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LATVIA
When Latvian laboratory equipment manufacturer ELMI was hit with high energy prices and uncertain supply chains during the past few years, they decided to innovate their way out of the crisis. Enterprise Europe Network helped them to do so.
In 1993, when ELMI was founded, the world, and certainly Latvia, was a very different place economically and politically. The Soviet Union had just collapsed, and Latvia was newly independent. Independence offered space for new companies like ELMI to rise.
"These were the wild nineties," said company director Ivan Mironov. "We had to be pioneers, made a lot of mistakes and learnt everything from scratch. By working hard, however, we managed to make ELMI into a great company."
Ints Vīksna, director of Latvian Technology Centre (LTC), has known the company since that era. LTC used to be a start-up incubator back then (today it is an acceleration centre) in Latvia that was founded in the same year as ELMI, one of their first incubated companies.
"At first we could just give them basic services," he said. "We gave them access to a workplace, an internet connection, a book-keeping service, a fax machine and copier. But eventually Latvia entered the European Union, and this allowed companies like ELMI to go international."
Industry 5.0
ELMI has grown considerably since those early days. Today, they make all kinds of high-tech equipment, ranging from centrifuges to thermostats. The company employs 59 people and has almost EUR 4 million in turnover. They export all over the world, from the US to Taiwan.
"At the beginning, the idea was to survive and build a self-sustainable business," said Mironov. "Then we discovered we can do more and actually create a product and service that is exclusive and highly coveted. We just kept evolving. Today, with the assistance of Enterprise Europe Network we are still aiming to achieve more."
On top of surviving the rocky post-Soviet period, the business has recently come across a new set of challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia caused supply chain disruptions and energy prices to spike. ELMI became convinced the company needed to change. They decided to upgrade their operations with Industry 5.0 technology.
To do that, they looked to European funding, with the support of the Enterprise Europe Network. According to the targets and the audit results, the Network’s specialists attracted a project called PROSPECTS 5.0 which was submitted under the Horizon Europe programme. This project was granted financing for Industry 5.0 development. Moreover, it received 15 out of 15 points in the evaluation.
International Space Station
PROSPECTS 5.0 allowed ELMI to transform its business operations and make them more resilient and future ready. To start, they focused on metal and plastic manufacturing. ELMI shifted this production back to Latvia from China. They also built an in-house printed circuit board manufacturing department – which further reduced dependence on Chinese manufacturers.
The company is introducing cobots and more personalised product manufacturing. Some of its products are also undergoing testing before delivery to the International Space Station. This requires the maintenance of very high product standards. To ensure quality, a digital manufacturing record is being implemented to identify parts and issue updates or replacements. Additionally, ELMI is exploring collaborative partnerships with robotised assembly lines.
The Network helped ELMI secure the European funds necessary for this transformation. Yet the cooperation between the two goes back much further. The Enterprise Europe Network was one of the key factors in the internationalisation of the company. "Latvia is too small a market for the medical equipment we build," said Mironov. "Therefore, we needed to expand our business. The Network, for example, helped us find new customers in the German market. Sometimes I have a feeling our friends from the Network know what we need even before we know it ourselves. That is why we did not hesitate to ask them for help when we wanted to transform our business."
Ints Vīksna, who has been a part of Enterprise Europe Network in Latvia since day one, is proud of the partnership. "Our business works because we try to provide all the answers we can and give companies the necessary service," he said. "ELMI started as a small family business and now they have 59 employees and branches in North America, Türkiye and Europe. They are a real Latvian success story, and I’m happy the Network could contribute to its development."