Welcoming our new CEO as Labino enters the next stage of growth

A friend who knew a friend. That is how my relationship with Camilla Fahlström started, and for that I am forever grateful. An extraordinary woman who is set to take Labino to new heights. We closed 2025 with record sales – the best year in the history of Labino. Now we are ready to scale up. 2026 has new markets, new products and new applications to offer. But before we turn the page and start a new chapter in the Labino book, I would like to take a moment of your time and share how it all started – to share my story…

The most asked question since I joined Labino in 2005 is, “How did you end up in this industry”? Well, here is my story… I was asked by an investor, that also happened to be my father, to create a marketing strategy for a small company. A company that had an amazing product, but only one product. One product and three and a half employees. How can you build a company with only one product I asked myself. But the product wasn’t just any product, and it was sold all over the world, as its performance was so extraordinary. But to me it was just a lamp, a bulky, quite ugly lamp… but oh so strong. I still didn’t get it though. What was the big deal? The products were used in an application I had never heard of called Non-Destructive Testing. I asked around amongst my friends – no one knew what it was. I started doing my research. I had to understand.

The industry, if you can call a testing method an industry, appeared to be very special. Unique, one of a kind. Why? Because it works the same way all over the world. Non-Destructive Testing is performed in the same way in all countries and in all companies, by all people, in the exact same way. It is all regulated. By standards. No room for local adjustments, national variations or branch specifics. Everybody performing NDT does it the same way, regardless of if they worked in Singapore or in Helsinki, Madrid or Houston. The methods are the same. The requirements can differ from industry to industry and company to company, but nothing else.

I was done with my research. Presented my plan to the investor. And was ready to move onwards, when I was asked to execute my plan and become the Managing Director of the company. The company Labino. I said NO! Never! I couldn’t even spell the word production. I hardly knew what a PCB was and even less so what the Micro Power Xenon light technology was all about, and I had most certainly no international experience. I had studied hard to get my marketing degree and later to get a Strategic Brand Manager degree. It was not in my career plan to run a manufacturing company that produces lamps.

But luckily for me, I came to my senses and decided to take on the challenge. Somebody wise told me, you seldom regret a “yes”, you far more often regret the “no” – the things you didn’t do. What drew me was the possibility to build something. To build a company – and a strong brand. I had one ultimatum though, to be able to buy all shares from the investors, the day I was able to take that step, and I did in 2010.

What has inspired me every day since, is the people. To see people grow, learn and develop, and me being able to equally learn from them as a person, means everything to me. Creating new job opportunities, developing new products and working with extraordinary people meant everything to me. I am grateful for being able to build wonderful, fruitful relationships with distributors, suppliers and partners, in new countries and new continents, all around the world. For no less than 21 years I have been given the opportunity to work with wonderful people in more than 50 countries. For this I feel grateful and humbled.

It has been a journey. Going from one product line in 2005, when I came onboard, to 15 product lines and more than 60 products today, 2026. The journey hasn’t always been easy, there have been many bumps on the road, but that is life. We learn from our mistakes, and we develop when facing new challenges. We fall, we rise and we fall again. But at Labino we never give up and never take short cuts. We fix what is broken and try to do it better next time. Because we aim for the best. In everything we do.

Today I am proud to say that I have reached my goal. I have built a company, and I have built a strong brand. But I did not do it alone – WE DID IT – me and my team and our distributors! Labino is now listed as the number one UV Lamp brand in the world.

Now it’s time for Labino to enter a new phase and take the Labino brand to a new level. To climb higher, grow faster and scale up all in all areas requires a strong, devoted, experienced and driven leader.

It took me two years to find her – the new CEO of Labino. But now she is finally here, and I am very proud to introduce Camilla Fahlström as our new CEO. She is an extraordinary woman, with proven leadership skills and has more than 25 years’ experience working as a leader in different companies and roles. Camilla has been working with growing and scaling up companies, as well as R&D, OEM solutions, marketing and sales, most recently at Tobii in Sweden.

Camilla joined Labino officially on January 12th, and she has already completed her Level II course in Mag Particle, with her Level 2 Penetrant Testing course starting next week. It will take time to learn the industry, but she has the best team next to her to support her. Camilla will add new perspectives and new ideas to a mature market.

I will stay as a member of the Labino board for many more years to come and support my team and our distributors. Labino is my fifth child. First comes Felicia (23), then Frank (21), Harry (14) and Eric (13), last, but not least, Labino. I will stay close, as mothers do.

I am also very blessed with having my family actually working at Labino. My older brother André is a mechanical designer and performs all the CAD drawings for our products. My brother is the designer of Cosmos Wash station lamp, MB PRO, SB Hera and many more products. He is currently designing 4 new products to be launched in 2026. And then we have my only daughter, Felicia, my everyday pride and joy that works in the production team in Vallentuna. She started, as many children of entrepreneurs, helping out in the warehouse. Now she is a certified assembly engineer specializing in MB 3.0, Apollo 3.0 and Cosmos.

It is now time for me to find a better balance between work and my personal life. To focus on my family. I traveled to more conferences, exhibitions and countries than I can count, I spent more hours in the office than what is healthy. It is time to shift focus. To spend time with my family.

And as a wise person said, “Quit while you are ahead, you don’t want to become that grumpy old lady that never leaves”. So, here I am, leaving before I am kicked out 😉

I hope our paths will cross in the future. Stay safe and don’t be a stranger.

Love, Lisel