Essex Europe plant in Zrenjanin to make its first products in late September – Arrival of Korean group to Serbia opportunity for local suppliers as well

(From the laying down of the foundation stone in Zrenjanin) The first samples of enameled copper wire will be produced by the Essex Europe plant in Zrenjanin in late September. The construction of the factory, for which the foundation stone was laid down this March, is close to completion and, as Frederic Weishaar, the company's chairman, says, it will be completed in two weeks.

Essex Europe, let us remind, is an European subsidiary of Superior Essex, headquartered in Atlanta, USA, and a member of South Korea's LS Group, and it produces wires for transformers, electric engines and generators. Their clients come mostly from the auto-industry.

The production capacities of Superior Essex encompass facilities in three continents, including factories in the USA, Canada, Mexico, China, Malaysia and the 4 existing factories in Europe, more precisely, in Germany and Italy, and the new facility in Zrenjanin is therefore a part of its strategy of expansion of the European capacities, to the end of meeting the needs of clients from east Europe and responding to the demand arising from the development of the trend of the electrification of vehicles.

With the ever faster development of electric cars, the company also expects an increased demand for their product, for two reasons, as Weishaar specified – because such vehicles need twice as much wire than traditional cars, as well as a specialized product capable of supporting much higher voltages.

Talking about the importance of the investment in Serbia, which will reach EUR 30 million by 2023, Weishaar points out that this is the first facility to open within the group after 10 years.

In the first phase, he specifies, which will take until the end of the first quarter of 2019, EUR 18 million will be invested in Zrenjanin and 100 workers will be employed, and the factory's capacity will amount to 12,000 tons. The second phase will end by 2023, by which time Essex should double its capacities and employ a total of 160 people.

– We are investing in the equipment, but also in people, and this is why the plant in Zrenjanin will be of top quality and feature the highest energy efficiency. As soon as late September, the first products will leave the factory, which should meet the highest standards. The wire produced here will go to our suppliers within an 800-km radius, primarily in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia – our interviewee says and adds that the Zrenjanin plant will be a smart plant, based on a digital supply chain and featuring modern equipment and software controlling the quality of the products.

– Serbia is strategically very important for us, because now we will be able, together with the existing factories in Germany and Italy, to meet the needs of all our partners in Europe. That is why they are delighted that the Zrenjanin facility is opening – Weishaar says.

Opportunity for Serbian companies

The Essex Europe facility in Serbia will also be an opportunity for local suppliers. As Weishaar points out for our portal, local companies will have an opportunity to be suppliers not just for the Zrenjanin plant, but also for other production facilities in their system.

– Companies from Serbia are already engaged in the construction of the plant, and we are also not excluding the possibility of finding suppliers for our factories in Germany or Italy here. If, for example, we find suppliers in the category of packaging in Serbia that might meet our needs better than the existing ones do, we will hire them for our other production capacities in Europe as well.

What's especially important for the company, strategically, our interviewee points out, is copper. In Serbia, he says, there is a copper mine, which is of great importance for them, both for the fact that this is their most important raw material and for logistics issues. Still, he adds, the current mines cannot supply them with the kind of product they need at the moment, primarily in terms of quality, but they are looking forward to the announced investments in this sector.

As for the reasons why they decided to invest in Zrenjanin, Weishaar points out the location, the adequate access to the energy system, given the necessity of a continuous power supply, as well as the quality of the workforce and the proximity of the University of Novi Sad, which educates top experts in electrical engineering, IT and mechanical engineering. Before reaching the decision to invest in the north of Vojvodina, they visited other locations in Serbia as well – Pancevo, Smederevo, Sabac, Kragujevac, Nis, as well as other countries in southeast Europe, primarily Romania and Poland. However, after taking into account all the aspects, conditions and the understanding and support they received here, the company chose Serbia, Weishaar says.

Aside from the management, whose members were employed in September 2017, twenty workers from Zrenjanin have already started the training at a plant in Germany, and since Essex is a global company, Weishaar points out that the workers from Serbia will not be able to apply for jobs within the entire group as fully eligible candidates.

Essex Europe, let us remind, is a supplier for the largest automotive giants, such as BMW, Audi and Mercedes, whereas, in Serbia, they supply Johnson Controls in Nis, which works for FCA in Kragujevac.

In Serbia, the company is registered as Essex Balkan.

Ivana Bezarevic

Essex Furukawa Magnet Wire Balkan d.o.o. Zrenjanin

Essex Europe

Superior Essex

LS Group

enameled copper wire

production of enameled copper wire

copper wire

production of copper wire

production of copper wires

Frederic Weishaar

wires for electric cars

production of wires for electric cars

production of wires for transformers

production of wires for electric engines

production of wires for generators

Essex Balkan

Essex Serbia

copper