Gestamp, a Spanish multinational that designs, develops and manufactures metal parts and assemblies for the automotive industry, will open a new plant specializing in aluminum in Nitra (Slovakia). The company is investing 133 million euros into the new opening which will provide service to automotive plants, including the Jaguar Land Rover plant to be launched in the country.
The Spanish multinational has announced this investment in a meeting with the Slovak Minister of Economy, Peter Žiga. Gestamp will undertake this investment until 2021, in turn creating 229 jobs, the Group announced today. The new plant, with Government support approved, will embark on production in 2018 on a surface area covering 42,400 sq. m.
The components that are manufactured are intended to reduce the weight and enhance the safety of vehicles and will mainly, over 80%, be made from aluminum. This venture strengthens Gestamp's position as a provider of multi-material solutions, a sector in which the Group has developed a wealth of knowledge. The new facility will use the most cutting-edge technological standards, with the installation of two 'servo press tandem' lines.
In the Visegrád region made up of Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, Gestamp currently has seven plants with 2,500 employees and a logged turnover of 300 million euros in 2015. The new Nitra facility will be Gestamp's eighth plant in the Visegrad region and the tenth that the Spanish component manufacturer has currently under construction worldwide.
Gestamp is increasing its capacity in Slovakia, the 19th largest vehicle producer according to the OICA, and the country that manufacturers the most vehicles per inhabitant worldwide. The new Gestamp facility in Slovakia joins the company's other plant in Velky Meder (Dunajská Streda District) which employs over 170 people. The Group manufactures products in this plant through its subsidiary Edscha.
A strategic project
Peter Žiga, the Slovak Minister of Economy, said that "the investment of company Gestamp confirms the stability and quality of the business environment and production in Slovakia. It proves that our country provides favorable conditions also for the highest value-added industry".
Francisco J. Riberas, the Chairman and CEO of Gestamp, highlighted "the strategic value of this new project that helps us significantly increase our presence in a future market like Slovakia where several of our clients operate".
Riberas also pointed out that Gestamp will apply "all the know-how accumulated over the years in technology and materials to lighten the weight and enhance the safety of vehicles" to the new plant in Slovakia.
Along these lines, Gestamp's chief stressed that the parts that will be made in the new Nitra facility will be "closely linked with aluminum, a technology in which, alongside steel, we maintain a frontline position".