The furniture producer Parallel - Sevlievo is starting another expansion and renovation, which this time is worth 27 million leva. This is the third stage of the five-year construction and investment plan of the company, Ivelina Georgieva, Executive Director, has stated for Capital.bg

Over 200 new jobs, double the size

The new site will be on 50,000 square meters, of which 26,500 will be closed production areas. "We will build a modernly equipped hall for cutting and building polyurethane foam and new buildings will be built, which will extend the production of sleeping and home products as well as seasonal products.The project also includes a hi-tech warehouse for storing polyurethane foam, which allows optimization of production and flexibility in making it, "comments Ivelina Georgieva for Capital.bg
It is planned to be built a second, fully automated warehouse, Radio Shuttle type (semi-automated compact system that uses an automated device to move forward and backward pallets along a working corridor).

The newest investment of Parallel also includes the construction of a modern administrative and residential building. Part of the planned funds are for the introduction of high-tech machines and equipment that will allow the use of modern waste-free technologies, the company said.

"The funds for the project are also provided by credit, and the planned completion of the construction works is in May 2020. The construction schedule provides for the production areas for the cutting and making of polyurethane foam to be completed by June 2019," said Ivelina Georgieva .

The new expansion is expected to allow over 200 new jobs to be created, and to double the volume of output.

The industrial building specialist "Castello Precast" is again a contractor of the construction and assembly activities. The company was also involved in the previous two stages of the Parallel expansion.

Parallel is among the largest companies in the furniture industry. It was established in 1995 and is owned by Yordan Kovachev. It produces soft upholstered furniture, NANI mattresses, thermo and its products, polyurethane foam with the "Kovafoam" brand, home-made products. Kovachev is also the majority owner of the Zona for home chain of furniture stores.

Since 2010, Parallel has been among the suppliers of IKEA to produce upholstered cushions for outdoor furniture, stools and kitchen chairs.

The company has a logistics base all over the country. It also has its own laboratory for preliminary control of the materials that are used in production. Employees are 870.

In 2017, the company reported revenue of BGN 65,483 million (compared to BGN 60,208 million in 2016) and a profit of BGN 5,671 million, according to data in the Commercial Register.

"Our expectations for this year are for growth of more than 25% and 90 mln leva. Our production is realized on the Bulgarian market, in the Balkans, in Europe, and through IKEA - in Russia, Asia, USA and Canada" said Ivelina Georgieva. She specified that for the last five years Parallel has invested BGN 41 mln - for the construction of new production buildings, equipment, warehouses, for safe working conditions and environmental protection, for staff training.