Yanfeng Automotive Interiors (YFAI) is hailing the support offered by the Serbian government for the swift construction of its new interior components plant in Kragujevac.
The factory – around 100 miles south of Belgrade – aims to employ up to 800 people by 2023 and will supply other YFAI facilities in Eastern Europe.
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“We started negotiations with our government and our city institutions – working with the Serbian government we have constant support from their side because they were aware the timeline for us was our main enemy,” said YFAI Kragujevac plant manager, Milan Radovic at the factory’s inauguration last week (28 November).
“Lessons learned here were to go step by step [and] our target for 2023 is to have almost 800 people – to reduce the level of unemployment in this country. We are very close to the city, which is one of the advantages we have of this plant.
“We have strong business growth now and in the future. We made a strategic decision to further invest in our European locations and extend our production network into Serbia. “With this new site, we have set up additional production capacity with technology in Central and Eastern Europe.
“We rely on local labour and already have 180 employees on board at our new plant. We will gradually increase the number of employees to 250 by mid-2020 and intend to hire up to 800 skilled people from the region by 2023. We offer promising career opportunities and attractive working conditions, as well as benefits both for production operators and administrative functions.”
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By GlobalDataYFAI adds the key factor in its decision to locate in Kragujevac was its central position in South East and Central Europe, as well as proximity to other YFAI plants in Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia.
In addition to these manufacturing sites, the supplier has a Technical Centre in Trencin and an Automotive Business Centre in Bratislava.
Headquartered in Shanghai, YFAI has around 110 manufacturing sites and technical centres in 20 countries and more than 32,000 staff worldwide.
YFAI is a joint venture between Yanfeng and Adient.
