This year, the group of companies also faces changes in management. From 1 February, the director of UAB Adampolis and the main shareholder of the group of companies, Vidas Čebatavičius, will continue to work as the director of UAB Adampolis holdings and will continue to focus on investment projects and strategic decisions for the group of companies. And one of the largest commercial transport companies in the country, the representative of MAN Truck and Bus in Lithuania, the lead company of the group, Adampolis, will be headed by Ričardas Tverijonas, who until now has been working as Commercial Manager (Chief Commercial Officer) of the company.
“I am delighted to announce that I am handing over the steering wheel of UAB Adampolis to a competent, professional colleague and, most importantly, to a person I trust. Together with Ričardas, a professional and experienced team of managers work at Adampolis,” says Čebatavičius, who led the company for 27 years. According to Tverijonas, the company’s goal is to maintain the company’s strengths and to grow this year, despite the instability in the markets.
“The main challenge this year seems to be the disruption in the production of trucks. Production is not firmly planned for the year ahead. However, we can see that the plant in Germany has already adapted, volumes are growing, and we hope to be able to meet demand as successfully as possible. All the more so because last year we already made many important changes that will help us to adapt to the changes,” says Tverijonas.
Managed to grow
The Adampolis group of companies achieved a turnover of 80 million euro last year, compared to 74.5 million euro in sales and operating revenue in 2020. Last year, the group sold 560 new trucks. Tomas Staškūnas, the head of finance for the Adampolis group of companies, says that the results are encouraging, even though they were not as good as they could have been. Disruptions in production and supply of parts made it difficult to meet the growing demand for trucks.
“We all encountered disruptions last year, and we’re not different from others in that regard. But we certainly are satisfied that despite these disruptions, we achieved better results than a year ago. And separate segments of our business — not only the sales of new trucks, but also their repair, maintenance, sales of parts, rental of trucks, etc. — have increased more or less,” says Staškūnas.
The turnover of UAB Transporto nuoma, owned by the group, increased by 25 % during the year. Turnover at UAB Transporto pardavimai increased by 110 %, at UAB VL Rental by 8 %, and at the network of service facilities and shops by 30 % each. According to Staškūnas, the rental service for trucks was especially successful and grew last year. Successful growth in this segment was made possible by timely foreseeing the upcoming demand and by ordering the vehicles needed by the rental service. The group also focused on improving the quality of service facilities: the group invested in employee upskilling and secured supplies of necessary parts for the warehouse.
Focus on planning and teamwork
Tverijonas confirms that supply disruptions last year had a strong impact not only on sales of new trucks, but also on the service facilities and sales of parts.
“One of the most important things we did was to make changes in warehouse and logistics planning: we switched from ordering based on current demand to ordering stock in advance. We focused on planning, we have an experienced, highly-qualified team, we made a lot of calculations, we predicted possible failures, we prepared supplies of certain spare parts and components in warehouses. We managed to find alternative sources of supply, too. This helped us to avoid getting stuck in the time limits needed for execution of orders,” Tverijonas explains.
According to him, the global pandemic may, in a certain sense, have contributed to team motivation, the level of qualification, and especially the level of qualification in leadership.
“It was necessary to learn how to work based not only on numbers, tables and operational decisions, but actually to focus on employees, their emotions, working conditions and the environment. I think the group managed to do that. Most of the people who worked here before the pandemic continue to work successfully, and the team is expanding,” says the head of Adampolis.
Currently, the group of companies employs about 220 people. According to Tverijonas, operations such as customer service and vehicle repair heavily rely on motivated and qualified employees.
A year of awards
Last year, the group was also successful in terms of products. The new MAN TGX has been named International Truck of the Year 2021. The ITOY Award is one of the most important in the entire commercial vehicle market. In addition, MAN TGX was also awarded the iF DESIGN AWARD 2021 for exceptional functionality. The new MAN Truck Generation colour and finish concept was also recognised in this design competition last year.
The new and improved version of the MAN TGX truck was launched and presented to the market in January. One of its innovations is the MAN OptiView system: cameras installed instead of mirrors on the sides of the tractor unit. This allows the driver to eliminate blind spots. In the updated model, the manufacturer emphasises not only greater safety, but also the importance of lower fuel consumption. Compared to the MAN TGX introduced in Bilbao in 2021, the new model consumes 3.7 % less fuel.
“We can only be pleased that, despite the challenges of the pandemic, MAN adapts perfectly to customers’ needs every year. If business processes are not disrupted more than foreseen, we plan to double the sales of these trucks in Lithuania. We aim for the turnover of the Adampolis Group in 2022 to exceed 100 million euro. Strategic areas and opportunities for growth include city-type buses (transit buses), construction and specialised equipment transport and, of course, major carriers in our transport market. The largest transport companies in Lithuania would also like to receive financial support from the manufacturer itself, so this year together with TRATON Financial Services we will be able to offer our customers factory financing for purchased trucks,” says Tverijonas.
Adampolis Group not only has MAN trucks, buses and specialised equipment in its basket of services, but is already repairing and maintaining the engines of ships and railway locomotives, too.
Electricity and a sustainable future
Another important area of activity for the group is working with the bus fleets of major cities in Lithuania. In this area, the impact of sustainability and new technologies has been particularly felt in recent years. Adampolis is also keeping pace with the latest solutions. Last year, the company introduced the 100 % electric MAN Lion’s City E 12 bus to the Lithuanian market. The results of tests performed on the bus are astonishing: without intermediate charging, this bus can be used for 24 hours and drive 550.8 kilometres. The new-generation bus was tested last year by the Vilnius and Kaunas bus companies and by the residents of these cities.
“The largest part of Adampolis Group’s customers are transport companies, including long-distance, medium-distance and local. Also, a significant proportion of customers are specialised equipment and construction transport companies. We work a lot with the Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, and Šiauliai city bus companies, we sell and service buses. We also work with local transport companies that use MAN minibuses. Each customer has different levels of electrification and potential, but new technologies are coming to all segments. The long-distance transport business is, of course, eagerly awaiting sustainable solutions, but electric-driven technology will probably come last to this segment. But in the market for local transit using minibuses and buses, technologies have already become available and we, as MAN representatives, are already prepared for them,” says Tverijonas about future transport changes.
