The fastener delicatessen: Tilka’s journey to growth and precision

In this episode of the Onlinification Pod, I sit down with Jonas Karlsson, Managing Director at Tilka Trading AB, to talk about growth, customer satisfaction, and what it means to be the 'delicatessen' of the C-parts industry.

 Listen to the full episode to hear:

• Why Jonas compares Tilka to a deli, not a supermarket

• How they handle particular fastener needs, like surface-treated black stainless screws

• What 'Target 100' means—and how they're getting there faster than expected

• Why trust, commitment, and customer satisfaction are Tilka's real growth engines

• And why Zooma and Tilka make sense together

  • 37 min

#85: The fastener delicatessen — Tilka’s journey to growth and precision

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Jonas shares how Tilka, a specialist supplier of fasteners and C-parts based in Mönsterås, Sweden, has transformed from a small family-owned business into a key player within a global industrial group, without losing its local soul. With just 15 employees, the team has grown turnover from SEK 50 million to over SEK 80 million in just a few years, with their sights firmly set on 'Target 100' by 2027.

We're like the deli counter. If our competitors are the big-box supermarkets, we're the place where you can get 128g of exactly the cheese you need.

So, what's behind this growth? According to Jonas, it combines smart focus, long-standing customer relationships, and choosing the right industries. Early investments in sectors such as defence, environmental technologies, and renewable energy have enabled Tilka to reap the benefits of strategic positioning.

At the heart of Tilka’s success is its commitment to reliability. Their two most important KPIs—On Time In Full (OTIF) and product claim rate—are closely monitored, with OTIF scores consistently above 98% and a claim rate of less than 0.2%.

Price always matters. But when our customers put it in third or fourth place—behind quality, trust, and service—then we know we’re doing something right.

Jonas also reflects on the impact of being part of a larger group, how Tilka benefits from shared systems and support while maintaining their unique way of working, and why customer satisfaction is always a better growth driver than chasing low prices.

Zooma and Tilka: A shared approach to value

Toward the end of the episode, Jonas reflects on what excellent customer service means to him—and how Zooma fits into that picture:

Zooma isn't the cheapest in the business—but for me, it's the most skilled company I've worked with in your business.

Jonas draws a comparison between Zooma and Tilka, noting their shared focus on long-term relationships, high-quality delivery, and a boutique-style mindset that prioritises customer value over volume. Just like Tilka doesn't aim to compete with bulk pricing, Jonas sees Zooma as a strategic partner that prioritises quality, precision, and partnership over short-term wins.

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Transcription

Alexander Evjenth: So Jonas, welcome to The Onlinification Pod.

Jonas Karlsson: Thank you. Alexander. Thank you.

AE: So can you tell us a bit about who you are? And where are you working?

JK: Yeah, I can try to. My name is Jonas Carlson, and I am, managing director at Tilka Trading. I've been here for almost three years now. 15th of August 2022, I think, so almost three years now. working at Tilka, as I said, 45 years old, living in Kalmar and are located in Mönsterås, about three and a half miles north of Kalmar. along the coast, east coast. And so we have the beautiful Kalmarsund right outside our windows here.

AE: Oh, wow. And what did you do before you started at Tilka?

JK: I worked for, quite many years at, a quite similar type of business, but, a different industry you could say, it was a distributor, but in home electronics, the company was called, Electra. But the way we do business at Tilka when we're working with C-parts and fasteners, are quite similar to the way you work with the home electronics. it's different products of course, bolts and nuts and screws instead of, mobile phones and TV sets and so on. and the customers are different, of course. But the way we work and the way we do the business are quite similar, I would say a little bit slower, maybe in this type of business, longer lead times and so on. You can work with project for like half a year, maybe a year before you get a go or no go, in the home electronics business, there are more, shorter lead times and a more rapid type of business, you could say. But many, many things are very, very similar, I would say. Yeah.

AE: So we're going to go more deep into what Tilka actually does. And, we can maybe compare those ways, and, and come back to those, but for the listeners who don't know Tilka is, what do you do?

JK: Yeah, Tilka is a company working with, we say, C-parts or fasteners. we had a really tough time, actually, to find a good word, for the products that we are working with or selling. But I think C-parts is the word that we, we are using, basically it's, bolts and nuts and screws, and parts that, the producers, meaning our customers aren't developing or manufacturing themselves. So the parts of a bigger product or bigger set, you could say. And Tilka was founded in 1978 and was a family owned business for a lot of years, actually, until October 2021. So almost a year before I started. then, the Bufab Group acquired Tilka. So since October 2021, Tilka is part of this group. Okay. Yeah. And Bufab Group, is a big group. I think it's above 50 companies in 35 plus countries. And it's a big, big player in the fastener industry.

