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Jarla Plast, a company with operations in the municipality of Malax, has since 1969 manufactured various fiberglass products. In 2005, entrepreneur brothers Jan-Erik and Krister Kronkvist founded a subsidiary company, Jarla-Products Ltd, as well. In addition to the brothers, the family-owned companies employ ten other persons.

Jarla-Products Ltd. is a subcontractor company that manufactures laminates and fiberglass products for various purposes. The company delivers products to all of Finland, the major part of customers being in the region of Ostrobothnia.

In previous years, the main part of the production was aimed at fur industry, but as the breeding of furred animals has decreased, other sectors of industry have taken a larger share. One of the largest customer groups at the moment is the chemicals industry, which uses Jarla-Plast's chemical-resistant fiberglass products and elements in its processes.

New Business Opportunities in Wind Power

Wind power building has brought new business opportunities for Jarla-Products. At present, the company is engaged in manufacture of nacelle walls of Mervento Ltd.'s wind power plant prototype. The walls are manufactured using a number of different elements which are assembled using bolts and steel constructions.

Manufacture of a prototype starts with fabricating a block, which will be used to make a frame. By using the frame, fiberglass parts can be made and assembled to form a completed product. The parts are beginning to take form and will be sent to Lovisa next week for assembly.

The walls of a nacelle are assembled of a number of parts. A single wall element of a 14-meter long nacelle is several meters wide.

Jan-Erik Kronkvist believes that when the prototype is turned into production, their company will have work for the next 3-4 years, at least. And as wind power production will take off, Jarla-Plast may fabricate possibly 15 nacells a year. In the next three to four years, the company might need around ten new employees.

New Storage Space

Despite the economic downturn, the Kronkvist brothers invested in a new building. As the old storage hall, a dairy built in 1900, started to get too old and unpractical for the company's needs, building a new storage was initiated. The parts of Mervento's wind power plant are huge and require both large storage and wide door openings.

The storage hall was completed in the fall of 2010. Jan-Erik Kronkvist admits that he has new investment plans but at this point, it is too early to discuss them. - Whether our plans can be carried out depends largely on the future needs of our client companies.

There are a number of top-class subcontractors in the Vaasa region constantly developing their operations in order to maintain a high level of competitiveness.

Text and photos by Johanna Haveri