Interview with Danish Wood Windows owner Jens Jørn Nielsen from Denmark

1 April, 2016

Please introduce yourself and your company.

I am Jens Jørn Nielsen from Denmark. At the moment I am living in Lithuania in a small city called Stasiūnai. I have company, UAB Danish Wood Windows, there. It is a production company operating in both – Lithuania and Denmark. We specialize in windows and construction manufacturing market. We produce exceptional quality windows for very old style houses. There are more than 9,000 listed buildings in Denmark while another 300,000 have been deemed “worthy of preservation”. The Heritage Agency is responsible for listed buildings, while the local authorities are responsible for buildings worthy of preservation. Most listed and preserved buildings are privately owned. Such status is not restricted to very old or very grand buildings. Eligibility extends to everything from castles and mansions to town halls, prisons, farmhouses, factories, warehouses and filling stations. So there is a need for special license to make that kind of windows. It is for old fashion way of windows. And they have to meet special regulations and certifications.
Mostly we deliver to Denmark and mainly to Copenhagen. We buy wood from Denmark companies, because we need special certification for wood and it has to be high quality and approximately 215 to 300 years old. This wood is very very expensive.
I am working with windows for forty years now and I still have agreements with companies whom I started working with 40 years ago.

Is loyalty important in business?

It is very important because it is about quality and timing, timing and timing.

Why you chose to manufacture windows in Lithuania and not in Denmark?

We are buying all manufacturing features, with an exception of glass, in Denmark. Everything is made by hands and wood processing machines. We do all manufacturing in Lithuania because the salary here is lower and location is good which is not far, so trucks can go directly to Denmark.

Are you planning to do more investments and expand in Lithuania?

At the moment no, because we have our facility and certified workers and it’s enough. We don’t need more at the moment, but we are planning to build storage so that we can buy bigger quantity of wood. It is cheaper to buy full truck of wood.

Have you signed any contracts with Lithuanian companies?

We are buying glass from company in Vilnius. They have certifications from Danish Standards, for an example DS certification for insulating glass units. Two years ago I helped them to get this certification because they needed it but didn’t knew how to get it, so I helped them to acquire the Danish certification of glass.
Danish Standards is the officially approved national standardization organization in Denmark and offers standardization services in the range from development of standards to sales of standards and related publications.

What is your opinion about the EXPO Center?

It is not my first time here. It’s very good. Before the flight I visit EXPO center and I think it’s a very good idea. I have a tradition to go to Heineken for a hamburger and after that I always visit EXPO center.