Fast Trade, in the heart of Romania
170 kilometers north of Bucharest, in the center of Romania, the city of Brasov stands, headquarters of the offices and logistics center of Fast Trade Romania, from which sales and distribution of standard and special fasteners are managed throughout the country. A reality that is the evolution of Fontana Fasteners, the organization that has dealt with trade, distribution and logistics within the leading multinational bolt company, Fontana Gruppo. « This has been the place since 2005, when the Group decided to believe in the Romanian market so much so that it opened its own subsidiary », explains Vasile Isac, Country Sales Manager of Fast Trade, who has experienced firsthand the emergence and expansion, having been its number 1 employee.
Who better than Vasile, therefore, can evoke the events of a company that has experienced great expansion in Romania in the first years, culminating in good performance in 2019 – a turnover of 2.8 million – but in 2020 will inevitably suffer a slowdown, due to the health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vasile, 61 years old, who has been working in the fasteners sector for over thirty years, explains: « We work in the industrial, commercial and automotive sectors. The industrial sector is mainly composed of metal structures and carpentry, which all in all have withstood the impact of the pandemic. We have a consolidated supply relationship with the petrochemical industries in Romania, refinery and mining activities, however, there has been a significant decline in this area. Then there is the customer base of the automotive sector, in particular Dacia and Renault, which is undoubtedly suffering because of the decline in car production. However, the objective is to return us to pre-COVID turnover levels by 2021″.
Opportunities to be found in the market, therefore, for this historical subsidiary that today counts on a staff of 12 people and that has enthusiastically joined the Fast Trade business unit: « We certainly consider the possibility of benefiting from the new organization with Fast Trade’s central warehouse in Bourogne (France) a great plus: this solution will allow us to be more competitive in standard products, but also to increase the supply of special products for the automotive sector », concludes the Fast Trade Country Sales Manager.