John Guerry, the man who will be implementing the Nokia Village concept in Cluj, says that although many of the suppliers of the Finish group are attracted by Nokia's investment, optimistic forecasts predict that in 2009, when the production facilities in Jucu will operate at full capacity, Nokia will have around 3,500 employees involved in production operations. Production is due to begin in Cluj in 2008, where Nokia mobile phones will be assembled and customised.
The Nokia manager said that construction works on the factory in Jucu would begin in early July, and the first production operations would start by early next year.
The factory will reach its peak capacity by 2009 and the total investment will amount to approximately 60 million euros.
"Things may develop faster than we first estimated, we may reach the desired capacity sooner than 2009, but everything depends on the development of the market," the manager of the Nokia factory in Cluj explained.
He added that Nokia intends to organise a job fair in Cluj-Napoca at the end of June, with a view to hiring 500 employees, mainly operators, engineers, logistics and raw material procurement specialists.
"We cannot provide any accurate estimates for the total number of employees in Cluj, but there will not be as many as the 15,000 repeatedly speculated. I believe this information was fuelled by the knowledge that in all the other locations where Nokia owns production facilities there are also the facilities of our suppliers," stated John Guerry, managing director of Nokia for the Cluj-Jucu project.
He says that the Nokia Village concept will also exist in Cluj, but as yet no final decisions have been made over the number, or the names of Nokia suppliers who will be operating in Jucu.
"So far, some of our established suppliers have already expressed the wish to work in Romania, in Cluj. A final decision, however, will only be made once the necessary infrastructure is in place. Consecutively, the evolution of the labour market in the area is very important, as we do not want to have Nokia competing with the suppliers to hire people," Guerry said.
He explained that Nokia's strategy entails suppliers to be located nearby the production facilities, therefore the number of suppliers who will operate in Cluj will become known in a few months time. In the meantime, the necessary infrastructure will be constructed.
"For the time being, we will only recruit in Cluj and the surrounding areas, with the fair at the end of June also including a session in which we will explain to individuals what it means to work for Nokia.
Our intent is to select 500 people by the end of the year and train them both in Romania and abroad, so that next year, when we begin manufacturing, they will be able to train other new employees," Guerry added.
He went on to say that he intended to have Romanian and foreign managers working together in the management team, as each category has its strengths.
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