“It is hard to find people for mid-level positions, there are no more schools training people to become electricians. You can find very good engineers, but Romania lacks technicians. The technicians we can find are over 50 years old,” Ilias Pliatsikas, 34, told ZF in an interview.
The lack of skilled workforce is an issue the automotive, textile, furniture manufacturing and hotel industries in Romania are coping with, as vocational schools training people to become electricians, mechanics or cooks were disbanded in 2009.
Greek-held Olympus group entered the Romanian market in 1999, when it bought a plant in Baraolt, Covasna county, and in late 2010 opened a new plant in Halchiu, near Brasov, in which it invested some EUR75 million. The company’s number of employees has risen from around 80 to 250 at present since launch.
Ilias Pliatsikas, with an over ten-year experience on the Romanian market, says that of the 250 employees only four are foreigners.
The plant producing Olympus and Oly brands is the newest large dairy production facility in Romania (a greenfield investment), considering more than 100 such plants have closed after 2008.
“The plant is currently operating at 60% production capacity,” said Pliatsikas about the facility he runs. In early 2012, the plant operated at 25% capacity, according with the previous data provided by the company.
Greek Olympus group, present in 34 countries, holds three dairy plants in Greece, one in Bulgaria and one in Romania. The plant of Brasov is the group’s largest outside Greece.
Once the new plant opened, Olympus’ revenue in Romania started growing by over 20% annually. In 2012, Fabrica de Lapte Brasov posted revenue of 170 million lei (EUR38 million), a loss of RON250,000 and had 188 employees. Previous estimates by the group’s officials showed the company reached revenue of RON245 million in 2013.
“2013 was a good year for us, we reached our target and we are satisfied. We hope for revenue growth of 25-35% this year. We’ll further rely on exports,” the manager added.
At present, around 70% of dairy production volume in Brasov goes abroad. This year, though, the company’s management wants to reduce the percentage.
“We’ll still rely on exports, but we want the percentage to go down to 65% this year,” Pliatsikas said.
The company, which sells yogurt, milk and cheese under the Olympus and Oly brands, has recently launched a new brand for the consumers in the Brasov area, called Familia Brasoveanu. Most of the products under these brands can be found on modern retail chains’ store shelves.
The manager says that raw material is becoming an issue for dairy producers, but this is not the case only in Romania, but also in Europe, because consumption is rising in countries like Russia and China, while milk production remains constant.
“Milk prices have risen a lot and are still going up. At the same time, purchasing power is the same and this has an impact on consumption,” adds the manager. (EUR1=RON4.4978)
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)