According to market researchers, Eastern Europe is emerging as an important manufacturing location for the electronics manufacturing industry. The region profits by having a labour force that is at large of a higher level of education compared to other developing nations. In addition, there is a strong demand from consumers in eastern European countries and production and labour costs are much lower than those of Western Europe. Oftentimes the region is benefiting from the rise in tax grants and benefits from the government. The expansion of the European Union (EU) offers potential future growth and investment opportunities, in particular, if one considers the proximity of the manufacturing locations to the different end-user markets, for instance in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Let’s take a closer look at a new member of the EU – Romania. Several EMS companies and OEMs are manufacturing there. One of them is IPTE NV. The enterprise has recently instructed for the construction of a new plant (16,000 square metres) in Oradea for its subcontracting activity. The finalisation of the construction is estimated at year end 2007. The Connect Systems Group started its operations in Romania in December 2002 with 7 employees. Today it employs already more than 550 employees in Romania. Over the years the Romanian factory has become the largest production facility of the Group. Production in Romania evolved from a pure labor subcontracting activity at the startup in 2002 into a full-fledged electronic subcontracting plant including the latest technological production machinery for PCB and cable harnesses manufacturing. The plant now produces complete products, printed circuit boards and cable harnesses for the high end professional, automotive and telecom markets (see page 10).
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