Decades of experience and a strong commitment to product development has seen us become a pioneering specialist in flexible abrasives and revolutionary, patented products which allow customers to enjoy a truly dust-free surface finishing process. Additionally, we have through our innovative research and development program, also launched new microfinishing products for optimised engineered surface finishing processes, as well as a full range of polishing compounds. Moreover, the growing Mirka Power Tools department develops and manufactures advanced sanding and polishing machines, providing outstanding ergonomic and functional benefits to users. These innovatively designed tools combined with a range of effective, high quality accessories, give Mirka´s customers' unmatched access to a complete sanding solution to meet their individual needs.

Mirka is a globally expanding company with 15 subsidiaries located in Europe, North and South America and Asia. Headquarters and production are located in Finland. More than 90% of our products are exported and sold in more than 90 countries. Our operations are certified to the ISO 9001 Quality System and the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System. Mirka is also one of the first companies in Finland to have the Occupational Health and Safety Management System certificate, OHSAS 18001.

Mirka's production facilities, the head office and department for research and development are located in Jeppo on the west coast of Finland. The textile bottom material for the net products is manufactured in Karis. A part of the production, the warehouse for finished products and the shipping are located in Oravais, close to Jeppo, from where Mirka products are exported worldwide.

Fourteen subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Germany, the U.S.A., Sweden (branch offices in Norway and Denmark), France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Singapore, China, Russia, Canada and India are maintaining close contacts with individual customers on a local level.

MIRKA INDIA Wide Belt Convertion Facility

Goal setting
Our company activities are characterised as a goal driven leading strategy. We have clear goals and work together towards developing a strategy that will ensure our visions of the future turn into reality.

Proficiency
The proficiency of our personnel is one of the most important factors in our activities. Already during recruiting, we make sure we find candidates with good professional qualifications who are willing to develop together with us. We offer our employees many opportunities to expand their knowledge and professional skills, in return we expect them to help us to achieve our common goals.

Innovation and creativity
Our creative team have laid the foundations to Mirka's distinguished atmosphere of innovation. We strive towards providing our company with an open and unprejudiced atmosphere, in order to find new and unconventional solutions. We are serious about new ideas and know that even the smallest thought or idea can become the next big success.

Openness and ability to influence
We are continuously striving towards maintaining our unique atmosphere of open dialogue and information exchange at every level of our company activities. We believe that having a mutual respect for the opinions of others is an important factor in achieving this. We provide all our employees with all the necessary information as well as listen to their opinions and requests. Our employees have a good opportunity to affect their working environment, since they actively participate in Mirka activities.

Good solidarity within a pleasant and safe working environment
Mirka endeavours towards supporting its employees; we believe that good solidarity and a pleasant atmosphere are important. We also stress that we maintain a good work output and a safe working environment, where a well-planned work safety policy and active accident prevention are a part of the daily work.

Environmental responsibility is a natural part of Mirka’s process. We make sure to take the environment into consideration in all our activities by following the environmental management system ISO 14001.

Already in the product planning stage, the environmental issues and the recycling policy are taken into consideration. We also emphasise the environmental responsibility to our subcontractors in order to pay attention to the impact of the environment in all stages of the planning and production process.

Another aspect of our environmental policy states that the equipment and the abrasives manufactured at Mirka have to be long-lasting. One aim in our production development is also to make the products even more long-lasting, which furthermore will mean a reduction in the amount of waste. We also strive to make our product packages easily recyclable. A future aim is to develop new materials that are even more environmentally friendly than the present ones.

We constantly try to improve our customers work environment as well as develop the ergonomic features of our products. The dust-free abrasive, Abranet®, developed and patented by Mirka, has made a large improvement towards work safety and reduced environmental impact. Abranet® remarkably improves the traditionally demanding working conditions in factories and paint-shops by reducing the amount of hazardous dust in the air when sanding. Workers avoid being exposed to the dust, the requirements for air-conditioning are smaller and therefore the energy costs can be reduced.

Eco-efficiency and continuous development are our principles when choosing both raw materials as well as planning the structure of our products. In most cases, an environmentally friendly production process will also be economic, precise, effective and safe. These are the processes we want to develop and work with.

The Mirka motto, ‘Dedicated to the Finish’, states the company’s high standards for all to see. We set high standards for ourselves, our environment and our products and innovation is at the forefront of our success. Mirka people are encouraged to continually challenge traditional concepts and apply creative thinking to develop unique solutions that give customers a clear edge. For example, Mirka’s Net Sanding concept makes it the first abrasives manufacturer in the world to develop a dust-free sanding solution that actually achieved what it set out to do – sand without dust!

