Panasonic moves machines from Germany to Svilajnac - Japanese giant's plant opens on January 1

Svilajnac-based plant of Japanese Panasonic will be put in operation on January 1, while machines and director will arrive from Germany by the end of next week, daily paper Blic learns.

The Japanese should open a plant in a rented hall that belongs to German Reum, in Svilajnac's industrial zone. Together with our Ministry of Economy, Development Fund, Volksbank and the municipality of Svilajnac, the representatives of this company, which is currently struck by an internal ownership crisis, have given guarantees to Panasonic that they will be able to keep that plant in operation for 30 months.

The term for "installing" the plant of Panasonic, that is, for the delivery and installation of machines, started two days ago, but people at the Japanese company have decided to start the production on the first day of the next year.

- The Japanese set clear conditions, the first of which was to find a hall in accordance with the latest standards to rent, while another condition was the existence of a lot in the vicinity of that hall in order to be able to build their own plant on it later. Fortunately for use, such hall has been built by Reum. The hall occupies the surface of 2,500 square meters and Panasonic is going to put three production lines in operation in the first phase, one of which will be producing diodes, the other will be producing neon lights, while the third will be used for the production of plastic elements - says Svilajnac Deputy Mayor Predrag Milanovic.

A total of 250 workers of various profiles, from physical workers to electric engineers, have applied for jobs in an open competition announced by Panasonic. For the time being, the Japanese company has expressed interest in employing secondary technical school graduates, which means that they need young men to train to work by global standards.

- Panasonic is a huge project, twice bigger than Reum, both in volume and financial strength. The facility itself, which will be built on 5 ha of land provided for free by the municipality in Veliko Polje industrial zone, is worth 15 million euros, exclusive of machines. Panasonic will employ a total of 350 workers and we are doing our best to maximally provide and facilitate everything they need - Milanovic added.

In the first phase, by the end of 2011, Panasonic will employ 165 workers, while the second phase will include the employment of another 200 people.