Fenestra Oy
Success in the frame for Fenestra
Fenestra Oy is one of the most significant window and door suppliers in the Nordic countries and is the market leader in Finland.
With production units located in Forssa, Kuopio, Viitasaari, Alavus, Kemijärvi, Posio and Tallinn, and sales offices in Vantaa, Tampere, Turku, Kouvola, Jyväskylä and Oulu, Fenestra has a good presence across Finland, and also has an Estonian subsidiary, Fenestra AS, plus a share of ownership of sales company Diplomat Skandinavia AS in Scandinavia.
Paloheimo Oy, a family-owned Finnish company is the parent company of Fenestra Oy. Paloheimo is an international company whose operations have been based on various skilful uses of wood for over 115 years. The Paloheimo family has managed and developed the business for four generations.
Today, the company’s main business is window and door manufacturing. On the board of directors, Arvi Paloheimo works together with his sons Martti and Olli Paloheimo – Martti was nominated as the chairman of the board in 2001.
The start of the new millennium was a time of structural change in the Paloheimo Group. It discontinued its parquet and electricity businesses in 2002 and in 2004, Paloheimo sold the affiliated companies Paloheimo Wood Oy and Lundia Oy. At the end of 2005, Paloheimo bought the business of Viitapuu Oy owned by the Paananen family.
“Fenestra’s windows were joined by Viitapuu’s doors. Paloheimo now has two leading Finnish companies in their respective industries as its affiliates. We are now seeking common and best practices together to ensure the potential for future growth,” Martti Paloheimo stated at the time.
In January 2006 The Paloheimo Group reorganised its window and door businesses, which meant Fenestra Oy and Viitapuu Oy together with their domestic subsidiaries were merged into one company. With this merger Paloheimo strengthened its position as the leading manufacturer of windows and doors in Finland.
The new company adopted the name Fenestra Oy. The name Viitapuu, as well as the other product names Viitapuu previously used, began to be used as marketing names for doors. Fenestra’s Estonian subsidiary, Fenestra AS, was not merged into the new company.
The new, improved Fenestra Oy became the market leader in Finland, with a product range that covers wood and aluminium windows and external and internal doors. The company’s turnover was nearly 150 million euros in 2006, and it has over 1000 employees, with an annual production of more than 350,000 window units and 450,000 doors.
Fenestra’s exterior doors have a guaranteed framework construction braced with aluminium plates and glued wood. Due to their ten-year guaranteed framework construction, Fenestra’s exterior doors are strong and safe and have excellent thermal insulation.
Fenestra recognises that the choice of windows for a home is very important, because a home’s safety, energy conservation and living comfort depend on their quality. Correctly chosen windows ensure the health of a home’s inner air and add style to the building’s appearance.
According to the experts at Fenestra, when choosing a window, attention should be given to a deformation-proof structure, multiple liner system, functionality, eye-catching design and modern choice of glass. The company’s windows are ‘tailor-made,’ and consider the exact needs of each home. For Scandinavian weather conditions, the most suitable are double-frame wooden aluminium windows with glass and a glass unit (Finnish type) or single-frame wooden aluminium windows with a glass unit (German type). Wooden aluminium windows are an investment for decades that increases the building’s value, and customers should remember that choosing windows and balcony doors is as important as making the decision about the foundation structure or roof materials.
In order to maintain the quality of its window and door production, Fenestra (prior to the merger with Viitapuu) announced a planned investment of over ten million euros into its domestic production. This investment, scheduled over two years, means that in the future Fenestra’s Kuopio factory will specialise in the production of wooden window components and the Forssa factory on window assembly.
2006 represented an exciting year of change in the company’s history, with a new managing director appointed to Fenestra in September of that year. Kim Poulsen assumed his duties on the 1st of December 2006, and his duties also included the managing director role at Paloheimo. Kim Poulsen joined Fenestra from his position as the head of panel products industry of the Metsäliitto Group. Previously, he held various key positions in the Metsäliitto Group operations in Finland and also in Great Britain and in Germany.
The final chapter of 2006 closed for Fenestra on a high note, when in November it was announced that the company had decided to invest in a new window assembly factory, to be built in Forssa. At the same time Pilkington Oy Finland is having a new insulating glass handling plant built at the same lot. The total area of the two integrated factories is approximately 24,000 m2. Fenestra’s new factory will be ready for production in the beginning of year 2008, and the company is confident it will enhance its reputation in the field of manufacturing high quality, well-respected products.
Fenestra Oy
Products: Windows and doors
Sites: Seven in Finland
Employees: 1200
www.fenestra.fi