ANALYSIS
Amphenol’s Kocani
Operations
AmCham talks with Sashko Nakov, Plant Manager, Amphenol Technology Macedonia Ltd. Kocani
EM: Please tell us a bit about your
organization generally as well as Amphenol’s investment in Macedonia.
Nakov: Amphenol Technology
Macedonia (ATM) started its operation in Macedonia in October 2013
as a part of Amphenol Corporation
- USA. Our production lines are
divided into production of harnesses
for the automotive industry as part
of Amphenol Automotive Sensors
Products Group (subcontracting for
ATE, FILEC and KFE) and production of antennas as part of Amphenol Antenna Solutions. We mainly
serve European customers due to
our advantageous location. The Kocani plant is strictly for manufacturing, thus currently has no support
functions such as sales, purchasing,
marketing and R&D. We currently
have 410 employees and plan to
increase to about 560 by the end of
EM: What were the key factors
that led to Amphenol’s decision to
invest in Macedonia?
Nakov: ATM’s decision was
motivated by the country’s very
competitive labor cost, its business
friendliness, political stability, and
compliance with EU regulations.
The high level of engagement and
support given by local authorities
at the beginning of the project was
also important.
this year. We are currently operating in a space this is 2,750 square
meters in size, but will expand another 1,600 square meters when we
finish a second building this August.
suitable executive-level profiles on
the local market; for those profiles,
companies need to expand their
search across the whole country.
EM: How would you describe the
labor market in the Kocani area?
What have been some of your recruitment challenges and successes?
Nakov: We’re satisfied with our
operators’ and technicians’ technical knowledge and high motivation. It would be easy to increase
our headcount, if needed. On the
other hand, it is a challenge to find
EM: Your main innovation hub
appears to be in Germany. What
would take for Macedonia to position itself as a potential innovation
hub? What role does technological
innovation play in your industry?
Nakov: Amphenol focuses on a
highly innovative niche. Creating an
innovation hub in Macedonia would
be difficult because of its small population and limited pool of people
able to support real research and
development when compared with
countries such as China and India.
Also the sub-supplier network here
is limited when compared to those
in big countries.
EM: Tell us something about your
career and background.
Nakov: I am mechanical engineer,
specialized for industrial management. I completed my bachelor
degree and postgraduate
studies in industrial management at the Saints Cyril and
Methodius University in Skopje. I had the opportunity to
work with a French expert
from Valeo for 3 years and
cooperate with worldwide
automotive companies as a
supplier, which helped me
a lot. My entire career has
been linked with automotive
in different sectors as clutches, gearboxes and harness
assembly. I started as young
engineer in a clutch manufacturing company and continued in
other automotive companies as a
project manager, in purchasing and
logistics, operations as well as general and plant manager.
Spring 2015
Issue 45 19