Epcos expands portfolio with new automotive products
Epcos Kft. will carry out a HUF 10.5 bln investment, increasing the company´s headcount in Szombathely by 220 in the next three years, it was announced during a ceremony at the company´s Szombathely location.
Minister of Defence and MP for the region Csaba Hende said: it is a development which will be beneficial for everyone, as Epcos will relocate its production unit from the centre of Szombathely and the facilities left behind will be used for social purposes by the local government, such as building tenement flats and school expansions.
The Hungarian Government, supporting the project with a HUF 3 bln grant, will also get more income from taxes, while employment and the number of jobs in the region will further grow.
The Minister added: today, the leaders of Szombathely-based companies are faced with the difficulty of hiring a well-trained workforce, which is why a huge emphasis is put on the development of vocational training and launching technical higher education - mechanical engineering courses - as early as possible.
Hende said he sees nothing that could prevent the start of mechanical engineering courses in Szombathely in the autumn of 2015. He said that is "what they are trying to and will achieve".
Balázs Takács, CEO of Epcos, said: the company has an annual revenue of HUF 61.5 bln and is an employer of 1,700 in Szombathely, which will be expanded by 220 in the next three years. The company will need new skilled labourers, engineers and development engineers.
The company is planning to launch the production of automotive product families in a new 13,500-square-metre production hall. Construction works will start during the spring and the facility will be finished by December this year. The first production lines will be installed in January 2015, so the hiring and training of the first batch of new employees will start already in the next few weeks.
The CEO added: their strategic plans include to make the Szombathely-location into an automotive production and development centre within the TDK group, which is why in the next 3 to 4 years, the proportion of automotive products will be increased from 30 to 55 percent at the Szombathely plant.
He said they are planning to increase the number of employees in R&D by at least 15 percent, so they are striving for a stronger cooperation with research facilities and universities.
The company is planning to manufacture parts in Szombathely that will provide safety and comfort in motoring, such as key-less locks and starters, automatic parking systems, lane departure warning systems, low-speed anti-pile-up systems and ECUs for power steering and automatic transmission systems.
