REGION

From a Garage-Based Business

to a Global Business

In the early 90s, two brothers-in-law, Erich Stavař and Bohumír Blachut, decided to sell books from

coupon privatization and, with the 12,000 crowns they made, start a business. Their determination

and persistent work paid off: the family company Isotra, which literally came to existence in a garage,

now ranks among the leaders in shielding technology and supplies almost fifty countries around the

world with its products and machines.

Gentlemen, you began doing business in a garage,

and now you have climbed to the top of the

industry in shielding technology. What is the key

to your success?

B. Blachut: We began with the wholesale

production of window seals along with their

assembly. This is how the name Isotra came to beISO from the word “izolace” (literally isolation, but

meaning here insulation, referring to the seal) and

TRA from the word “trade.” After 1993, the demand

for window blinds expanded Isotra’s activities first

to the assembly of these blinds and then later to

their production. Our constant efforts in perfecting

our products lead to us deciding to produce our

own components for blinds and other shielding

technologies in 1995. The portfolio kept expanding,

and today we provide interior and exterior blinds,

fabric blinds, solar blinds, plisse, Japanese walls,

outdoor roller blinds, mosquito nets, awnings,

screen blinds and pergolas. Important components

include the production of components, profiling

tracks, cutting tools and technological complexes

for blinds production.

E. Stavař: We were lucky, we were growing from

the very beginning. It was definitely a very specific

situation; there was big demand for our products. It

is hard for us today to imagine that blinds were really

not available back then and you had to wait a year

or two to get them. It was also thanks to this that we

reached 25 million CZK in sales in our second year,

and in years after that to 42 million CZK, and 59 million

CZK after that, it has continually increased.

Text:

redakce

Foto:

archiv Isotra a.s.

www.isotra.cz

You are based in Opava. How is it doing business

here and what conditions does the city present

you?

B. Blachut: Currently we employ more than 500 people.

I am convinced that having qualified and motivated

employees will help us maintain a good position

on the market not only right now, but also in the

future. Unfortunately, a big part of our working

capacity has been moved to the ever-expanding

state sphere--newly created state offices absorb an

increasing amount of workers that used to work in

industrial fields and services, and manufacturing

companies now miss them. Despite this, we are

able to find employees that want to work at Isotra

and build values with us. We offer our employees

many benefits, including, for example, a subsidy for

46 ǀ POSITIV 1/2020

pension insurance, a reward for exceeding profits,

a five-day holiday, social rewards, sick days and more.

A lot of people know each other in Opava, and you are

a family company. What social responsibilities do you

have?

E. Stavař: Isotra has been operating in Opava for a long

time and employs over 500 people. It is also because of

this that in 2019 we decided to link up with the Opava

football club with the goal of developing the positive

value of both companies and brand communication.

We greatly value the opportunity to work with SFC

Opava. It is not a short-term project; we believe we will

be able to develop the values of both Isotra and SFC

Opava in the long run. As their exclusive partner, we will

have plenty of room for communication and support.

We would also like to connect with personalities like

Jaromír Jágr that have done big things in their life, and

can be seen as an example for the rest of society.

B. Blachut: We have been working with Jaromír Jágr

for a year now through the Rytíř hockey club, and it

has been very interesting for us. I sincerely value people

that have done something in their life and act with their

heart, thinking not only of their own success but want

to support others. It is for these reasons, along with

a couple others, that we wanted to expand our direct

cooperation with Jaromír Jágr. His hard work and

achievements speak for themselves and more, he acts

very human. That for me, that is key.

You are famous for introducing numerous new

products on the market. How important is innovation

in your business?

B. Blachut: Our long-term vision involves us

becoming the technological leader in shielding

technology, and that is why we constantly innovate

not only our final products, but also components and

production technologies, which means CNC profiling

machines from the production of shielding systems.

Isotra profiles itself as a European company and we

supported this strategy even in the field of trade by

founding the daughter company Isotra Jalousien

GmbH, which operates on the German market. We

consider this part of the market very important, as it

has the biggest sales potential in the field of shielding

technologies in Europe.

Thank you for the interview.

-editorial-