“Now 30% of Dacia’s suppliers are located in Arges County and we want to get to 35% or maybe even 40%,” said Nicolas Maure, managing director of Automobile Dacia.
The company wants to attract suppliers that manufacture parts for it in France, Spain and Turkey. Among the first persuaded to come was Martur, he added.
Turkish seat manufacturer Martur of the Ustunberk group made a greenfield investment in a plant near Dacia’s spare parts center in Oarja, by the A1 Bucharest-Pitesti highway.
Out of the 20 largest companies in Arges County, 12 operate in the automotive or automotive component industries and are among Dacia’s suppliers. The five largest exporters in that county are all companies in the automotive business: Dacia, Johnson Controls (two fiscal entities), Lear Corporation and Steinel Electronic, according to the National Statistics Institute data.
Dacia alone generates 40% of the revenue of the Arges County. Its current automation rate stands at 5% to 10%, Maure says, and the company is conducting an extensive automation program to improve working conditions and worker safety. The automation rate should exceed 10% next year and reach 20% by 2020, Dacia’ managing director added.
The company expects production to reach 340,000 units by yearend, lower than initially announced, due to some problems with suppliers in October, which caused a production decline. Although production will not reach the initially estimated 350,000 units, due to the supplier problem, it will still be higher than in 2014, when it reached 338,000 units, Nicolas Maure said.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)