Archive of articles - August 1996, page 2

Ancestor's home inspires American to start business

Shoveling piles of sand and wrestling with a two-ton piece of equipment for eight hours in the summer heat were not what American Todd Sholtis expected to do in Bratislava. Sholtis arrived in Slovakia in 1994 to oversee delivery of the first piece of equipment for his company's new subsidiary, Danube Mold & Die."In the U.S., you hire a rigger, an industrial moving and hauling company," he said during a recent visit to Slovakia. Since a rigger couldn't be found in Slovakia, Sholtis and three others moved the machine themselves. He laughs about it now, but confesses that the day involved a lot of "sweating, cursing, and yelling."Sholtis is Facilities Director for Plastic Molding Technology, Inc., a company based in Seymour, Connecticut, and founded in 1973 by Sholtis's father, Charles E. Sholtis.

Arms industry has painful conversion

Július Tóth is the president of DMD Holding Trenčín, a shareholding company formed by the Slovak government in October 1995 to convert the country's dying arms production industry to civilian production. The Slovak finance minister between 1992 and 1994, Tóth believes he has a panacea to cure the factories that have been hemorrhaging since 1990 through the funding band-aids that the state has infrequently patched on them. DMD Holding, itself owned by the state, owns between 5 and 34 percent of 26 huge Slovak factories affected by the conversion, collectively known as DMD Group. DMD Group provides jobs to over 25,000 people - 18 percent of all workers in Slovakia's machinery industry.

Čarnogurský blasts committee draft on EU, NATO integration

Small American mold and die firm makes plastics and profits

Shoveling piles of sand and wrestling with a two-ton piece of equipment for eight hours in the summer heat were not what American Todd Sholtis expected to do in Bratislava. Sholtis arrived in Slovakia in 1994 to oversee delivery of the first piece of equipment for his company's new subsidiary, Danube Mold & Die."In the U.S., you hire a rigger, an industrial moving and hauling company," he said during a recent visit to Slovakia. Since a rigger couldn't be found in Slovakia, Sholtis and three others moved the machine themselves. He laughs about it now, but confesses that the day involved a lot of "sweating, cursing, and yelling."Sholtis is facilities director for Plastic Molding Technology, Inc., a company based in Seymour, Connecticut, and founded in 1973 by Sholtis's father, Charles E. Sholtis.

Name recognition is essential for luxury sales

For the average Slovak who earns 3,225 Sk per month, spending 3,500,000 for a new Porsche 911 Carrera is inconceivable. It's no surprise, then, that only one Porsche was sold in 1995 by Porsche Inter Auto Bratislava. Sales of other luxury cars in Slovakia, however, are robust. Mercedes, BMW, and Audi are the most popular luxury cars in Slovakia. Mercedes sold 102 cars in 1995. Porsche Inter Auto sold 336 Audis, with 246 sold already this year. The Audi A6, selling for 1,270,000 Sk, is the company's best selling model. Bavaria Auto, a BMW dealer in Bratislava, sold 35 cars in 1995 and plans to sell 150 units this year. Model prices range from 800,000 Sk to 5 million Sk. "We are expecting the sales rate to go up," said Martin Laholík of Bavaria.

Hydrostav, Váhostav record 27% increases

Mečiar-Horn meeting cancelled; SNS may be reason why

Russia to help with Slovak national airline

SDSS wants EU, NATO roundtable chat

300 words

Slovak railways will be upgraded by 2010

Real Italian cuisine found at La Trattoria

Need a good, casual place for lunch or dinner? Located behind the Mamut beer hall, this Italian eatery is ideal. A very good selection of pizzas, pastas, and meat and fish dishes, as well as Italian desserts are available. Italian wines are also served. La Trattoria offers a 10 percent discount between 15:00 and 18:00 or if you have a coupon from the travel guide Spectacular Slovakia, as well as a daily 100 Sk menu including soup, half a pizza and a dessert. This innovative pricing policy makes La Trattoria a good value. The restaurant seats 80, and the service is attentive and friendly. Though the decor is nothing special, the blue and yellow table settings are pleasant and the use of planters divides the room so there is an element of privacy. Best of all is the smell of pizza cooking in a wood fired oven.

Košice Dining

Going east, Matador builds on civil consumer base

PÚCHOV- While the state-owned Slovak military-industrial complex in the Váh River valley is stuck at the conversion corner, another large enterprise in the same area is expanding on its successful civil consumer base. This past April, Matador, the giant rubber producer in this northwestern Slovak town of 18,000 on the Váh, opened a factory 7,000 kilometers away in the Siberian city of Omsk. A leading light for Slovak investment eastward, Matador joined its Russian partner in the venture known as Matador-Omskshina to more efficiently fulfill the company's existing contract to sell tires to a Russian Lada car factory. "We came to a point where we realized that it would be more economical to produce tires there instead of exporting [them from Slovakia]," said Pavel Melišík, who spearheaded Matador's move to Omsk.

Smolec stuns many by leaving Slovenská Republika

Ján Smolec, the colorful and controversial editor-in-chief of the pro-government daily Slovenská Republika for the past two-and-a-half years, is leaving his post to concentrate more on his obligations as a member of Parliament. He will be replaced by Eduard Fašung, the current editor-in-chief of the daily Práca, starting September 1. "Yes, dear readers, it's time to leave," Smolec wrote in early August. "I've increased the paper's circulation and shaped the paper to what it is now. Presently, my position of a parliamentary deputy does not allow me to do my job at the newspaper properly, so I have decided to choose between the two."

Ministry changing phone rates

Comenius academics oppose university draft law

Romanian, Hungarian parties wrangle over details

Prosecutor defends right to nullify presidential pardon