Precision metallic components Linamar

PRECISION METALLIC COMPONENTS

The Canadian multinational Linamar is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of precision metallic components and systems for the agricultural, automotive and energy industries. Its Hungarian operations have seen significant investments in recent years, as Industry Europe discovers.

Linamar established 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. 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 production.

Today Linamar Hungary Zrt is a vital part of Linamar’s global operations and investments have been constantly made by the group to increase the firm’s competitiveness in its markets. February this year (2015) saw the inauguration of a new HUF 5.5 billion development at the Orosháza plant. This investment, which was mainly to add capacity and additional technology to the plant, could raise sales by more than €250 million.

Mr Csaba Havasi, the managing director of the Linamar group in Europe said: “Linamar in Hungary is the largest employment provider in the region. Significant investments were made both this year and last year to acquire new machinery and assets for both the automotive and machine manufacturing units, and we will continue with these investments.”

Product 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.

The Oros division specialises in general machine production; its product range includes agricultural machinery, road construction machines and erector machines for the construction industry. The Oros division has been developing and supplying corn and sunflower adapters for over 35 years.

The company’s core product is the high quality corn harvesting adapter, the Oros cornhead, that can be fitted to all type of harvesters, and is suitable for harvesting corns and sunflowers that are planted in 70–100cm rows. The company’s CORNADO corn harvesting machines were redeveloped this year; customers can choose from 6 rows to 16 rows, or whether they want the product to be fixed or foldable.

Continuous product development has always been a priority for Linamar. The Oros Sun hydrostatic sunflower harvesting adapter was launched in 2011. This is an innovative quality product, which is equipped with a stalk crashing facility whilst operating with reduced energy and minimizing seed dropping. During the development process the company’s aim was to develop an adapter that reduces harvesting waste to a minimum: the adapter is fitted with a row of trays that collect the falling sunflower heads and seeds. Its simple construction and light weight also allow users to significantly reduce costs during the harvesting process.

Global presence

In parallel with the global strategy of the Linamar group, Linamar Hungary Zrt mainly concentrates on the European market; more than 80 per cent of the products are exported to countries including Germany, UK, France, Ukraine, Russia, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Croatia. The company’s in-house developed products are also sold in North America.

Mr Janos Ivanics, CEO of the Linamar Hungary Zrt, explains why he is optimistic for the future: “Due to the considerable amount of funds we received for investment purposes, our technological developments have been significant in recent years. In addition to this, we have increased our efficiency by raising our requirements to recruit skilled professionals and by continuously improving our work environment.

“We will continue our investments in the next few years in both automotive component production and in the machine manufacturing division too. The customer base of Linamar is continuously extending, and our capacities in both automotive divisions are 100 per cent utilised. In the next few years we would like to continue to extend our capacities in this sector as well as in our own machinery production.” n