Our market is still not ready for green and sustainable products. Neither Serbia nor the region. Maybe in the future. Although so far Fragment panels have mostly found use in private homes, the product is expensive for local customers. Also, there is a lack of environmental awareness among consumers.
We asked Pavle Milosevic: Why?
There are two reasons. In Serbia, slab materials are generally used of lower quality, therefore lower price class, whether they are slabs made of quartz, marble, or granite. Due to production costs, fragment slabs belong to the price category of medium-quality marble or granite.
That’s why we targeted the foreign market from the beginning. For now, we are focused on Scandinavian countries. We have a distributor in Norway. We have already exported one contingent, we have new orders.
In these countries as well as in Central and Western Europe; Environmental awareness has been developed in Italy and Spain. Years ago, this was achieved through the development of long-term economic, public, green and energy policies. Environmental protection and recycling are a priority for them.
All those countries have long since started implementing green, circular and sustainable policies. Their customers are willing to pay a higher price for a product that was created from the recycling process. For example, from sneakers made from recycled materials to tires made from plastic extracted from the North Sea.
When will that change?
We will have to wait some more. We have to change the mentality, attitude towards nature, ecology, sustainable solutions and products made from recycled materials.
Where is the production located and what has been the most difficult so far?
We are located in the production part of the Science and Technology Park in Čačak. We have a part of the hall of 245 square meters and custom-made machines. That was the most challenging part.
The entire production line was made for Fragment boards, because not a single machine was suitable for the technology we had conquered. 12 engineers of various professions, from several companies, participated in the development of the line. We also have a laboratory where we test the properties of materials. The prize money from the Generator Zero competition will be used to increase the percentage of glass, from the current 75 to 85 percent in the product.
Where did you hear about OTP Generator Zero and what do you think about the OTP Bank project?
Friends sent us the link. We don’t get to follow all the competitions, so the information from our friends from NTP and other hubs who let us know when they see a program where we could apply means a lot to us.
We are glad that we won, although, frankly, we did not expect the first place. In the semi-finals, I got to know other teams, gained insight into their solutions – which are exceptional. For example, the Naše kuće project has, in addition to ecological, wider social significance, the Connect Clean Roma Group’s fantastic solution, and the Soter rover project by the guys from Novi Sad.
What are your plans?
For now, we are concentrating on the markets of Central and Western Europe, which would complete the three-year goal in addition to the Scandinavian countries. After that, we are most likely heading to the Middle East.
In the technology itself, we plan to increase the level of sustainability of the product by replacing standard cement with eco-cement and thereby reducing the carbon footprint even more. Also, we are increasing the share of glass from the current 75 percent to 85 percent, which research in the laboratory has shown is possible.
However, everything requires money. By the end of this year or next, we plan to introduce an investor for recapitalization. The desire is for it to be, first of all, a domestic large company.
We will be in NTP until 2026, after that the plan is to move to our own hall. The long-term plan is micro-factories around the world where raw materials would be exported from Serbia and final protection would be done there, depending on the needs of customers. Although it may sound complicated – believe me it is not.
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