AE: Yeah, and they work with C-parts as well?

JK: They work with C-parts, and we have different business units and we are a part of Business Unit Nordic, and I think we are, it's Bufab Sweden, Norway, Finland, Pajo-Bolte in Denmark, Rudhäll, Magnetfabriken and Tilka. So we are seven, seven companies in the Nordic business unit, and we all work with C-parts, you could say, with some niches or differences between us, of course. Bufab Sweden is the biggest company in the BU, actually in the group, I think, and I think Magnetfabriken are the smallest of the sister companies, and Tilka is among the smallest. But we have different niches, you could say.

AE: Yeah. And I met you once before, and I remember that you referred to Tilka as a delicatessen. Could you just describe what that means for you and your customers?

JK: Our niche in the market or our position, you could say or as we call ourselves a delicatessen or a deli, if you compare with our competitors in the industry, say, like Würth or Bossard or so on, maybe this comparison will only work with the Swedish listeners, but if our competitors are like City Gross or ICA Maxi, big markets, based upon selling, one kilo of cheese already packaged in plastic and so on, then Tilka is the deli where you can get 128g of cheese, if you want 128g of cheese. Maybe it's a weird comparison, but our business here is based on maybe getting some smaller quantities, but smaller quantities of higher quality C-parts or products. And the comparison with our competitors then is based upon moving full pallets or full boxes. Minimum quantity of 1,000. And here at Tilka, you can get that special screw or bolt, but you don't have to buy a full pallet of them.

AE: Could you exemplify what kind of customer that offer is suited for? Or what need?

JK: We have a lot of different customers. We have the customers that, are in the need of big quantities also, of course. but if you are, we call it project-oriented developers or manufacturers that need, a set of C-parts or fasteners for a specific project, you need 3,200 of those and 128 of those, and so on and so on. And in addition, we work a lot with, surface treatments. maybe I should explain that a little bit more. But if you have a stainless screw, and you want it black, then we make sure that you get that stainless screw, surface treated so it will become black. Or if you want it, with, wax on, on the spring or so, so not only a standard part, but a standard part with some kind of add-ons. That's more, our business.

AE: Okay, I understand.

JK: So fulfilling our customers’ needs both in quantities and in quality, I would say.

AE: And you mentioned you have the roots in a family business. How do you notice that now when you're part of a bigger group, do you have that heritage with you?

JK: Yeah, I would say so, and being a part of the Bufab Group, I would say that they want you to drive the company. They bought Tilka for a reason. They saw that Tilka is filling in a space in the market that Bufab didn't have before. So they don't want us to become a mini Bufab or something like that. They want us to keep on driving Tilka with our USPs and, and our way of doing business. so that's really, really great. And I think if you talk to all the MDs in the group, they will say the same, that you can take the benefits of being a bigger group, with centralized ERP systems and all that, but you are supposed still to run your company in ways that have made you successful before. So they don't talk to you from the top and say, do that and that and do that. so that's really, really great. So I would say coming from being a family owned company where we have three words that, we don't only talk about ourselves in those ways, but our customers are really saying these words, that we're solution oriented, of course, a lot of people are that, but we are committed, committed to the business and the customers. I would say to the extent that where I'm coming from, I was really impressed, by the commitment that the Tilka staff has, not only to Tilka, but to the customer and, of course, trustworthy. we are, having customers here. We don't get new customers very often, but we have a lot of customers that have grown with Tilka and are still, customers to Tilka because they know that we deliver what we say. And as they grow their business, we grow our business. Yeah. So I think that's, the main things that, coming from a family owned business, we have kept, are the solution-oriented and committed and trustworthy style, I would say. And maybe that's easier, we are 15 people here at Tilka, and we are, we're talking to our customers more or less like a family member, I would say. Yeah. So being able to take the benefits from being part of a bigger group like Bufab, but at the same time running the small company way of working. And it's been really, really great.

AE: And have you been that amount of employees for a long time?

JK: actually, I think, a year or two years before I started, I think we were, 18 people here at Tilka. So we're three people less, right now, but we have, that's a big part of being in this group. We have, all, accounting, for example, payroll, IT and so on, quality that we have, outsourced to, to the group office in Värnamo. so being a standalone company, we would have to have that competence here in Mönsterås at Tilka, but now we're hiring it.

AE: So these 15 now, what does the organization at Tilka look like?

