NOW I UNDERSTAND WHAT “SHE WILL CAST A SPELL ON YOU” MEANS
WHY I AM PROUD TO WORK AT PPS. AND WHY I AM PROUD TO WORK WITH YOU.
You know… it is not just about work. It is not only about production, standards, or steel. It is about something deeper and more enduring. About destiny. About fate. And about a feeling that cannot be precisely described. Once, when I mentioned to an acquaintance that I was returning to this company for the third time, he said something I still remember today: “She will cast a spell on you.”
At the time, I simply smiled, but only later did I understand what he meant. Over time, I realised that the “she” was our factory. PPS. That there is an invisible bond between a person and this place. And when someone enters it not as a visitor but as part of it, something changes inside them. You become captivated by everything: its scale, history, scent, sounds and life. But above all, you become captivated by its people.
The people who pass through our factory gates every morning are as if someone had travelled across Podpoľanie, Zvolen, Hont, Novohrad and Horehronie, selecting only those whose hands are ready for work and whose hearts are in the right place. People who know how to create value, who think creatively, invent and improve. People who become passionate about a task and refuse to let go until it is finished. And those are exactly the people we have gathered under one roof. What is most remarkable is that these people did not come together by chance, and not only today. They have always come together here. Every decade. For the last seventy years.
THIS IS THE KIND OF WORK WE ARE MADE FOR
No one here complains that there is too much work. Quite the opposite. When someone says: “This is complicated. This is going to be hard work,” we simply nod. That is it. That is the kind of work we are made for. Tell me, where else will you find a factory capable of producing everything from a tractor frame to a railway wagon? A factory that can process twenty thousand tonnes of steel a year, day after day, in continuous operation, under strict technological and safety standards? Where else will you find people for whom complex technology is a challenge and the seemingly unattainable is the standard?
All of this may sound like a cliché, but for us it is everyday reality. This is how we live. Every single day. Without grand words. Without theatrics. We simply work. Quietly. Honestly.
And even when difficult times come, times of worries and crises, as they do in every family, we know how to look ahead. We do not fall apart. We do not give up. Even when we find ourselves at the edge of our comfort zone, at the limits of what seems possible, we keep searching for a way forward. A way to grow. A way to move further.
FROM A PLACE THAT MANUFACTURES TO A PLACE THAT CREATES
Today, after seventy years, and nearly twenty five years after the company was transformed into a joint stock company, we stand firmly on our own feet. But we know we must take another step. Not forward, but somewhere different. Heads up. Looking at ourselves differently. Not as a factory that manufactures. But as a place that creates.
We do not want to be the people who only cut, machine and weld. We want to be the people who finish things. We want to assemble. Install. Program. Test. We want a finished product to leave our factory. We want to show the world that we know how to breathe life into steel.
I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING MACHINES BEARING THE DETVAN NAME AGAIN
Imagine that moment. A machine rolls out of the production hall under its own power once again. Not a semi finished product. Not a component. Not a part. A complete machine. Bearing the Detvan name. Built entirely here. By people who gave it its shape, movement and character. Who programmed it, refined it down to the smallest detail, tested it, signed it with their work and sent it out into the world.
It will not be just a machine. It will be a symbol. Proof that when honest work, expertise and the courage to dream come together, something extraordinary is created. A customer may see only a functional piece of equipment. But we will know that our heart beats inside it. That every component carries the imprint of a hand, an idea and determination.
That is the difference. That is the emotion. Not because it is easy. Quite the opposite. Because it is difficult. And that is why we value it. That is why it drives us forward. That is why it is worth fighting for. That is why it matters to build, not merely assemble. To create, not merely perform. Because only when it is truly ours will it have a soul.
FINDING THE RIGHT PEOPLE
We know it will not be easy. We will have to find the right people, place them in the right positions and create the right conditions for them. We will have to convince ourselves and others that working for someone else is no less important than working for ourselves. The feeling is simply different. Stronger. Something we can be more proud of.
And that is what I hope we can achieve together. So that at the end of the day we can say: “We did it. And it was not just anything. It was ours.”
NOT ABOUT ME. ABOUT YOU.
I am proud to be part of this story. Proud to work at PPS. Proud to work with you. With people who have not only skilled hands, but also minds and hearts. People who know not only how to manufacture, but also how to understand. People who can still laugh when times are difficult. People who stand by one another when it matters most. This is PPS. This is who we are. This is how we have done things for seventy years. And this is how we want to continue.
Thank you for every day you have given to this company. Thank you for not giving up. Thank you for continuing to dream and believe together.
May PPS remain a place where work has meaning, where dreams come true and where people become proud creators. May you find here not only a salary, but also pride, belonging and the satisfaction of a job well done.
Ing. Peter Štupák
Chief Executive Officer