Our Story
How did TMETAL grow into a leading supplier of steel structures? A look back at the company's 30 years.
It started in humble circumstances, but today you can find TMETAL steel structures all over the world. During our 30 years of existence, we have managed to become a leading Czech manufacturer with our own design department and 150 experienced experts, so we can easily handle a complete order from design to installation.
We primarily target technically more demanding projects, where our experience, emphasis on quality, precision, and extensive machinery can be fully utilized.
But now let's go back to the beginning of the story.
The first steps of an owner with the "Baťa" spirit (1995 – 2000)
The year was 1995. After much deliberation, Zdeněk Tyleček decided to establish the company Zdeněk Tyleček T-METAL by separating the steel construction division from the construction company STAMOK, which subsequently ceased to exist.
And as usual, The conditions were very modest in the beginning. TMETAL consisted of 1 rented workshop, 1 sheet metal shears and about 20 employees. Almost all work was done manually at that time.
However, Zdeněk Tyleček had enormous enthusiasm, a clear vision and the "Baťa spirit". Eyewitnesses describe him as a tireless hard worker with a natural charisma who was able to inspire those around him.
And the joint efforts began to pay off quite quickly. In addition to "regular" orders, TMETAL was already collaborating on lucrative projects in its first years:
- 1995/1996 – riding hall in Germany. Steel structure with assembly. The very first foreign order.
- 1998 – Dětmarovice power plant. Steel structures for power plant desulfurization, absorbers, supporting structures for smoke ducts.
- 1998/1999 – 2 silos with a diameter of approximately 8 meters and a height of 30 meters in Kirchdorf and Gmunden (Austria).
- 1999/2000 – conical shelter with a diameter of 25 meters for excavated material during the construction of a tunnel in Sissach, Switzerland, including the supporting steel structure for the soil conveyor.
In just 5 years, a small company from Fryčovice has built a relatively strong position in the Czech Republic and has confidently begun to look into Western Europe. At the same time, we constantly talk about the post-revolutionary times, when companies from the Eastern Bloc had a really difficult time establishing themselves in developed foreign markets.
Thanks to the design department, we can now handle steel structures from design to assembly (2001 – 2004)
The gradual and "healthy" growth of TMETAL resulted in 2 major events in 2001:
- Registration of the company T-METAL Fryčovice, spol. s r.o. in the Commercial Register. Zdeněk Tyleček listed as the sole partner and executive.
- Acquisition of the company Metalstav from Vratimov, which also meant an increase in the number of employees.
The purchase of land from the National Property Fund was also important for the future development of the company. Other investments were made in the machinery park, for example in the first VANAD cutting machine.
In 2004, Aleš Pavlín came to the company's sales department with new ideas and visions. The first of them was absolutely fundamental – establishment of our own design department. Even though it consisted of only 1 structural engineer and 1 designer at the time of its creation, it was an important step.
TMETAL was no longer ‘just’ about precise manufacturing and assembly. Thanks to our design and engineering services, we became an important partner for our clients, capable of delivering steel structures from design through execution.
This competitive advantage opened up new opportunities and projects for us.
Growth in every direction: Automation and a major expansion of production capacity (2004 – 2009)
The right decisions, hard work and continuous innovation. Moreover, everything accompanies the entry of the Czech Republic into the European Union. It is certainly no coincidence that around 2004, the company experienced a period of literally rocket growth.
The number of employees has increased to 80. Exports are thriving. And with the recycling boom in Europe, demand for steel structures for sorting lines is increasing, which we also supply to our Austrian recycling partner. The photo shows a steel structure for a recycling center in Sweden (Sundsval 2004).
A milestone is also obtaining ISO 9001 certification in 2005.
With projects coming in from all over the world, we began significantly expanding our production capacity in XNUMX.
- 2003/2004 – construction of a new “blue” production hall with an area of 1,300 m2, which means more than doubling production capacities.
- 2008/2009 – construction of a new “red” production hall (2,300 m2) and a profile preparation facility with an area of 900 m2.
In parallel with the increase in production area, there is also a massive investment in machinery. This is mainly purchase of 4 key CNC technologies:
- Ursviken press brake (in 2007, an absolutely unrivaled machine in the region),
- Voortman sawing and drilling center,
- Voortman punching machine,
- Omnicut cutting machine.
