech addressed to the „youth“ of the Baťa School of Work on 1 January ,1939)

We have a number of personal shortcomings. We are highly antisocial. We do not learn languages. We do not laugh. We poorly communicate with other people, let alone with strangers, just as we poorly celebrate happi-ness. Even our celebrations of 28th October are full of a 300 year serfdom, with more grief than happiness.

Our self-confidence is insufficient. We are not certain. We think that other people, people of other nationalities, are something different even though we know they are made of flesh and blood just as we are.

Back at home we thought the world ended behind the hill, and once we spend months travelling and seeing the world is endless, we start being lost and desire to go back home, to our bowl of potato soup and dumplings, thinking it would be the salvation of our lives. We desire splendid isolation, where everything would be small, yet our own. But the big world is flowing around us and forcing us to participate either under our conditions or someone else‘s.

(Za obchodem kolem světa, published in 1937 in Zlín, republished in 2006)

If there were 20 million unemployed people in Europe, it was because Europe lacked a million of well-bred, sculpted, courageous businessmen that would find a way to employ everyone. The reason for this was the poiso-ned climate caused by the seeming victory of communism in Russia. Many people believed it is safer to be employed in the public sector, or to be employed in general, as opposed to becoming a businessman.

(Těžké časy, non-dated, exile, first published in 2008)

The human mind is elemental just as eve-rything else. It works more strenuously only if you use a certain force on it. Because of this, there are and always will be wars in the world. Because people start thinking hard only if they feel threatened. At the times of peace and serenity, they only think about the 13th salary, shortening of their work hours, their benefits, etc.

(Román života, non-dated, exile, first published in 2009)

The Baťa Shoe factory in Batatuba, writing on the wall: „Work is the best teacher“ and „Tomorrow will be too late, start immediately“.

The book cover of „Nové knížectví“ by Jan Antonín Baťa.

LIKO-S, A. S.

WWW. LIVING-BUILDINGS.COM