Kitman Thulema – Metal Furniture and Retail Equipment Manufacturing

  Kitman Thulema is Estonia’s leading company in the industry of commercial equipment and public organizations furniture manufacturing. The company was founded in 1939 in Estonia and has long been known to its customers for its wide range of quality products made with well developed design and functionality. As a part of a holding company NG Investeeringud, Kitman Thulema today has become the leader of the commercial facilities and public organizations furniture manufacturing market in Estonia and the Baltic States, and has developed from a commercial facilities manufacturing company into an internationally recognized know-how service provider to many internationally well known companies. In 2010 Kitman acquired another famous Estonian furniture trademark Thulema, and continued producing its exquisite office furniture.
  The high professional level and the modern technical equipment located in a factory area of 16 000 m2 allows offering a variety of product types ranging from finished standard series product to exclusive individually developed design and equipment solutions.

Production facilities and technologies

  Each year an average of 250 000 m2 of various types of commercial and office space are equipped. Every day the company is developing approximately 250 different types of projects. The company’s raw material procurement is conducted from 17 countries around the world, purchasing and processing on average 380 km of pipe material, 1600 tonnes of metal strip material, and processing 7,8 ha of different types of wood material in a year.
  Kitman Thulema is an ISO certified company, which 65 – 70 % of its yearly production exports to such countries as Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Latvia, Russia, France, Spain, Lithuania and Italy.

Kitman Thulema history and development

  The history of Kitman Thulema goes back to 1936 when ETK Metal Factory was established. Since then the company profile has changed several times. Initially the factory produced mostly agricultural equipment e.g. hay rakes, potato harvesters etc. Until World War II also bicycles and even cars were manufactured. Shop fittings became the primary focus from 1969, when the factory started producing wire baskets with, at its time, a novel plastic coating. However, bakery equipment for the market of the entire Soviet Union had already been produced from the beginning of the 1950′s. In the beginning of the 90s Kitman started to produce fireplace cores after cooperation agreement with Finnish company Harvia OY. The new millennium added new refrigeration and cooling systems line in the range of Kitman’s products.
  In 2010 Kitman acquired another famous Estonian furniture trademark Thulema, and continued producing its exquisite office furniture.

History chronology

1936 – permission to establish the factory. A few months later production in the factory started.

1936 – first iron cast.

1937 – the start of the bicycle production.

1939 – production volume doubled. First cars were produced. 281 employees.

1941 – renamed Tallinn Agricultural Machinery Plant.

1944 – renamed ETKVL Kopli Engineering Plant.

1950 – the plant lacked its own certain profile. 391 employees.

1951 – the factory was moved to its current location in Lasnamäe

1952 – renamed ETKVL Trade Inventory Plant.

1953 – bakery equipment production for the market of the entire Soviet Union started. 456 employees.

1960 – reconstruction of the foundry.

1969 – manufacturing of plasticized wire baskets started. The beginning of the mass production of shop fittings.

1991 – first foreign customer Harvia OY, Finland.

1992 – cooperation agreement with Harvia OY for producing fireplace cores.

1994 – renamed to ETK KIT. After Soviet Union collapse there was no market need anymore for bakery machinery.

1995 – Start cooperation with WL Trading AB-ga Rootsist. Cooperation continues to this day.

1996 – new brand KITman was created for shop fittings.

1997 – NG Investeeringud bought the company. 240 employees.

1998 – AS KITMAN became the name of the company. In cooperation with the national postal service, Eesti Post, mailboxes were included in the product range.

2000 – product lines of principally new shelf systems were completed.

2002 – KITman entered Finnish market.

2002 – the foundry was closed down and the reconstruction of the company began.

2003 – KITman entered Latvian market with wardrobe fittings.

2008 – KITman started to offer refrigeration equipment with installation and maintenance.

2009 – Kitman received ISO certificates – ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001.

2010 – Kit Kaluste OY was founded in Finland.

2010 – Kitman acquired the office furniture trademark Thulema and the license to its most prominent furniture series

2012 – renamed Kitman Thulema AS

2015 – the most extensive update of production equipment throughout the history. 161 employees.

2015 – the incubation program Furniture Aerodrome starts.