Steel structures worldwide. Exports overtake domestic projects
The investment brings greater peace to TMETAL automation and robotization, which in practice means significantly faster, more precise and efficient production, but also less room for human error.
In addition, the purchase of modern CNC machines allowed the expansion of the original production of steel structures to include machine production.
This fact also contributed to the fact that in 2008, cooperation with foreign partners exceeded domestic orders for the first time.
Although TMETAL is clearly doing well according to many different indicators, not everything is rosy. There are also sad and challenging moments. The founding father, Zdeněk Tyleček, passed away after a serious illness in May 2009.
Due to the aforementioned events, Libor Mohyla was appointed as the administrator of the estate. Subsequently, in 2014, Aleš Pavlín and Libor Mohyla bought the company and became co-owners and new directors of the company.
The new owners agreed to change the business name to TMETAL sro, and at the same time, the corporate identity was also modified, including the logo. However, the desire to produce first-class steel structures for demanding customers remains.
Implementation of the ERP system enabled further development (2011 – 2018)
It is worth mentioning that even during the changes in the ownership structure, TMETAL's management continued to invest in innovations. Following the demanding TOVANO order for the Italian ENEL in 2011, implementation of a modern ERP system QI, which pushed TMETAL a lot further forward.
The ERP system brought a number of advantages, which include, for example:
- up-to-date, reliable and comprehensive information about the entire company in one place, which will enable more effective management,
- more precise calculations,
- perfect overview of production and order status,
- automated creation of certification documentation.
In short, a huge leap forward compared to Excel...
But back to 2014, when TMETAL started collaborating on 2 global projects. Specifically, we delivered steel structures for the Sydney high-speed rail bypass and the construction of a metro in the Qatari city of Doha.
Successful orders were naturally reflected in the company's turnover, which exceeded 10 million euros.
A stable financial situation enabled further investments:
- 2016 – construction of a new 4-storey administrative building,
- 2016 – rental of a logistics hall and assembly premises in Ostrava-Hrabová,
- 2017 – expansion of the metallurgical material warehouse from 800 m2 to 1 m2,
- 2018 – acquisition of a second Voortman CNC sawing and drilling machine and a Voortman blasting machine up to 1,5 meters wide,
- 2020 – construction of a new “yellow” hall for assembly and packaging.
Unique buildings and record sales of 17,6 million Euros (2018 – 2022)
Thanks to successful projects TMETAL's reputation (abroad) is rising rapidly. In addition, clients are fully aware of the excellent price-quality ratio.
That is why in 2018/2019 we are getting a lucrative contract for steel structures for the landfill of excavated rock from the construction of the Brenner Tunnel.
Cooperation on unique construction projects abroad continues in 2021 and 2022. We are especially proud of new design of steel structure for noise insulation of GE turbine from special prefabricated panels, which have become a welcome alternative to rod structures commonly supplied to the energy market.
The second major project of the aforementioned period is steel structures of arcades between 3 high-rise buildings in Vienna with a total weight of 600 tons. For this order, we took care not only of the production, but also of the statics and design.
The reward for extraordinary work commitment in 2022 was record sales of 17,6 million euros.
We see the future in data (2023 – 2025)
Even despite high sales, we are not resting on our laurels. Quite the opposite.
The year 2023 was marked by investments in photovoltaic power plants, to increase our energy self-sufficiency and sustainability.
In addition, another transformation is taking place. TMETAL becomes part of the company after a business agreement family holding of the Surovič family. Jan Surovič is taking over the management of the company.
Among the latest orders we can name: special steel structures for the trail in the clouds of the Heart of Poronin, which we delivered for our partner Taros Nova as. They designed and built this sky walk with a completely unique circular observation deck suspended at a height of 47 meters.
And since data is currently worth its weight in gold, our next steps are aimed at implementing "superstructures" of the QI ERP solution in the form of MES (Manufacturing Execution System) for evaluating production data and WMS (Warehouse Management System), which will replace Excel spreadsheets. At the same time, we are also introducing automatic document extraction.
As our executive director Jan Surovič says: "Anyone who wants to maintain a competitive advantage in the future must have the courage to push the boundaries of what is possible."
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