Asking the better questions that unlock new answers to the working world's most complex issues
AI insights
CFO agenda
EY Center for board matters
EY podcasts
EY webcasts
Operations leaders
Technology leaders
EY helps clients create long-term value for all stakeholders
our services and solutions provide trust through assurance and help clients transform
EY.ai - A unifying platform
Strategy, transaction and transformation consulting
Technology transformation
Tax function operations
Climate change and sustainability services
EY Ecosystems
EY Nexus: business transformation platform
Experienced professionals
EY-Parthenon careers
Student and entry level programs
Talent community
our purpose is building a better working world
The insights and services we provide help to create long-term value for clients
Exploring scenarios for the world in five years reveals divergent paths for geopolitics
EY CEO confidence index assesses CEO sentiment across sector growth
Stakeholders are challenging businesses to go further
faster in their efforts to be more sustainable
Multidisciplinary professional services organization
Mertik family from Brezovica pri Ljubljani has lived and breathed their family business
Now one of the largest EMS providers of printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies in Slovenia
the company began as Ignac Mertik’s side business in the 1980s
he passed the reigns to his daughter Sonja
who has followed in his footsteps with great success
Today the family enterprise employs 50 people and last year they made €7 million in revenue with €1.5 million profit.Their plans
which include employing around 200 additional people in the next 10 years
considering the company’s dynamic revenue growth of over 250% in the past five years
to a family with a long farming and winegrowing tradition
“My great-grandfathers were winegrowers and my father continued that tradition so that we became one of the largest winegrowers in that part of Slovenia
I can say at entrepreneurship has always been in my family DNA,” recalls Ignac
Ignac began building his entrepreneurial future
but he had already laid foundations elsewhere
he first worked and gained experience at the Elma company in Ljubljana and in the early eighties he accepted an invitation to work for IMP Avtomatika
first as a technologist and later in the sales department
he finally decided to pave his own way and founded a small electrical engineering workshop
for which they made central heating regulators and sensors
The break-up of Yugoslavia was a difficult period for many enterprises and MI Elektronika had to let several employees go
when they began manufacturing their own products
MI Elektronika is one of the largest companies offering PCB assembly services in Slovenia
While these represent their main product line
they also provide final mounting of the assemblies
manufacture cables and develop and produce their own EMI filters
Some years ago they also began developing and manufacturing LED lights
MI Elektronika provides components for PCB assemblies to the most discerning clients in the fields of medicine
They buy raw materials on the international markets
but all their knowledge comes from Slovenia
as Ignac points out: “Our greatest advantage comes from our 32 engineers who integrate their knowledge into the assemblies we produce
international market as Slovenian know-how
The most challenging products are assemblies for the medical industry
which are very technologically- demanding and usually only ordered in small quantities.” The components made by MI Elektronika are also used in the fields of stomatology and facial care
which increasingly use laser-based technologies
MI Elektronika directly exports around 8% of its production
but through their clients as much as 90% of their products are ultimately employed abroad
In addition to several Slovenian awards and recognitions — the 2014 Central Slovenian Gazela Award
the 2018 Delo Business Star Award and 2019 Bronze Slovenian Gazela Award — they also received the “Creators of the century” award from Perspective
the International Economic Forum (IEF) with 1178 members from nine southeastern and northern European countries
This award put MI Elektronika among the 300 most promising companies from this region
Buyers who were very restrained at the start of the crisis have returned and we are back to working at full strength for 10 hours per day
would enter the family business and today they both work in the company
“I raised my children with an entrepreneurial spirit,” points out Ignac
write down their hours and they got paid,” he explains
“This is how my sister and I bought our first Poni bicycle,” recalls Sonja
Today Sonja’s son Alen also works part-time at the company
His was the one voice to convince Ignac that the company should stay in the family
“I once got a tempting offer to sell the company
But when my grandson reminded me I had promised him that he too could work in the family company
she gained significant experience in the Ljubljana sales department of multinational company
“I gained a lot of experience related to working with people and I saw how things work in northern Europe
where everything is very organized,” she explains
Was she afraid to put on her father’s shoes
“He still makes the important decisions,” is her answer
Ignac says he stays out of the day-to-day operation of the company
but as its Authorized Representative he still helps with the finances and takes care of strategic projects
is a chemical engineer who controls the company’s sorting and storage of materials
What business results can MI Elektronika expect in 2020
after the coronavirus pandemic has altered almost all aspects of the economy
results will not be much worse than last year
He is very happy that the mood in the company is returning to its pre-pandemic optimism
“Buyers who were very restrained at the start of the crisis have returned and we are back to working at full strength for 10 hours per day,” he explains
They have also decided to put more energy into maintaining relationships with existing clients and finding new ones
“During the pandemic we realized that we needed to expand our client pool
which is why we gave new powers to our marketing department,” adds Sonja
Both also point out that the coronavirus showed them how important it is to react quickly
One of the strategic projects MI Elektronika started even before the coronavirus pandemic is the construction of a new state-of-the art plant for PCB assemblies in Logatec
They plan to move their existing production to the new plant with the aim of having 250 employees by the end of the decade
“Our current building in Brezovica became too small,” says Ignac.“A small company with a few dozen employees has to fight really hard to get business
but as a company with several manufacturing lines
Our aim is to have 15 manufacturing lines,” he says
The new location will also expand their storage capacities
At MI Elektronika they know that the knowledge of their employees is the key to their added value
They also firmly believe that employees deserve to be rewarded
as this is the only way to get what you want from them
Only fair payment deserves to be rewarded with fair work,” points out Ignac
who is very proud that hardly anyone wants to leaves their company
At least as important as fair payment is also education and the systematic training of younger generations
MI Elektronika offers internships for students of faculties and high schools in Ljubljana
They keep the best students and offer them employment
They realize that young knowledge “makes the world go round”
which is why they regularly collaborate with young researchers from the Technology Park Ljubljana
MI Elektronika in a nutshell: knowledge and development
of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited