Daniel Catanas, the man in charge of running the Romanian operation of the Austrian Wienerberger brick producer, announces a new wave of investments in the plants over the following years.
Wienerberger intends to open another two or three plants over the next five years, adding to the two production facilities already operating on the market.
In the first half of this year, the Austrian brick producer will open another brick production facility in Sibiu, on the site of the former CEMA Sibiu plant, where around 18 million euros were invested.
"Of approximately 160-180 employees working at the Sibiu-based brick plant, about 60 will remain, once the modernisation process is finalised," stated Daniel Catanas, general manager of Wienerberger Sisteme de Caramizi, the domestic branch of the Austrian group.
At present, the company''s employees working in Sibiu are sent to the factories in Gura Ocnitei or in Hungary to attend training courses.
"We are trying to retain a large part of employees, but once investments have ended, the ones doing manual work will be laid off. The plant in Sibiu follows the model of the Gura Ocnitei plant, needing only 60 employees," explains Catanas. After Wienerberger acquired the CEMA plant, the head of the facility retained his position and three shift managers were hired.
The plant in Sibiu was producing about 25 million normal formats at the moment of acquisition. "Relying on the expertise we''ve acquired in the other countries we have a presence in, we''ve managed to hit production of 40 million formats using existing tools, by reshuffling the production process," specified Catanas.
"We chose to buy the plant in Sibiu due to the very good location, allowing us quick access to clay deposits close to Sibiu," adds a Wienerberger representative. The Sibiu-based plant halted production last August.
"Brick plants are operational in a certain area, which should be close to clay deposits. We cannot erect a plant in any location and this is why it takes time to prepare investments in production," says Catanas.
It took the company more than a year to prepare the 18 million-euro investment in Gura Ocnitei, a greenfield project, according to Wienerberger representatives.
Wienerberger owns two brick plants in Romania, in Sibiu and Gura Ocnitei (Dambovita), in which it has invested around 35-36 million euros.
A former regional manager with Wurth Romania, for which he had worked for four years, Daniel Catanas, 39, joined Wienerberger in 1997, as the first employee of the Austrian group in Romania. In the eight years he has worked with Wienerberger, Catanas set up the management team of Wienerberger Sisteme de Caramizi, which has more than 200 employees at present.
The domestic unit of Wienerberger last year posted turnover worth around 30 million euros, a rise from the 12.6 million euros it posted during the previous year.
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