Hungarian automotive industry: week 18 2018 edition
Albeit shortened by a bank holiday, last week brought a number of new developments in Hungary’s auto sector: new bus from Debrecen, overview on skill worker wages and more.
Interviews
We are in a unique situation stemming from the fact that Opel has recently switched hands. New labour force will remain to be in demand, as PSA is allocating a new product to the Szentgotthárd plant, a model that we’ll start producing from 2020, HR director Olívia Mesics told our site in an interview last week.
Digital solutions and robots could reduce the need for manpower in the future, which could play a key role in addressing the challenge of labour shortage in Hungary, László Parragh, chairman of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, says.
Last week we interviewed project manager Zoltán Koltai about a programme allowing small businesses to become acquainted with Industry 4.0 technologies with the help of large companies free of charge.
Production line
A public procurement bid to supply MÁV-Start with bogie and brake system packages for the assembly of IC+ passenger cars has been won by a consortium between Siemens Zrt. and Knorr-Bremse GmbH. The delivery of component packages will begin in summer 2019.
Inter Traction Electrics Kft. has launched the production of yet another bus model after Mercedes-Benz had completed the delivery of a new low-floor chassis to the company’s Debrecen site.
The Municipality of Veszprém is building a housing complex for employees at Continental, Jost Hungária Bt. and Valeo with a HUF 361 million investment.
Skilled workers can expect to be paid the most in Central Hungary. In Q1 2018, the average hourly wage of skilled and semi-skilled workers was HUF 959, 10 percent higher than in the same period last year.
Student competition
This year’s Global Legal Hackathlon, the international competition of legal software development, saw a Hungarian win. Students from BME took first place with a data protection application.
