Yanfeng Automotive Interiors (YFAI) has unveiled its new test lab at the company’s Trencín Technical Centre in Slovakia after benefiting from EUR802,000 (US$875,000) in government grants.
The financial incentive comes as Slovakia rides the wave of fast becoming a low-cost manufacturing powerhouse in tandem with its Visegrad neighbours of Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. In Slovakia, YFAI operates the Technical Centre in Trencín, an interiors manufacturing plant in Námestovo and a regional automotive business centre in Bratislava.
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The laboratories in Trencín have been upgraded and equipped with testing chambers this year and now serve as the company’s centre for analysing automotive interior components in Europe.
Slovakia’s contribution of EUR802,000 is broken down into EUR380,000 for machinery, EUR220,000 for the new workplace and tax incentives of EUR202,000, making total investment in the Trencin centre more than EUR5m.
“When we arrived here there were no engineers for automotive,” Yanfeng engineering director and site leader for the Technical Centre, Ivan Kebisek told just-auto at the Trencín facility. “There were some old factories, mainly for military production, but during [their] conversion they lost a lot of business so there has been a high level of unemployment. So the Mayor was very keen to have a Technical Centre here.
“[In Slovakia] We are producing more than 1m vehicles per year and with the coming of Jaguar Land Rover, there will be a least another 180,000, so it means suppliers are coming. Automotive companies who never planned to have R&D companies are coming here so we have to [make] our business better than competitors.
“Wages will increase – it will happen for sure but we don’t think it will be ever at the level of Western countries like Germany or France. The reason [better wages] is with this automotive boom, the workforce here is pretty qualified [and] are able to do a good job.
“Pressure on wages is here but it will not go to the level of Germany, otherwise we will lose competitiveness.”
During the past few years, YFAI has been strengthening its presence and technical capabilities in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), with the Trencín centre conducting durability and material tests for automotive interior components and products, including instrument panels, cockpits, door panels and floor consoles.
The engineering equipment includes new chambers and technical devices, for component performance testing in safety, durability, environmental effect, vibration, appearance, materials and emissions. Extreme conditions with temperatures ranging from -40°C to +120°C, climate variation cabinets, UV-light resistance and weathering tests, sun simulation and ageing tests, can be used for equipment parts evaluation.
The capabilities in Trencín also feature universal testing, 3D surface scanning, motorised scratch and odour verification. The primary departments at the Trencín Technical Centre are product development, benchmarking, engineering quality management (EQM), material data management, CAD-applications, product change management, SMTE and the use of 6 Sigma processes.
Along with the three other Visegrad countries, Slovakia is engaged in a battle to recruit and retain enough workers as the manufacturing boom shows no sign of slowing down, with Yanfeng also seeking to expand its workforce, although this can prove challenging.
“Maybe six years ago, we tried Romania for example,” added Kebisek. “The problem was, people from Romania who wanted to work wanted to have German salaries – we were not able to offer that.
“We constantly seek new talents for our centre in Trencín, especially product and design engineers, FEA specialists, testing technicians and other professionals. We have also opened several positions for fresh graduates from technical schools.
“We require candidates with a technical education, who are fluent in English or German and with a good command of CAD software, for example, CATIA in which we work for the majority of our customers.”
In addition to its Technical Centre in Trencín, YFAI operates a plant in Námestovo where door panels, floor consoles and other automotive interior components are manufactured and an Automotive Business Centre in Bratislava. This supports the company in finance, IT, purchasing, sales, human resources and programme management.
This is in addition to production sites in Pápa (Hungary), Žatec (Czech Republic) and the new plant currently being built in Planá nad Lužnicí, also in Czech Republic.
Trencin is at the heart of the administrative, economical and cultural centre of the middle Vah River Valley in Slovakia.
