New plant built by the “ICS Steel” company

Having succeed in attracting co-funding from the Central Finance and Contracts Agency, SIA "ICS Steel" company has built and commissioned a new metalwork production facility of 3200m2 in the territory of the Liepaja special economic zone. About 2.5 million euros were invested in the construction of the factory and a half million euros were invested in the production equipment and machinery. To ensure a full range of services, the owners plan to build two more production buildings in the coming years.

SIA "ICS Steel" started to elaborate their business idea of creating a manufacturing plant in 2018 and, as a matter of fact, it is a good example of how to turn one’s hobby into business. The co-owner of the company and the Production Manager Ingus Sudmalis says that he was initially just fond of chroming various metal parts in his workshop as a hobby admits that this prompted him to establish his own company and build a manufacturing plant, as there is a great demand for chromed metal goods in the market

Thus, the company will provide various types of metal surface treatment, such as galvanizing, chrome plating, nickel plating and electropolishing. SIA "ICS Steel" started its operations in 2022 in leased premises in the Danish owned Liepaja Business Center. Currently, there are 22 employees in the company and the number will increase soon, admits Ingus Sudmalis, as determined by the increasing demand for metalworking services.

The SIA "ICS Steel" Board Member Uldis Klapers added that there are numerous metal processing companies in Liepaja, which are already their existing and potential customers. "The demand is high, as today it is important to optimize costs and time to the extent possible. It was previously impossible to get a high-quality metal surface coating service in Liepaja, and metal processing companies delivered the manufactured metal parts to other countries for processing, whereas now, if needed, all metal items produced by the local metalworking companies may be processed and covered by SIA "ICS Steel" with the required material in the shortest possible time and at the highest quality.

It took some five years from when the idea itself was born to the actual construction of the new factory despite numerous obstacles, however, the result is worth it. SIA "ICS Steel" worked in close cooperation with the Liepaja Special Economic Zone Authority in the implementation of their business intent. The Liepaja SEZ CEO Uldis Hmieļevskis admits, that it is a great pleasure that, alongside the growing number of Scandinavian business companies in Liepaja, new factories are also being built by domestic entrepreneurs. "It is very important that Latvian companies develop in Liepaja and Latvia, as it shows the strength of our country in the sphere of economics."

SIA "ICS Steel" continue testing the new equipment at their new production facility, and plan to run their business at full capacity from March onwards. The Production Manager of SIA "ICS Steel" Ingus Sudmalis is sure that in two years SIA "ICS Steel" will be the strongest player in the Baltics in this field of business. "We now have the largest electropolishing line for stainless steel in Europe. The other one is just across the ocean - in the United States. Due to our innovative approach, the size of metal parts, that we are able to handle, cannot be processed anywhere else - we are the only ones to provide such a service.”

Whilst planning their further business development, in a couple of years SIA "ICS Steel" intends to build two more manufacturing buildings in close vicinity to the one, which has already been built.