I 190 I
Barriers
Slovakia has traditionally benefited from an attractive combination of skilled labor and low labor costs. Lately¸ however, it has been reported that the industry may be missing as many as 14,000 people in industries including the production of instruments and tools, blacksmithery, foundry, new materials processing, and machining. It can be difficult to find experienced electronic and technical engineers, machinery and tool engineers, CNC machines and robots operators, technologists, designers, quality controllers, lacquerers, power press operators, logisticians, purchasers and maintenance people who speak at least one foreign language. Experienced managers and IT specialists are in high demand.
Market Trends & Demand
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) in Nitra has a projected annual production capacity of 150,000 vehicles. The plant’s construction began in 2016, and the first SUV Discovery model vehicles left the plant in October 2018. JLR received EUR 125 million (USD 143 million) in government direct incentives and EUR 500 million (USD 572.5 million) in government non-direct incentive as part of its EUR 1.4 billion investment (USD 1.6 billion). The factory features a special linear synchronous conveyor with electric drive/electro-induction linked to the production line, making it its first 4.0 industry production in Europe.
The Geely subsidiary EV producer Zhi Dou is planning to establish a production base in Europe and is closely looking at Eastern Slovakia and Romania. With around EUR 400 million (USD 458 million) investment, the potentially fifth OEM in Slovakia would produce up to 3,000 electric cars (most likely the two-seater D2) a month as of 2020.
Slovak company AeroMobil advances with the development of a flying car, already producing components from high-quality carbon composites. The functional prototype AeroMobil 4.0 should be flight test ready in 2019.
Opportunities exist for U.S. automotive suppliers interested in selling parts to local auto plants, the automotive aftermarket as well as to companies experienced in education/training and R&D/test production activities. In Slovakia there is excellent potential to penetrate the R&D activities of the large automobile corporations in specific segments.
Current examples include Adient’s R&D center in Trenčín which develops interior elements, Continental Automotive Systems in Zvolen which develops braking systems, Plastic Omnium in Lozorno which develops integrated modules for car interiors, and Matador Holding in Dubnica nad Váhom which develops components for automation of production and new material applications.
MArket trends