JK: It's a rather flat organization actually, it's me as managing director. And I have a responsible for, the sales department. we have four sales guys/girls, both women and men for indoor sales. so we are eight people at, at the sales department. We have a, sourcing department. with a sourcing manager, Elin. And you have, one person, one purchaser under her. And actually, we are, hiring a new, purchaser here after the vacation in August, Emma will start. So there will be three in the sourcing department. And then we have, actually quite recently 1st of June, hired Martin Nilsson our, quality and operations manager. So he is responsible for all our quality work, and responsible for the warehouse, all the logistic parts. and we are, three people in the warehouse, so quite a small company.

AE: What are typical challenges that you face that you as an organization manage to solve? you mentioned that you have very long-term relations with your customers and so on.

JK: Yeah. Yeah. And our customers are used to, and that's why they have Tilka as their supplier, they are used to a really high service level. And we have grown a lot in the last few years, I think 2022 was the first year that Tilka had a turnover over 50 million SEK, 50,200,000 SEK I think. And last year, 2024, we had a turnover just above 80 million. And so we haven't doubled the turnover yet, but we are getting there. So, of course, I don't know a good English word for it, but 'växtvärk', in Swedish. Of course it's, really nice to, to grow like this, but, to be able to keep up the service level for our customers, that's been challenging. I think we have managed to do it, but it's been a challenge.

AE: Yeah. And I know from talking to you before that customer service and customer satisfaction is a very big part of what you want to achieve. And, what are some of the KPIs that, that you look at to make sure that you are on the right track?

JK: the main KPIs to measure our quality towards our customers, I would say it's OTIF, on time in full, meaning that we are delivering the right product, in the right amount and in the right time. and we have, a really high level of that, we have are above 98%. So 98% of all our orders that our customers place, we are delivering in the right time, in the right amount and the right product. And that's the challenge, of course, growing as we have been doing. And we are depending on a third party here also, because are trading company, we don't have any production ourselves. So we are trading all the products that we are selling. So you can get some bumps in the road, but we have a good network of suppliers that we also have worked with for a lot of years, and we have new suppliers that we've gotten into, our suppliers that have been suppliers to the group before. So we know that the suppliers that we are using not only are keeping a high quality on the products, but also high quality on the delivery demands that we have. So OTIF, is the most important KPI, I would say, for measuring our customer service level. And we have a quality KPI also that is measuring our the quality on our products, meaning are we delivering, the right product with the right specification that we have agreed upon with our customers. And we have actually a claim rate, right now in the first of 2025, of 0.2%. So that's, really, really, a good figure I would say, in this business. So it's only 0.2% of all the products that we are delivering to our customers that they have, found something that isn't as they thought or we thought it would be.

AE: Wow. And these two KPIs, are they something that Tilka has worked with before you started, back in the days as well?

JK: Yeah. I would say Tilka has been working with those two KPIs, but going into the Bufab Group, we have tools now to measure it in a more effective way. We have another type of statistical tool. And we can, with more or less two button pushes, we can get the actual figures like this. Tilka worked with those two KPIs before, but then it was more or less Excel sheets. So we have worked with the KPIs for a long, long time. But we are monitoring it in more detail now, I would say.

AE: So can you explain more about how you look at that? Is it statistics that 'this has been sent', or 'this is right', or? Like the data on OTIF, how is that measured?

JK: OK, if we agree with the customer that we will deliver product A on the 23rd of June in an amount of 2000, if we deliver 2000 on the right day that we promised, then we get a green check. Then it's 100% OTIF. If. But if we deliver it on the 27th of June, that's too late. Or if we deliver it on the 23rd as agreed upon, but only 1800, not 2000, that's also a red flag on the OTIF. And if instead of delivering this product that we agreed with the customers, we are delivering this part instead, that's also a red flag. So it needs to be the right amount in the right time, and the right product, of course. And of course we can we measure this, in our ERP system, measure it, that we deliver it, it goes out our gates here on the same date. But if goods personnel at the customer haven't have the time to to move it into their warehouse, that's nothing we can do about, so maybe they think that we have a red flag, but if we have delivered it from our doors at the right time, in the right amount and right product, then we are 100% satisfied.

AE: OK, so it's a very reliable KPI to look at.

JK: Yeah, of course, of course. I don't think we could miss out on anything actually. Maybe if we, if we try to fool the system and tell the system that we have delivered the goods, but we haven't, maybe that would be the case. But no. We have a fantastic BI unit on the group level, and I could more or less get every report I would like, and I'm a little bit of a statistic nerd, maybe some of the people here at Tilka think so at least. And I think I have, since I started here, 30 or 40 'hemmasnickrade', specific reports for Tilka that I have gotten help to build. So that's also, of course, I could have a BI guy or girl hired here, but we are not that big of a company that we could manage to handle that cost for hiring a BI person.

AE: No, no. Of course.

JK: But there are really skilled people on the group level, so we can get those reports, even though we don't have it in-house.

