From half an hour to just six minutes – that is the scale of change digitalisation has brought to “Pireka”. Processes that once relied on paperwork, assumptions and manual work have now become fast and precise digital workflows. In the “Digitalisation Success Stories” series, the company’s Director, Andris Jākobsons, explains how “Pireka” reached the point where digitalisation was no longer an option, but a necessity.
“Pireka” has been operating in the hygiene and cleaning solutions sector for 25 years, supplying customers with hand and surface hygiene products, equipment, machinery and robotic solutions. Behind its day-to-day operations, however, were processes that had become increasingly difficult to manage.
“There was quite a lot of manual work and paperwork – sometimes the wind blew the papers away, sometimes they disappeared, and sometimes they were duplicated,” Jākobsons recalls. Customers increasingly expected faster service, and the company realised that its old way of working was no longer sustainable.
The pandemic brought the problem into particularly sharp focus. Demand for disinfectants increased so rapidly that the company experienced situations it had never encountered before.
“For the first time in my life, there was a queue outside our warehouse – customers were competing to get hold of disinfectant,” Jākobsons recalls.
This period demonstrated just how costly slow processes could be and how important the ability to respond quickly had become.
The turning point was the digitalisation of warehouse and delivery processes. The company introduced scanners, replacing printed sheets and manual document handling. “Nowadays, making a mistake and having to do the same job twice or three times creates dramatically high costs,” he stresses. Digitalisation has not only accelerated operations but also helped eliminate errors that had previously seemed almost unavoidable.
The results exceeded the company’s initial expectations. Measurements showed that packing a single order previously took an average of 26 to 30 minutes. Today, it takes just six minutes.
“At first, almost nobody really believed the six-minute figure,” says Jākobsons.
Measuring actual performance has become one of the company’s most important lessons. “When you rely on feelings, it is very difficult, because those feelings can sometimes be misleading,” he explains. “Digital data gives you something indisputable.”
Although the company initially had concerns about bureaucracy and the unknown, the LIAA and European Union support project proved much easier to navigate than expected.
“Don’t be afraid – you simply have to read the requirements carefully,” Jākobsons advises. In his view, the greatest barrier to digitalisation is often not the technology itself, but the fear of getting started and the assumption that the process will be too complicated.
The transformation also required employee involvement. The new systems initially created some inconvenience, but their long-term benefits soon became clear.
“The employee is the person who will actually be working with the system afterwards,” Jākobsons stresses.
As a result, the company has become not only faster but also more competitive. “If you promise delivery on the third day and deliver the next day, the customer is twice as happy,” the company’s Director says.
“Pireka” does not intend to stop with scanners. The next step will be the digitalisation of its service department and the management of data generated by robotic equipment. Jākobsons is convinced that the pace of change will only accelerate.
“If you’re not in the digital world, soon you won’t be in business at all,” he says.
This idea sums up the company’s experience: in today’s business environment, speed, data and the ability to adapt are no longer simply competitive advantages – they are becoming essential for survival.
Listen to real-life stories from entrepreneurs about how digitalisation helps companies grow, compete and expand into export markets in the “Digitalisation Success Stories” series every Thursday shortly after 2:00 p.m. on Radio SWH and Radio SWH TV.
Latvian companies have access to a wide range of government- and European Union-funded business development support programmes, available through the unified business portal business.gov.lv and its dedicated LIAA platform liaa.business.gov.lv. Companies can find information on various support programmes, ranging from funding for innovation and new product development, export promotion and international cooperation to grants for digitalisation, technology adoption and productivity improvements.
The project is co-funded by the European Union Recovery and Resilience Facility (NextGenerationEU) and the Cohesion Policy Programme 2021–2027. The preparation of this article was funded with support from the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.
