The Gliga Instruments

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The Gliga Group business Gliga is the name by which there is known the musical instruments company in Reghin - Romania, coordinated by the Violin-Maker of international fame, Vasile Gliga. Vasile Gliga has become one of the best known and most admired violinmakers in Europe due to his meticulous craftsmanship and the lovely wood he finds in Carpathian Mountains. His 10-year-old violin-making company, known simply as the Gliga Group, is one of Romania's most successful family-owned concerns, employing some 1,200 people. "I started with two people making two violins a year. Now I have 500 making 3,000 a month," he says. "I didn't expect it would grow to this." It is a success story that is partly rooted in communism, partly in geography and largely in Gliga's innate skills as an entrepreneur. Violins in his top-of-the-line maestro series change hands for as much as $5,000. The high price of an instrument is explained by the fact that over 90% of the manufacturing process of a violin, with many meticulous steps is manual. In addition, from wood to the finished product, there is a distance of three months for several instruments up to a year for unique violins. And that if not taken into account the three years period of natural drying of wood. The group of companies had a great increase from six employees and run several thousand dollars in 1991 to almost 300 employees and a turnover of over five million dollars last year. Most of the instruments (98%) are exported. Half of the exports go to the United States where the group own even a company in California called Gliga Violins USA, and it is managed by the eldest son, graduate student there. This not only shows the expanding process of their business, but also the continuity and the respect for creating unique masterpieces. The Gliga Group consists of the following companies: Prodex range - dealing with the
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