Mirka is the first abrasive company in the world to obtain the three most important quality standards.

We strive to guarantee reliable quality by following the ISO 9001 quality assurance system. The OHSAS 18001 occupational health and safety management system ensures a high level of work safety. The ISO 14001 environmental management system proves that we consider the environment in all our activities.

Our technology center continually focuses on innovative product and process development.

Mirka’s focus on R&D has allowed it to offer a complete range of technically superior, high quality abrasives, tools and supplementary products. Together they offer a total innovative solution that delivers real benefits to customers in terms of speed, first-class efficiency, surface finish quality and cost effectiveness.

The extensive range includes unique and patented products such as Abralon and Abranet which have quickly become highly-regarded names in the abrasives field. In fact, the performance of these innovative dust-free surface finishing technologies has proven so superior to traditional systems, they have already changed many people’s perceptions of sanding.

By maximising efficiency while also minimising costs it’s easy to see why the Mirka range is more than a match for the most demanding applications.

Mirka is the ultimate ‘total sanding solution’!

Mirka was founded in 1943 in Helsinki by the engineer Onni Aulo. Due to the war-time circumstances and technical problems, the production did not start until January 1946. Despite obstacles and strict regulations at that time, Onni Aulo succeeded in just half a year's time to learn how to manage the production process, something which was quite an achievement. After many moves and various economic successes the company decided in 1962 to move to Kiitola in Jeppo, where they had found suitable premises. In 1966 Oy Keppo Ab bought Mirka and in 1973 the two companies were merged.

Already in the early 1960'es a considerable part of Mirka's products were exported to the USA, as well as to Great Britain and Iceland. Thanks to the growing export markets, the productivity more than doubled in 1965. At the end of the 1970's, exports amounted to 54 % of the turnover.

In order to survive on the international abrasives market, it was necessary to give up the cheap bulk products and concentrate instead on product development and high class industry products. In 1969, the first high class products reached the market and in the same year the manufacturing of self-adhesive discs started, which is still today the most important product group.

Since the new products required better production equipment and enlarged facilities, it was decided in 1972 to invest in a modern factory which was ready the following year.

In 1977 parts of the production were moved to Oravais. The Oravais factory has been gradually expanding over the years, most recently in 2003. The factory in Jeppo has been gradually expanding during the 1980'es and 90'es. The automated warehouse, the Jumbo Tower, Mirka's landmark in Jeppo was ready in 1996 and in September 2004 the newest building, hall 9 and office facilities, were inaugurated.

The first sales companies were founded in the UK in 1976 and in Germany in 1980. The subsidiary in the USA was founded in 1985, followed by Sweden and France in 1992, Italy in 1995 and Spain in 2003. An export office was founded in 1996 in Malaysia and was in 2000 moved to Singapore, nowadays a subsidiary administrating the whole Asia Pacific region. During 2006 Mirka opened subsidiaries in Brazil and Mexico and a representative office in Shanghai, China. In 2008 the representative office in China became an independent subsidiary. During that year Mirka also established a subsidiary in Russia. A new subsidiary was founded in Canada in 2009. During the same year the subsidiary in Sweden was changed into Mirka Scandinavia with branch offices in Norway and Denmark. The newest subsidiary was founded in 2010 in India to strengthening Mirka’s position in Asia.

Today Mirka is an international company and a member of the KWH Group. The KWH Group was established in 1984 when Oy Keppo Ab bought half the shares of Oy Wiik & Höglund Ab. The KWH Group is an internationally recognized actor in the business world of today.

The KWH Group is a global family owned Finnish company that produces and markets plastic products, abrasives and sanding tools and provides logistics services.
www.kwhgroup.com

KWH Pipe
develops, manufactures and markets complete plastic pipe systems for industrial, municipal and construction applications, environmental products, preinsulated pipe systems and special machinery and production technology.
www.kwhpipe.com

KWH Mirka
manufactures and develops superior coated high quality abrasives as well as advanced new sanding machines that will provide real benefits to the users. Net Sanding is a revolutionary dust-free sanding solution provided by Mirka.
www.mirka.com

KWH Logistics
markets customer specific logistics packages and solutions. Operations consist of the Backman-Trummer Group’s international air, land and sea transports, stevedoring and bulk storage, and commercial cold storage services provided by KWH Freeze.
www.backman-trummer.fi

KWH Invest
produces injection-moulded HVAC products and other customer specific niche products (Prevex).
www.prevex.com