Hungarian automotive industry: week 32 2018 edition
BMW’s decision to build a manufacturing plant in Hungary did not only turn the Hungarian industry upside down, but also made a noise in neighbouring countries. While Hungarians are generally happy with the investment, Romania and Slovakia seem upset. Let´s recap what week 32 brought in Hungary´s auto sector.
Hungary’s automotive industry is buzzing from BMW’s investment in Debrecen.
Slovakian governments in past and present have strived to counter Eastern Slovakia’s falling behind by attracting a giant investment to ease economic and social tensions.
This effort has failed with BMW, and they have to content themselves with smaller successes.
Albeit a small nation, Hungary is full of car plants and motorways, while Romania is almost two and a half times as large in size, yet they only have two OEM sites, Ford and Renault. Wasted years, short-sighted politicians, it’s all over the news in Romania.
"For a long time, digitalisation was neglected concept. I will always remember how the head of a local manufacturing company once called what foreign companies carry out as digital production management as an ‘idle whim’.
"Now of course, everyone wants their share in this whim, but 6-7 years of innovation cannot be made up for in a week," Máté Gulyás, head of Datapao, told us last week in an interview.
A new international ship station will be built in Esztergom with a new investment.
Ferenc Dávid has resigned as the secretary general of the Hungarian Association of Entrepreneurs and Employers (VOSZ).
According to Ferenc Rolek, vice-president of the Confederation of Hungarian Employers and Industrialists, businesses must increase wages to avoid labour migration. However, wage hikes depend on revenues and productivity, which are not expected to grow by 10 percent this year.
The Committee of Vocational Training Innovation (SZIT) has held a meeting with the aim to create an active dialogue between the government and key players in the vocational education system in terms of the future development areas of secondary-level vocational training and adult training.
László Vannay, honorary professor at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, has been awarded with a Prometheus Medal by the Eötvös Lóránd Society of Physicists for his achievement in the promotion of physical thinking.
The Ministry of Innovation and Technology and Siemens Zrt. has signed a partnership agreement on the reform of dual education and a related pilot project.
Last week we reported on how Arrabona Racing Team prepares for Formula Student Germany, one of the toughest formula car competition of the year. The team developed and built their own vehicle for the season.
