Johnson Controls took over the plants of one of the local suppliers, Autoliv will open a production facility on the site of a former textile plant, and US-held TRW Automotive Safety systems will build a steering wheel cover plant in a space that used to accommodate a medical equipment facility.
US Johnson Controls, one of the world’s largest automotive component manufacturers, last year took over Spumotim, a producer of polyurethane foam that owned two plants in Timis and Arges counties (west and south of the country). The US company said it made the acquisition to be able to keep up with the orders coming from customers like Dacia (Mioveni), Ford (Craiova) and Fiat (Serbia).
Spumotim, one of the leading producers of automotive seating foam in the country, used to be Johnson Controls’ supplier even before the acquisition and had already signed a contract with Ford Romania to supply seating foam for the B-Max model. Spumotim had budgeted EUR22.7 million revenue for 2011, and had about 300 employees.
The Johnson Controls-Spumotim deal includes the takeover of both the latter’s offices and of its plants in Timisoara and in Arges. Johnson Controls bought Spumotim because it sees Romania as a significant part of the growth in Eastern Europe.
The production of the Ford B-Max model in Craiova will probably exceed 100,000 units a year and Dacia announced the start of manufacturing of the second generation of the Logan model, while Renault Industrie Roumanie will export complete knocked down kits of the Dacia Lodgy model to be assembled in Morocco. In addition, Fiat will begin production of two new models at the former Zastava plant in Serbia, at a yearly rate of 200,000 units that may go up to 300,000.
Johnson Controls posted EUR204 million revenue on the Romanian market last year and has nine production facilities in this country, the latest of which inaugurated on Ford’s industrial site. The US company is currently employing about 4,500 people.
Earlier this month, automotive safety systems maker Autoliv Romania, part of the Swedish Autoliv group, with about $7.2 billion in sales in 2010 and 43,000 employees, announced it would expand its local business with the acquisition of a production facility in Sfantu Gheorghe, Covasna County (central Romania). The new facility was bought from trousers maker LRO in Sfantu Gheorghe and will enable Autoliv to expand the production portfolio in Romania as it plans to make steering wheels there, which it will sell to major carmakers in Central and Eastern Europe. The value of the deal was not revealed.
Autoliv has been operating in Romania since 1997 and is currently employing 3,500 people in three locations, Brasov, Lugoj and Timisoara. The products it manufactures in Romania include seat belts and air bag components.
The Swedish company also owns two research and development centers in Brasov and Timisoara, where it tests seat belts and electronic safety systems. It expects to see its production of steering wheels increase significantly over the next three years.
Its net profit in Romania stood at 147.2 million lei (EUR34 million) and its revenue amounted to RON1.6 billion (about EUR370 million) in 2010.
Autoliv Romania’s customers include Opel, Dacia-Renault, Mercedes, Ford, Skoda, Audi, VW, Citroen, Land Rover, Fiat and Peugeot.
On the other hand, TRW Automotive Safety Systems, the local subsidiary of the US automotive component group TRW Automotive, started construction of a plant last year that will make steering wheel covers in Marghita, Bihor County (northern Romania). According to the information available at the time, the project began with the takeover of a medical equipment plant and the value of the deal was not revealed.
TRW Automotive Safety Systems makes steering wheels and airbag components at its plants in Timisoara, Deta, Oravita, Lupeni, Resita (western and central Romania) and Marghita.
The products made by the Marghita plant are set to go to a German manufacturer of premium cars.
TRW Automotive Systems is currently employing 3,400 people in Romania and posted RON774 million revenue (EUR178 million) in 2010. Its most important clients are VW, Renault (including Dacia), BMW, Ford, Daimler, Fiat and Porsche, Rolls Royce and Land Rover. The US group has more than 60,000 employees in plants in 26 countries throughout the world.
(English version by Loredana Frățilă-Cristescu)