INVESTMENT IN PRECISION Linamar has been investing in its Hungarian operations for 20 years now. Its latest investment project was completed in March this year, when the capacities of Linamar Hungary Zrt were significantly increased to maintain competitiveness in both the automotive sector and in general machine production. Edina Beale investigates.
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he Canadian multinational Linamar Corporation is a leading designer and diversified manufacturer of precision metallic components and systems for the automotive industry, energy and mobile industrial markets. The group acquired a presence in Hungary in 1992 and introduced new technological solutions and an efficient working culture to the small town of Orosháza, in the south-east of Hungary. Since then the staff number of Linamar Hungary Zrt has grown from 354 to 2170 whilst the initial turnover of HUF 602 million has now reached HUF37.3 billion. At present there are three production centres in Hungary, two of them engaged in the automotive and precision component production. These plants are located in Békéscsaba and Orosháza whilst the division in Oros specialises in general machine
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production. Today Linamar Hungary Zrt is a vital part of the Linamar global operations and investments have been constantly made by the group to increase the firm’s competitiveness in its markets. The latest investment project was completed in March this year. Mr Csaba Havasi, the managing director of the Linamar group in Europe said in its statement to the MTI: “We opened a new manufacturing facility of Linamar Hungary Zrt as part of a HUF 6.9 billion investment. The company’s 11 000 m2 capacity was increased by 5 000 m2 in Orosháza, whilst new modern reception area and offices were built. The company received a HUF 1.5 billion fund from the Economic Operative Programme. “Linamar in Hungary is the largest employment provider in the region. Significant investments were made to acquire new
machinery and assets for both the automotive and machine manufacturing units, and we will continue with these investments this year. As a result of this development we created an extra 250 jobs.”
Diverse portfolio The company manufactures a wide range of products for the automotive industry; the portfolio includes engine components, gearbox-, driving-, braking-, steering wheel-, and compressor components. In addition to this, the production of large size generator components and motor generator components is also significant. Both automotive divisions acquired the ISO TS 16949 quality assurance certificate in addition to meeting the criteria of the environmental EN ISO 14001 and the health and safety requirements of the OHSAS 18001standards.
