Otto Schachner: 'Location is crucial for our business'

For trading company, Otto Schachner in Taulov, logistics is a central element for the business.

“We have containers delivered and we send cardboard boxes out. As a trading company, our location here couldn’t be any better.”

Jan Lund, CEO for the company, Otto Schachner A/S, is in no doubt about the value inherent in being located by the Taulov junction near Fredericia. Otto Schachner, now also known as OS Safetycenter, delivers work gloves and everything else in protective and personal safety equipment for the Danish and Scandinavian markets.

“As a trading company, our location is crucial for our business. Our location makes our work easier,” says Jan Lund.

When Otto Schachner A/S was acquired by the Czech CERVA group in 2010, it was both the central location in Denmark and – not least – the central location in the attractive Scandinavian market that was of interest.

“It was important to CERVA to buy high quality design and manufacturing, something that Danish companies are well known for. Buying a Danish company was their access point for learning about Danish quality so that it could be implemented and learned from within their own production. Location here was about ensuring that quality and an access to markets where the purchasing power is higher,” says Jan Lund.

The CERVA Group has also retained the 35 Danish employees in Taulov to ensure that Otto Schachner continues to be a Danish run company even though the ownership has changed. Being a highly respected, Danish quality supplier makes a difference when you are selling work gloves, ear protectors and anti-fall equipment:

“We are the largest company in the group outside the headquarters in Prague – and we strive daily to keep it that way. The founder Otto Schachner, who established the company 72 years ago, was known for being innovative and delivering a quality product. In fact, he is so well known that a street was named after him in Guangdong in China. This form of respect as a serious, innovative and quality conscious company is something the owners are keen to uphold – that is why we have stayed in Fredericia,” says Jan Lund.