The Žirovnica Enterprise Winning the European Market

Mechanical engineer Radomir Zlatković was born in France, where he lives and works, but he never forgot Lapovo in the heart of Šumadija, where his family come from. Before he decided to start his own business in Serbia, he had been thinking for a long time how he could contribute to the economic development of the village of Žirovnica in the municipality of Batočina. Seven years ago, with knowledge and experience gained, he decided to start selling new and used CNC machines and accessories, and this is how the enterprise Mecatech Industry d.o.o was founded. Over time, the enterprise has been developing intensively, and thanks to the recognition of the needs of the European market, they focus their production on making specific parts for various industries from the aviation and automotive industries, all the way to medicine.

"We feel flattered that our customers today are the companies from the mentioned industries. What I would like to underline is that behind our overall success is many years of diligent work, continuous commitment to quality and great effort of the entire team of Mecatech Industry d.o.o. ", says Milena Milojević, head of the Žirovnica business unit and continues: "We have built good relations with our partners for years. And our main trump card all these years is the fact that we respect set deadlines and adhere to highest quality standards, which we guarantee with ISO 9001: 2015 certificate. In addition to metal processing machines, which range we are continuously expanding, our plan was to procure additional equipment that will justify the quality of our business in the right way".

The crucial moment for the development of the enterprise was 2019. In that period, there was a need for further improvement of production and their goal was to purchase a specific machine - a conturograph with a measuring microscope. Thus, they came up with the idea to apply for direct support to entrepreneurs, and enterprises provided by the European Union through the EU PRO programme. The approval for funding within the public call enabled them to become one of three companies in the whole country, which has one such tool for precise work in its production. "Considering we fulfilled all the conditions of the call, we successfully responded to all the requests. Our business plan was approved, so we received a donation for the purchase of this machine", Milena says while adding "The instrument we purchased is used to control the quality of manufactured parts by measuring the contour of the piece and automatically displaying its profile on a computer screen, and then with a specialised programme it provides information on preciseness of all measures or we need to make some additional corrections. Having such an instrument is very important for quality control of products that we place on the European market".

In addition to the fact that one such product comes from a small municipality near Kragujevac, the Mecatech Industry is proud of its young employees who are on average 25 years old. The owner, Radomir Zlatković, strives to continuously invest in the development of the town, so from the very beginning he gives young people the opportunity to work and train on CNC machines, providing them with specific knowledge to work in this field. "Since the start of our work, we have been training workers for operators and technicians positions. So, seven years ago we had only three employees, and now we employ 12 people with a plan to hire more of them in the next period ", underlines Milena Milojević. "As a company, we are very committed to investing in the development of the local community. During the last year we had a plan to organise training for the students of the Secondary Vocational School Kragujevac. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic stopped us in this idea. However, we decided to donate measuring and cutting tools to the school, which are necessary for their practical teaching, and thus contributed to the local community and the development of the educational staff in this area. Certainly, when the situation stabilizes, we hope that we will be able to continue with the support and provide the necessary knowledge to the young people who will be engaged in this type of work in the future. "

The European Union, in cooperation with the Ministry of European Integration, supported over 200 micro and small enterprises and entrepreneurs with more than 4.3 million Euros through the EU PRO programme. The funds were used for the purchase of new equipment that help the enterprises to improve production and competitiveness and create new jobs.

Through the activities of the EU PRO programme, the European Union contributes to the more balanced socio-economic development of Serbia with a total of 25 million Euros. The programme aims to contribute to increasing the competitiveness of micro and small enterprises, improving the business environment and strengthening social cohesion in 99 local self-government units, in two regions: the Region of Šumadija and Western Serbia and the Region of Southern and Eastern Serbia. The activities in the field are implemented by UNOPS.