Austrian group Lasselsberger, the leader of the Romanian ceramic tiles market (wall and floor tiling), closed the Cesarom plant in Bucharest a month ago, after last year it had closed a production facility in Lugoj, with the only still operating facility being Sanex Cluj-Napoca.
The production line functioned within the plant that Lasselsberger sold to Spanish group Roca (a manufacturer of sanitary ware) in 2006.
Originally, the three production facilities taken over by Lasselsberger in the 2004-2005 period had a production capacity of 13 million square metres of ceramic tiles, while now around 6-6.5 million square metres are currently produced at Sanex Cluj-Napoca. By the end of the year, part of the equipment at Cesarom Bucuresti will be moved to Cluj, with production to rise to 7.5-8 million square metres.
The group will drop the Sanex brand, which will only be used in the Cluj area, and will invest exclusively in developing the Cesarom brand.
"The Cesarom plant was closed last month, following the decline of the market, with part of the equipment to be moved to Cluj. Around 300 employees have been made redundant. The remaining 150 will handle the company's Bucharest operations," said Eduard Macarescu, commercial manager of Lasselsberger at the first press conference of the Lasselsberger group since its entry on the Romanian market in 2004, where he announced the company's strategy for the next few years.
The group currently has 700 employees left, 550 of whom at the Cluj plant.
Lasselsberger pursued an aggressive strategy when it entered the Romanian market, taking over the largest ceramic tiles manufacturing facilities on the Romanian market, Cesarom Bucuresti, Sanex Cluj-Napoca and Mondial Lugoj (the ceramic tiles division)
The group's investments on the Romanian market now amount to 30 million dollars (21 million euros), which include acquisitions conducted over the last five years. Over time, the group's Romanian business declined, to 150 million RON (41 million euros) last year, down 33% compared with the previous year.
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