Fourmont, Dacia: Work on infrastructure and education is critical for a strong automotive industry

At the end of his over six-year term at the helm of Automobile Dacia, Francois Fourmont sums up his accomplishments: he brought Renault group's Romanian business to 3 billion euros a year and implemented over 1.5 billion euros in investments.
Fourmont says, however, that in order to have a strong local industry one needs more than Dacia's and Ford's investments, namely cooperation from the authorities, who need to outline a functional transport infrastructure and reform the education system so that it can supply workforce suitable to the requirements of the labour market.
"In order to have a strong auto industry, I think another two important elements are needed: work on the transportation infrastructure and the education system," said Fourmont.
He explained that in addition to the need for motorways, the authorities need to also work on the commercial attractiveness of the port of Constanta, which is not a major reference point for container carriers. That is why deliveries of components to the plant that assembles the Dacia model in Brazil are done through the Port of Hamburg and not through Constanta. "Secondly, operators in Constanta harbour don't charge competitive fees, and this is a problem."
Automobile Dacia uses transportation services of the sea port in order to deliver around 5,000 cars to Italy, France and Algeria per month, with the cars being transported by rail to Constanta by Gefco.
For Dacia, 2009 started with a time when the plant's operation was uncertain and the jobs of almost 4,000 employees were not secure, with the company management suspending production on several occasions, in order to adjust to market demand and reduce stocks.
In March, however, orders escalated from western European countries where car scrappage schemes were implemented, and 2009 became a year with record-high production, put at 300,000 cars by the general manager.
Is 2009 the best year as far as financial results are concerned, though?
"I think the best year was 2007. In 2009 we will produce more, but with greater efforts. If we calculate in terms of percentage points, and not in absolute terms, 2009 is probably the best year as far as profit is concerned," Fourmont said.