Karin Punning, CEO, Englo LLC, sounds philosophical while recounting how the firm, launched in Estonia in 1991, has grown into a global leader in design and manufacturing of intelligent electromechanical measuring devices, spanning a wide range of applications including environmental, construction, mining, military, commercial and more
How successful has Englo been in achieving its vision of becoming a global leader in the design and manufacturing of intelligent electromechanical measuring devices? What are the major milestones?
We are still on our way to reach the level to be satisfied. There are so many excellent companies in the world, it would be an honour to be one among them. Besides, electromechanics is used for very many purposes therefore it even couldn’t be the purpose for any company, it is just impossible to be the best in such a wide area!
We could be the best only is a very narrow field of production of the electromechanical measuring devices.
What is the share of defence products in the overall business of Englo? What are the main products and services on offer in defence sector?
The defence products accounts for approximately half of our products and turnover. It has been our strategy from the very beginning to deal with more than one direction of R&D and production, in our case with two directions: the defence/mining/security and building/road construction. The company’s well-being and future are less hurt if it deals with more than one field of activity.
For the defence sector we produce:
- blasting machines either with battery feeding or with hand generators, in different size, firing voltage and energy
- blasting machine testers for testing the impulse energy of the ENGLO blasting machines, without any feeding
- digital line testers for safe testing the electric detonator lines and/or the connecting cables
- vehicle sensors that can be integrated to security/surveillance systems for alarming of the unexpected vehicles or used as a traffic counter
- gamma and X-ray dosimeters and radiation detectors, digital handheld personal alpha, beta, gamma, radon (Rn) and X-ray radiation meters, radiation surveillance systems for indoor and outdoor applications.
Englo has a wide range of products for surveillance and inspection in different applications including environmental, construction, mining, military, commercial and more. Could you elaborate?
No, I couldn’t explain it as it has been our 31-years-long life! We founded our company immediately after Estonia got its independence in 1991. There was nothing in our pocket except for great willpower and the experiences in R&D and production of electronic devices for chemical analyses. We started from zero, growing together with our State and its needs and possibilities. Unfortunately, there was no need of equipment for chemical analyses! The first customers came almost at the same time and they were from defence and road construction institutions. These were really quite strange fields for our experiences but as we say “only the brave wolf’s chest is fat”. To stay alive and fulfil your dreams we have accepted all orders that seemed to be within our reach in terms of our experience and knowledge. It was a difficult, but exciting and challenging time and we came out of it stronger and with a lot of knowledge. However, we wouldn’t recommend anyone to follow the same strategy!
What are the latest updates on your export business? How do you plan to expand it further?
We have great plans, specially in expanding our production capabilities and export. To step closer to our dreams we are looking for cooperation with the companies and/or institutions who could be our partners to go on in this direction. We are open to suggestions to discuss about them.
How strong is the company’s R&D capabilities, quality performance measures, and the production facilities?
All our devices correspond to the quality demands of EU. Please, visit our website www.englo.eu for more information about our devices.
Our R&D capabilities are strong and correspond to currently needed level. Certainly, together with the growth of production facilities and export will also increase the need for extra growth in R&D sector.
Could you share with us the company’s expansion plans and focus areas?
The growth should have to occur relatively simultaneously in all sectors, e.g. in the export, in production capacity and in R&D sector. We should admit, we are strong in all of our sectors, e.g. R&D and production of the electromechanical devices for building/road construction and defence/security/mining! That will make the future more complicated! Think about it more deeply, it could also be stronger and more flexible.
