Car parts manufacturer Takata Petri hired 1,000 staff betweenApril and November for the steering wheel and seatbelts plants inArad and for the airbag plant in Sibiu.
The company thus exceeded the 6,000-employee mark, which makesit one of the biggest employees in the auto industry, alongsideAutomobile Dacia, Draxlmaier and Continental.
"Figures show Takata's operations in Romania are on the rise.This increase of the steering wheel plant comes as a result of therelocation of the Poland plant to Arad, while in the other sectorsit has to do with the new projects attracted," said Jacob Lux,communication manager of Takata Petri AG.
Takata's development in Romania comes at a time when manybusinesses in the car manufacturing industry are stillrestructuring, with orders continuing to lack amid a decline of theinternational car market. According to company representatives,there are currently 4,800 staff working in Arad at present,compared with 4,000 in April.
The international restructuring of the Japanese group, witharound 4 billion euros in turnover in 2008, entailed the relocationof steering wheel production from the Polish plant to theRomanian-based one. Therefore, with profitability in mind, Takatadecided to close the plant in Walbryzych, Poland at the end ofAugust, and relocate its operations to Arad, which resulted in 571Polish employees being made redundant.
"The majority of the new jobs resulted from the closure inPoland. Before the crisis, around 1,200 people were working there.In Romania the relocation led to the creation of 700 new jobs,"said Lux.
The company has production facilities on four continents, withits European headquarters located in Germany, where it also hasnine production facilities. Back in January, however, Takata alsofired 223 employees in Romania, after orders from foreign partnersand from Automobile Dacia had fallen.
In Romania, Takata Petri is one of the leading producers in theauto industry, behind Continental, Michelin and Ina Schaeffler. Thegroup's business amounted to 269 million euros last year, more than220 million euros of which generated by the steering wheels andseatbelts plants in Arad. ZF
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