As tradition has it, on the upcoming Christmas I wish to thank you for this year of cooperation. Despite the fact that I do it every year, I cannot make an exception in 2017. Each year my gratitude for your contribution to our development gets ever higher. Thanks to our customers and support of our suppliers and business partners we have managed to grow by more than 25% in 2017. At the same time, I am really glad that we are a part of more and more complex and strategic projects.
Naturally, this requires technological and professional progress from our organization to make it capable of meeting all obligations, these old ones and the new ones. We have to bear in mind that we cannot treat it just like a temporary trend associated with an upturn in the industry, but rather like a sound basis for the years to come.
The dynamic growth might be a threat to maintaining high quality of our services. In this respect the summer time was a real challenge to us, and we could not avoid doing some mistakes either. I would like to take this opportunity to heap burning coals on my head once again.
The year 2017 is special to us also because of the 20th anniversary of Mikrostyk S.A. The history of our company consists in plenty of ups and downs, business evolution and wonderful happy ends that only cemented our internal relationships. These 20 years were also associated with generational changes, and our company is deeply rooted in the local community. We are witnessing whole families working in our organization. The young generation, once trained and inspected by their parents or caretakers, now is taking responsibility for todays manufacturing processes in the company and, above all, for upbringing the next generation. I frankly say that it makes me really proud. This in a way reflects evolution of our priorities, too.
While business was the most important for us in the 90s, today, apart from the sales growth, we are also pleased with the fact that our CSR strategy implemented in 2016 has been noticed. We were awarded in two district competitions for the most local community-friendly company in 2017. It was the next step towards sustainable development.
Therefore, to offset for this year full of professional challenges, I wish all of you and your loved ones a most blessed and peaceful Christmas, free from industrial noise, and all the best for the New Year.
