Two major Danish investors to Goleniów, LM Wind Power and Bestseller, invited representatives of the Municipality of Goleniów to visit their head offices in Southern Denmark. The programme of the two-day study visit
(15-16 November this year) included an implementation facility of the wind turbine blade manufacturer and the headquarters of the fashion house.
The history of LM Wind Power started in 1940 when a furniture factory was established in a small Danish town of Lunderskov (Lunderskov Møbelfabrik). Twelve years later, the company tested commercial application of glass fibre and finally changed its name to LM Glasfiber and gave up the original production of wooden furniture. In 1978, they started manufacturing wind turbine blades. Until today,
LM Wind Power has established 13 plants on four continents, including a plant
in the Goleniów Industrial Park. In 2016 alone, that plant manufactured 10,474 blades. Every fifth blade in the world has been produced in one of LM Wind Power plants. The global employment of the company exceeds 8 thousand. In April this year, GE Wind Energy paid EUR 1.5 bn to acquire LM Wind Power and become its new owner.
During the Wednesday visit to the LM Wind Power Pilot Plant in Lunderskov, hosts included Bjarne Sandager Nielsen, the Vice-President of LM Wind Power A/S,
and Ivan Mortensen, the plant director. Mayors Robert Krupowicz and Tomasz Banach and Jacek Wójcikowski, the Director of Investors’ and Exporters’ Assistance Center, had a chance to see of what can be called the “brain” of the company. It is where the largest wind turbine blade in the world of 88.4 m was produced.
On a regular basis, the implementation plant tests new technological solutions
and blade properties, repairs blades damaged and manufactures blade prototypes.
The meeting which took several hours ended with a discussion on challenges
for the Goleniów based plant which the Municipality of Goleniów
and the Westpomeranian Region can help solving. The major challenge is adjusting the road system near the plant to the transport needs and ever larger blades.
The following day, on Thursday 16th November, the Goleniów delegation visited Bestseller A/S to meet Michael Fynboe, the Head of Operation, and Jacek Frydrych, the Head of Goleniów based company. The Danish fashion house has just started developing a fulfilling centre for clothing and accessories in the Goleniów Industrial Park. The target employment of the plant is going to be about 1600 people.
The headquarters of the company in a small town of Brande comprises several unique buildings housing offices, product photography studio, canteen and campus. All facilities are marked with the use of natural materials, remarkable architectural design and modern equipment. Bestseller is a family company established in 1975 and operating 3 thousand shops in 85 countries and employing 15 thousand people. The discussion on the premises of the company focused on further stages
of development and various scenarios considered for the investment in Goleniów.
After the investment project is completed, Bestseller’s employment is expected
to reach 40% of the total in the GIP. If we add to it about 800 people working in seven other Danish companies (Abena, BBP, Dancoal, HG Poland, NTG, Prime Cargo and Stok Emballering), it may turn out that the term “Small Denmark”, used
by Danish investors to describe West Pomerania, is also true in our municipality.
