IOW Bulgaria, Krassen Milev: We strive to keep being an innovative and reliable partner

Krassen Milev, Managing Director at IOW Bulgaria,
for South-East European Industrial Market

This year, IOW Bulgaria celebrates the 20th anniversary of its registration as a legally independent entity responsible for the development of the Eastern European market. What is your assessment of these two decades?

Everything we have achieved so far took a lot of hard work and perseverance. We made the registration to show that we have long-term intentions and to increase the confidence of customers, standing by them in the then “emerging” engineering and industrial projects. We have not kept statistics, but we have designed thousands of ideas and realized hundreds of prototypes. Dozens of them reached serial production and are developing thanks to the diligence and initiative of their ideologues and executors.
20 years ago we were faced with remnants of socialist era equipment. Now every construction, mining or agricultural machine in operation has at least one component from our portfolio.

The access to information and the professional attitude of the personnel in the branch have extremely raised the expectations towards the suppliers. In the beginning, we developed the solution to the given task under the supervision of the customers’ construction departments, and they trusted us because we proved ourselves with each project. Today, we work as partners with professionals familiar in detail with modern solutions in mechanical engineering.

And how has your portfolio changed over this period? What are the latest additions to your affiliate network?

Thanks to joining Axel Johnson International IOW Bulgaria stepped up on the next stage of its development. As part of the Driveline solutions division, we have consolidated our positions as a DANA Spicer Off-highway product and service center. We have revealed new and extremely important opportunities as an authorized service center of ZF,

Twin disk, Kessler, Carraro, Rexnord for industrial applications. We are also developing the partnership with I-Mak very well.
Financial results have doubled and we have achieved sustainable development of the company’s profitability over the past five years. We have added specialists to join our DANA partners in developing and building end-to-end electrification solutions for mobile industrial, mining and marine applications.

What is next for the company from now on? Are you planning to expand your business?

We are following an established plan of strategic initiatives to drive long-term sales growth of 10 – 15% per year. We strive to continuously improve the quality of service and the satisfaction of our business partners.

One of the main goals we have set for ourselves is the development of digital communications, including ECOM (e-commerce), B2B integrations, as well as maintaining an efficient supply and service chain. We are following a plan for sustainable development of initiatives related to personnel and climate, quality management and the development of circular product and service offerings.

The Eastern European market definitely has an extremely large potential and constantly reveals new perspectives. We will strive to keep being an innovative and reliable partner.

The experience we have, as an added responsibility, directs the focus on continuously increasing the professional expertise of the company.
In parallel, we will pay extra attention to the needs, vision and goals of our clients in Bulgaria, Romania and the countries of the Western Balkans. High standards of quality and professional attitude remain priorities for the company.