AE: That's good. So, what's your focus right now and moving forward?

JK: Our focus right now is to continue, I would say, on the journey that we are on. When I started here in August 2022, I gathered all the staff in a little autumn kickoff in October. So more or less two months after I started, and I told them that in five years we are going to have a turnover of 100 million. So we're going to double in five years, so in 2027. They didn't tell me then but they have told me afterwards that they thought, 'what is this crazy guy? Of course, we can't double in five years'. But as I said, last year, 2024, we did 80. And so we have gotten more than half the way to 100 in half the time. So I think now they are not at all surprised or they, they don't think I'm crazy. They think it's doable. And that's, actually, I call it Vision 100. And since then, we have renamed it to Target 100, it's not a vision anymore. It's a target. So that's the aim. And of course we won't be satisfied there, so then it's time to maybe make a new vision and hopefully rename even that to a target. Maybe. Maybe they will listen to this so I won't scare them quite yet, maybe. But I think Vision 200 sounds great, maybe.

AE: And what do you think are the main reasons why you have achieved 80 now, from where you started.

JK: Yeah, we do a lot of good things. We have had a lot of good things coming from being in a group, in a wider supplier network, with a whole lot better systems, not only BI systems. But I would say maybe hard work, of course, but a little bit of luck also. Tilka has been engaged in the right type of segments or industries that are booming right now, and that's not really luck because it's, it's been a choice that was made a lot of years ago, and now we are harvesting from the decisions that they took like ten years ago or even more. For example, we are more or less not in the automotive industry, we aren't there almost at all. And of course, if the automotive industry booms, we won't be there to take a share of that. But right now, you can can't say booms, quite the opposite, actually. And we don't have to lower our expectation on them also.

JK: But I would say there are foremost three industries or segments that we are in, and all three of them are booming right now. It's the defence industry, for obvious reasons. That's booming right now. It's the environmental industry, meaning water cleaning manufacturers and so on. And the energy industry, so windmills and energy in all kind of businesses, you would say. So defense, environmental and energy industries that have been Tilka's focus for more than ten years, and right now, maybe you could say it's luck, now we are harvesting from those positions that Tilka took a lot of years ago. So that that's the main reason going from 50 to 80 in quite a short time, I would say, being in the right industries and at the same time not being in the wrong industries. So we don't have a lowering demands from automotive that are dragging down the turnover. We only have the industries that are expanding or going upwards.

AE: Yeah, that's a good position.

JK: Yeah it is. It is. And that's not my fault, or I don't take credit for that at all, because that was far before my time. So my work right now is more or less to try to maximise the wave that we are on. Take the opportunity of being in these kind of industries or segments.

AE: It's been interesting for our listeners, at least for me, to learn more about you and Tilka and what you're doing. And lastly I just want to ask, for you personally working when you're in your previous role in electronics, how do you personally define great customer service. What is it for you?

JK: We can have customers for whom price is always a factor, but if our customers put the price factor like in third or fourth place, they value a lot of other things before that, then you have a really good customer satisfaction, I would say. And if you do the OTIF, if you do the claim rate, if you always are solution-oriented or dedicated, if you do all these things, the price won't be in first place, hopefully in third or fourth or even lower. And if you can get the customer to value price that low, then we have a good customer satisfaction. And that's not just specific for this kind of business or industry. I would say it was the same in home electronics, and I think it's the same everywhere. And if you keep a higher customer satisfaction, then the price won't be number one. And for those customers for whom price still is number one, we aren't the supplier for them. So, I think they will find another supplier.

AE: Yep, very clear and understandable.

JK: And I think that it's the same in the cooperation with Zooma, you aren't the cheapest in the business, but you are, for me, it's the greatest or the most skilled company that I worked with in your type of business, and then the price isn't on top of the agenda, I would say. It's a little bit the same type of company there, Zooma and Tilka.

AE: Yeah, the deli?

JK: Yeah, the deli. Of course, of course.

AE: I really like that definition.

JK: It is. And maybe if you see it on the web page or the home page, you have to maybe explain it a little bit like I did now, but I haven't met one single customer or supplier or partner that I've told them about this deli kind of thinking, and they agree with us. You are a deli. And we have customers phoning us and and sometimes they say, 'oh, are you talking to the deli?'. Then we have come a long way if the customers call us a deli.

AE: That's a very good receipt.

JK: Yeah.

AE: Yeah, that was all my questions, it's been a pleasure to talk to you.

JK: Thank you, thank you. Nice talking to you. And keep up the good work at Zooma, because you are great.

AE: Thank you very much. OK Jonas, talk to you later. Bye bye.

JK: Bye bye.