US industrial giant Honeywell has taken over an automation and control systems plant in Lugoj following the global acquisition of British company Novar Plc.
Honeywell will double the number of its employees in Romania following the takeover to around 1,000 and will be the largest US employer domestically as a result. In addition, the group is entering the Romanian manufacturing sector through a second unit - for automation and control systems - after first entering the market in 1997 through the transportation systems division, which runs the turbo-blowers plant in Bucharest.
The US group has big growth plans for the Romanian market in 2005 for both its units.
Honeywell''s business volume in Romania represents less than 1% of its global turnover of 25 billion dollars (19.2 billion euros), according to some estimates by the group.
Officials from the group have said that the Bucharest facility, which manufactures turbo-blowers (a product used in car diesel engines), will this year start to produce up to 2 million units, twice the amount of the previous year and around 30% of Honeywell''s entire European production.
Honeywell owns about 48% of the global market for turbo-blowers.
Its Bucharest facility is run by Honeywell Garrett SRL, which exports its entire production to other units of the group. It has over 400 employees. In 2003, the company derived net profits of 20 million euros against a turnover of 100 million euros, according to balance sheet submitted to the Finance Ministry.
The plant in Lugoj is run by Novar Electric Romania SRL and in 2003 reported turnover of over 7 million euros based on a number of 550 employees. The Lugoj plant is to be coordinated by Honeywell Romania SRL, the group''s automation and control systems unit that so far has had a presence in Romania only through sales structures.
"Last year, Honeywell signed contracts worth over 30 million dollars and will further consolidate its leading position (as a supplier of industrial equipment) at a local level over the coming years," Jerry Walker, deputy chairman of the US group, told Ziarul Financiar.
Last year also saw the US firm establish an engineering centre in Bucharest, with their initial intentions being to involve Romanian engineers in Honeywell''s local projects. Subsequently, however, Honeywell decided that the specialised personnel from Bucharest were competitive enough to be involved in complex international projects.
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