ESSA Interview with Slavka Marinič
22.05.2015"The credibility of the security industry is absolutely important"
Interview with Slavka Marinič,
PRIMAT tovarna kovinske opreme d.d., Maribor, and board member of ESSA
FRANKFURT/MAIN – April 2015.
PRIMAT is an European producer of safes and other security products with the tradition since 1901.
The company is located in Slovenia, member of EU.
Slavka Marinič is President of Board since 2001.
Mrs. Marinič, what are you working on in these days?
There are many sales and important development projects. It seems that the economic situation is definitely going up and we are glad that we are busy.
Also we are working on some investment projects, so my plate is more than full.
You have relied on the ECB•S certification for several years now, what is the feedback you get?
I still remember the years where no European standard was available. In this period it was extremely hard to realize the export business
because almost every country has had its own standard.
That changed?
The European standard was a great achievement; however in the beginning we have had on the product several labels and in my opinion
the one general certificate which is general accepted it is the greatest advantage for the global sales.
The best feedback for the ECB•S certification is coming not only from European countries, but more and more from the other parts of the world.
That is great, especially because in some areas of the world other certification or philosophy was dominant for years.
The product cycles of safes are sometimes very long. Which technical trends dominate the market right now?
On the one side there are several innovative participles: criminals, tooling industry, locking technologies, software capabilities etc.
All these are giving the base for the new trends.
On the other side the new materials and the requirements like having the thin-wall product, low weight and high resistance
are again the next base for the new trends. There are a lot of challenges for the producers.
You “fight” against burglary and fraud. Are criminals getting ahead when it comes to technical developments like digitalization?
Yes, the criminals are getting ahead.
Is the standardization of security products prepared for new developments?
The standardization cannot always be prepared in advance for new developments, but the Working Groups are preparing the new standards
according to their best knowledge and possibilities. Regretfully these processes are sometimes a bit long due to the Europe-wide coordination.
PRIMAT is a company with a long tradition. Where does the company come from?
The safe production started in 1901. The period of the last 114 years was a very turbulent period in this area: Two world wars, changing the company site
several times, changing the political systems, economical crisis etc, but the production of safes never stopped.
Which fields will you focus on in the future?
The safes or other security products are our core business also for the future – we want to be a company with a long tradition, with a good knowledge
and experience, but with new ideas, new knowledge and competitive products.
What are your expectations when it comes to international competitors?
Nowadays the global market and international competitors are already the reality.
On the European market we are facing many international competitors.
On the one hand the European producers are mainly focused to the local or European market and this more or less traditionally.
There are not many European international players. On the other hand the competitors outside Europe have other dimensions and other philosophy.
A big advantage of the European Standardization is its flexibility when it comes to new methods of burglary.
Right now the new tool catalogue of the EN 1143-1 is a point of discussion in the standardizations committees. Are they on the right track?
The importance of the European standard in the world is huge and it is an imperative that the European Standard is the updated standard
with the real situation on the market. The credibility of security industry is absolutely important for the customers.
We are active in the Working Group which is working on the standardization of new tooling and we support the work very much.
For a security expert like you, where is your safest place?
Oh, what a question. Safety place can be understood in general as the place where people feel really well and in this case this is my home…sweet home.
Seeing nowadays a lot of refugee, we can recognize the importance of our homes, our safety places.