Staffan’s reflections: A challenging start to 2025

Now, with a little more perspective, we can see that it is mainly the challenges that dominate. And perhaps most surprisingly – the biggest threats do not come from our competitors, but from our allies. The new US administration seems more focused on introducing trade barriers than creating cooperation. Despite the fact that almost all experts agree that there are no winners in a trade war, new restrictions continue to be introduced – even against former allies.

What makes the situation even more troubling is that trade barriers often affect companies that have already invested in long-term agreements. This raises a legitimate question: What is a trade agreement really worth if it can be torn up just a few years later?

Even more important than trade, however, is the security of people. When security is threatened, everything else falls into the background. Here in Europe, we must ask ourselves the uncomfortable question: Can we really trust the United States?

Ukraine voluntarily gave up its nuclear weapons in 1994 in exchange for security guarantees from the United States and the United Kingdom. Today, we are seeing these promises being tested in a way that many of us could never have imagined. Personally, I feel that the United States has gone way too far – and that also affects my own decisions. I have moved my pension savings from the United States to other parts of the world and hope that more European pension managers will do the same.

Some American products are harder to replace, such as software for PCs and servers. But other things – jeans, cars, drinks, sportswear – I can choose not to buy, and I will.

In Stockholm, we have had one of the mildest winters I can remember. The period with ice on the lakes and bays was significantly shorter than normal, which made the skating season unusually short.

At the same time, we are seeing how the USA is once again backing down from its environmental work. And recently, the news came that the EU is also easing the legislation for the European car industry. This may be necessary in today’s economic situation, but it is also unfortunate – especially for companies that have been preparing for these new rules for several years, such as Volvo Cars.

At Mekanex, we do what we can. We sort our waste material and our solar panels have provided us with fossil-free electricity equivalent to 25% of our annual needs since 2017. These are small steps, but every contribution counts.

In our last newsletter I wondered if we would break a sales record in Sweden in 2024. The answer? Yes, we did! Sales increased by another percent, and we reached almost 4.7 million EUR. We also achieved a new sales record for our Estonian operations. For other markets in the Nordic and Baltic countries, Mekanex saw a slowdown, and overall our group lost a few percent in sales in 2024.

However, we still see many opportunities for increased sales and as usual it is important to be alert and offer our customers excellent service in order to have the opportunity to sell.

Mekanex has been supplying Finnish customers for a long time and in 1985 the decision was made to open an office in Finland. On February 1, 1985, we opened an office in Lohja, about 60 km west of Helsinki. The beginning was tentative, but after a couple of years the company was well established and supplied Finnish industry with high-quality components for linear and rotary motion. For the first 24 years, the company remained at the same address, but in 2009 we moved to new premises – still in Lohja.

20 years later, it was time for the next step when Mekanex was established in Estonia. At that time, Estonia had just become a member of the EU, but still used its own currency. We saw an attractive potential for growth in the Baltics and in the spring of 2005, we opened our office in Tallinn.

We will celebrate these milestones in different ways throughout the year – stay tuned!

In this issue of our newsletter, you can also read more about our telescopic rail program and our wide range of shaft couplings. You will also meet Raul Maripuu – our highly skilled sales engineer in the office in Tallinn who serves and helps the Baltic region with mechanical challenges!

Enjoy reading!