Tandem Group now offers construction work related to supplies of hospital diagnostic equipment.

Mr. Director, how did you get to the supplies for medical facilities at all?

About four years ago, we were approached by SIEMENS HEALTCARE, which was supplying a new X-ray to the Municipal Hospital in Ostrava-Fifejdy and asked us to complete minor construction fittings associated with the installation. We passed the selection procedure and succeeded in the competition. Although it involved only minor construction fittings, the work was very time-consuming. The job was completed to the submitter’s full satisfaction and later we were approached again. I have realized that in order to meet the strict requirements, we need to focus on hiring more technical team members including professional workers. And I have to say that we are gradually getting there.

What equipment and which hospitals have you already installed in?

In addition to the supply of magnetic resonance for the Municipal Hospital in Ostrava-Fifejdy, we have also worked on the supply of the sciagraphic equipment for the hospital in Nový Jičín, an X-ray supply for the hospital in Krnov and CT equipment at the University Hospital in Ostrava-Poruba and others. 

What other difficulties do you face during these construction works?

It is crucial to say that all these works depend strictly on the delivery date of the requested equipment, be it an X-ray, CT equipment or a magnetic resonance scanner. The first step always is a structural analysis and then we decide on the most suitable technical solution for the installation. If a floor or a ceiling would not withstand the work, we need to deal with it another way. For example, at the hospital in Frýdek-Místek, we had to fix 400 kg/m2 lightening load so that the X-ray could be placed into that room at all. Therefore, we needed to demolish 14 cm slag and concrete floors and replace it with a lightweight fermacell backing with the required load-bearing capacity. Until the hospital lets us do the static check, we have no idea what challenges are ahead of us. Moreover, these old buildings usually do not meet the new EU norms, therefore, the statics issues can be tough to solve. Everything must be completed in time and the construction work usually needs to be finished within 4-5 weeks. Bear in mind that only the concrete maturing takes 4 weeks, then there is not much time left for static checks including coming up with the ideal installation solution. Our employees then have to work at weekends and often at night in order to meet the deadline. Of course, we need to respect the operation of individual departments, which are directly affected by the new equipment installation. And there is no need to mention safety at work.

What would you say about your two other divisions?

The first one deals with industrial insulation of boilers, heat exchanger stations, turbo-generators, piping systems, turbines, and other energy equipment. We cooperate with companies from the energy, engineering, chemical, and food industries. The second division deals with construction insulation, i.e. thermal insulation and insulation of buildings and revitalisation of a block of flats. In this field, we offer not only thermal insulation of a house but also windows and entrance doors replacement, renovation of balconies or loggias and other related works. Essentially, if a complete revitalisation of a block of flats is needed, we are able to deliver a complete turnkey project.

Which contracts of these divisions would you like to highlight?

Recently, the one worth mentioning definitely is the supply of industrial insulation within the new washing and sorting technology at Biocel Paskov. These works also included the insulation of large tanks. Another interesting contract was an insulation work on the hot water pipeline at Hlavní Třída in Ostrava-Poruba for the company VEOLIA. The most challenging about this building was to maintain reasonably comfortable living conditions for the people living in this part of the city, where the work was done directly in the centre of their road network. We faced similar issues when working on the steam pipe-line in the middle of Krnov. Also, the division dealing with the block of flats revitalisation has been moving forward successfully, but it is unnecessary to list individual houses.

How satisfied were you with the last year’s results and what about the prospects of this year?

We were very pleased with the last year’s results and believe that even this year will turn out well. We respond flexibly to investors’ wishes and are ready to meet any of their unusual requirements. The job we do is of a high standard and the agreed deadlines are always met. We believe that we will remain our customers’ first choice.

I noticed that there is a friendly work environment in your company. Can you tell me more about that?

That is our company’s philosophy. If the employees were unhappy, they would hardly perform well at work. Building such relationships is certainly not a matter of rules and one-off decisions, but day-to-day teamwork based on completion of tasks of each individual and mutual trust. I consider this to be one of the fundamental principles of our company.