So far, the company has invested EUR3 million in the assembly unit and around EUR1 million in a rim manufacturing line with a capacity of 800,000 units per annum. The latter investment was carried out in 2014.
“Accumulated experience, Decathlon’s mounting needs and market requirements have brought up a new project for NextCity SA’s development department: Complexul Industrial SportCity. Designed to be the second unit after VeloCity and expand the manufacturing capacity of NextCity SA to over one million bicycles annually, SportCity will harmonize complex industrial processes of part and bicycle manufacturing, painting and assembly,” says Walter Fleck, training & communication manager at the company.
He adds that the new plant, set to be built starting next year on an over 20,000-sqm area, will hire around 950 people, driving Next City’s total headcount in Romania to around 1,200.
The current plant of Resita, which generated revenue of RON21 million last year (up 22% against 2012), already has 350 employees. The financial figures place the production unit of Resita on the fourth position among Romania’s major bicycle producers, after Mechrom Industry (part of Campagnolo group), Madirom Prod (the company through which Decathlon assembles bicycles in Romania together with NextCity) and Eurosport DHS.
Romania is Europe’s third largest producer of bicycle parts and accessories after Italy and Germany. Thus, domestic production amounts to EUR200 million, holding 12% of the EU market. However, in terms of bicycle production, Romania ranks eighth.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)