The SiOO X Story – Protecting the Planet - Book - Page 21
The Sioo Story. Development and Expansion.
IN ORDER TO achieve production on a somewhat larger scale,
Herje and company initiated a collaboration with painting legend
Rolf Hansen and his company, Wibo Färg, located at Hisingen in
Gothenburg. Sioo leased space and started to grow.
Sioo has received international awards for its innovative marketing.
Sioo has been active in the UK, its first overseas market, since
2012. Today leading architects across the country are specifying
SiOO:X on projects large and small. Significant projects have been
in the field now for many years performing extremely well in a
demanding climate. The formative experience with this special
SiOO:X technology in Scandinavia and the UK is now being sought
around the world by world-leading architects.
Herje had begun by applying the wood protection product to
decks belonging to friends and neighbours. He quickly received
confirmation that the product really worked and people began
to contact him spontaneously. They were especially fascinated
by the beautiful, light and smooth surface. The product unites
incredibly well with wood and therefore has superior durability,
while being completely eco-friendly. “The results were so good
that they attracted interest from people like a magnet.”
Sioo Wood Protection AB has grown rapidly over the last number of years. It has always been profitable and has generated its
own funds for growth without resorting to bringing in external
funding.
From 2006 Herje went around Sweden with a fully loaded car
and demonstrated SiOO:X at trade fairs. Sales took off, paint store
chains showed interest and the products appeared on TV programs like the DIY shows Äntligen Hemma and Bygglov. Architects and construction companies started to use the eco-friendly
technology. In 2011 Herje resigned his teaching position to fully
devote himself to SiOO:X and moved production into its own
premises. The rest, as they say, is history. Today, about 30 people
work in Sioo in the bright, new and spacious facility in the Gamlestan neighbourhood on the outskirts of Gothenburg.
The mission is to continue to break barriers and to provide customers with a positive “wow” experience from world-class products. Herje Bostrom says: “we are doing today what customers
could only dream of doing yesterday; we are solving persistent
old problems in the wood industry and contributing eco-friendly
products to society; our concepts have no boundaries and are
being realised in international cooperation”.
Silicon technology has proven to be the future of innovation
in many fields. Internationalisation was initiated in 2016 and is
developing rapidly. The business is growing at a record pace
and is evolving to continue to provide lasting benefit to customers, to industry, to society and the planet through eco-friendly
technology.
Significantly, some of Europe’s leading researchers are developing the technology for the Sioo R & D operation. The patent
is now protected world-wide. In competitive bidding, Sioo has
been awarded major Eurostar, Horizon and Vinova funding from
the European Union research programmes, giving a solid funding base for continuing leading edge R&D.
Major investment has been applied to international marketing resulting in Sioo now operating in more than 30 geographies across the
world from Australasia and Asia to Europe, Africa, North and South
America, working with in excess of 40 major industrial partners.
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