Provider of laser cutting and metal forming services, Sico has been in business for more than 28 years. Based in Arja Vas in eastern Slovenia, the company fesatures the biggest number of state-of-the-art laser cutting machines in the country, and its products are exported as far as New Zealand.

Sico also manufactures forestry and recycling machinery under the trademark Robust, the company's owner Marjan Volpe has told the Slovenian Press Agency.

In addition to Slovenia, the family-run company provides its services in German-speaking countries, and its products are exported all over the world, including the US, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and African countries.

The company is part of the state-sponsored scheme to promote work opportunities for people with disabilities, and its staff or former employees are among its co-owners.

Sico is known for the skills and the technology needed to cut different types of sheet metal, and it also provides laser cutting of pipes and profiles with an ultra-modern 3D fiber cutter.

What is new in the company's portfolio is powder coating of large workpieces in the new paint shop and robotic sandblasting of large workpieces using various abrasives.

"What is interesting is that we have all the machinery to make complex products in one place, which is rare. Also, the dimensions of the sandblasting facility and the paint shop are among the largest in this part of Europe," Volpe said.

Sico was established in 1994 as a subsidiary of the company Sip, but a decade later it went its own way. Last year, it posted nearly €12 million in revenue, about 20% up year-on-year, and almost €1 million in profit, down by some 20%. The company employs around 60 workers.

"There is fierce competition in laser cutting in Slovenia, so we are stepping up exports, but when it comes to products competition is weak," Volpe said.

His company has recently expanded production by unveiling a new, 4,000 square-metre facility. "The plans are optimistic: to double the number of products sold in the next three years and to make full use of the new production capacity."