Loprais Team: Treat Your Customers Well

REGION–KRNOV Treat Your Customers as You Would Want Them to Treat You Květoslav Bašista concerns itself with engineering at the top level and, thanks to that, guarantees its business partners the highest quality with a high degree of expertise. It is, therefore, no surprise that many domestic and foreign companies are interested in Bašista products. Mr. Bašista, your company was founded in 1991 and so belongs to one of the oldest businesses in Krnov. Can you describe what the beginnings of the Bašista company were like? You are right, next year we will be celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the firm’s founding, so it can be said that we belong to some of the oldest in Krnov. Our beginnings were very difficult and complicated. I stuck to my motto--If there is something you are good at and you want to get somewhere in life, do it. I realized that there was something that I am definitely good at and, what’s more, I enjoy doing it as well, so I did not give up. I would hazard to say that altogether I had three beginnings. The first one in 1991, and the second in 1997, when floods struck our local area. After the water levels dropped, I thought long and hard about whether I should quit or continue, because a large amount of our machines, electric motors, transmissions, simply everything, was covered with mud and shrubbery, so we had to clean everything and bring it back to working order. Thanks to our employees, however, we managed to get that done. A couple years later, another problem surfaced: we stopped receiving orders from Germany. In the end, I found out that our German customer recontracted all the simpler tasks to China. I was therefore faced with a decision regarding the future of the company and its direction in the long run. Finally, I settled on engineering, as I had the feeling that demanding work would stay in Europe. That marks the story of the company’s conception, but I think that choosing the right employees also played a big role, as it is important to hire people that are good at what they do. Today we have over seventy employees, and all of them have families, meaning you can say that around 300 people in Krnov are involved or connected to the business. Text: redakce, Kristýna Eliášová there is something you are “ If you want to get somewheregood at and in life, do it. ” Your products are in high demand. What is it exactly that you are involved in and where do you export your products? Foto: archiv firmy Bašista Here I would like to say that I am very grateful that the demand for our services is increasing, and that www.basista.cz the company was able to reach this level; it is no 104 ǀ POSITIV 4/2020 doubt the result of precision and quality. When these conditions are met, the customer is then satisfied. Our main customer is a German company, and to be completely honest, their products are very appealing to me. Beautiful parts and wonderful products; they really have a good future ahead of them. They provide us with a variety of possibilities--from locksmith work to welding, machining, turning and milling. I do not want to go too far into the details, but I am definitely happy to be able to cooperate with them like this. In the past, we also had a strong business relationship with Denmark, although that has faded a bit recently. Currently, aside from Germany, we also export to the Netherlands--although not as much. We are unique in that our greatest concern is quality, and in order to maintain it 100%, we purchased 3D measuring tools. The customer therefore receives their parts with a measuring protocol. It may also be for this reason that we are gaining popularity. We know that you support a lot of organizations in Krnov. Could you introduce us to some of these activities? Over the course of three years, we managed to build a close cooperation with multiple Industrial schools. There was a big gap that we had to cross, and I cannot imagine that our company would exist without a connection with, for example, industrial high schools. We also work with regular high schools and elementary schools not only in Krnov, but also in Bruntál. Since there is a desperate lack of qualified employees, we also support adult education. We promote the study of technical fields at elementary schools. I believe that it is very important in our field. We also have a connection to the Tomáš Nedbal Education Map. It is a very extraordinary project in the Czech Republic. We were even approached by the Central Bohemian Region with a request to use the know-how of Tomáš Nedbal, and they showed an interest in modifying the project for use in their region. We try to be present at many different occasions. We actively take part in cultural and sport events. We financially support the Lichnov children’s home with the amount we raise at the raffle of our annual Christmas party. We also sponsor a hospital. In short, we look for places where we can get involved to be helpful. Thank you for the interview.