Hungarian automotive industry: week 49 2017 edition
Digitalisation at Audi Hungaria means no harm to existing jobs, BPW on the hunt for development engineers, while more and more companies join dual education programmes at Hungarian universities. Let’s recap what the 49th week this year brought in Hungary’s automotive sector.
Manufacturers
Achim Heinfling, the chairman of the board of management of Audi Hungaria Zrt., spoke about the changes in the automotive industry, stable production volumes in engine and vehicle manufacturing and the serial production of electric motors and the new Q3 in 2018 at a press conference last week.
In his annual review he mentioned the ongoing digital developments at the Győr unit, but added that these will not affect the number of employees at the plant in Győr.
Suppliers
BPW is looking for graduates in development engineer positions in Szombathely. An HR representative of the Szombathely-based manufacturer of running gear systems for commercial and agricultural vehicles told us in an interview in connection with student team competition Techtogether that these events help automotive experts get to know engineer candidates before they even graduate.
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Ames, Autoliv and Ziehl-Abegg join dual engineer training programme in Szombathely. The training programme in Szombathely was originally founded by six partner companies, which have been joined by additional firms in the last two years. This autumn, four more companies have decided to join the partnership.
Szent István University (SZIE) and Continental Group-member ContiTech Fluid Automotive Hungária Kft. have signed a cooperation agreement. SZIE rector Dr. János Tőzsér said that the company is contributing to the students’ theoretical and practical training and their successful employment in the future.
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Finding engineers is a difficult task, but so is finding a challenging position that matches job seekers’ skills.
The head of HR and health & safety at FémAlk Fémöntészeti és Alkatrészgyártó Zrt. is well versed in the needs of Generation Y, shown by the fact that employees seldom leave the company. Last week, we interviewed Balázs Tóth.
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| Balázs Tóth of FémAlk Zrt. |
Knorr-Bremse Fékrendszerek Kft. has joined the Intellectual Property Owners Association of Automotive Distributors (JAF). The company is placing special emphasis on taking action against counterfeit parts.
Service providers
The automotive industry’s significance in the Hungarian economy will not decrease, in fact, it is expected to show further growth, István Lepsényi, the minister of state of the Ministry for National Economy for economic regulation, said in Budapest at the automotive conference of HG Media Group’s event series called In Focus.
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| István Lepsényi, minister of state for economic regulation |
430 micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have received HUF 40 billion in non-refundable support for increasing competitiveness and consolidating production, which will allow for a total investment volume of HUF 78 billion, Balázs Rákossy, the Ministry for National Economy’s minister of state for the utilisation of European Union funding, said last week.
Education
BME to send another satellite to space. Building on the success of the Masat-1 project, the first Hungarian satellite sent out to space by an education institute, in 2014 the university began the development of a 5-centimetre cube-shaped satellite, called SMOG-1, with the involvement of electrical engineer and mechanical engineer students, university educators and researchers.
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A student from Óbuda University has developed heatproof spring, resisting temperatures up to 550 degrees Celsius. Óbuda University has launched a project that awards the most innovative course projects.
TechTogether
Autopro launched engineer student competition Techtogether four years ago to help automotive companies recruit young professionals. József Tóth, head of business development at Hepenix Kft., approves of the efforts so far.
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Trend
Although powder metallurgy has been enjoying its heyday in the last two decades in Hungary, there is huge shortage in the field of industrial sintering. An experienced Spanish company has undertaken the task to help this situation.
Analyses
Although Hungarian CEOs are confident about their companies’ growth in the following year, several challenges keep them concerned. These include labour shortage, digital transformation and cyberattacks.
