Novares unveils advanced engine parts clean room in €5.25m Serbian plant extension

(L to R) Novares CEO Pierre Boulet; Ambassador Frédéric Mondoloni; Vojvodina prime minister Igor Mirovi?;Serbian Finance Minister Sinsa Mali; Economy Minister Goran Knezevic and Cedomir Janic, Mayor of Zrenjanin

Global auto components producer Novares formally launched a €5.25m extension to its Zrenjanin parts plant in northern Serbia on 16 Oct increasing the factory area by a third.

Included in the 3,000m2 addition is a new clean room with two production lines for engine components with infrared welding, automatic component assembly and leak testing sections. The clean room has a capacity to turn out one million parts per year, Novares said.

The latest investment, which will lead to the creation of 50 new jobs on site by next year, also equipped the plant with advanced technologies and robotics including five new injection moulding machines.

Guests attending the inauguration of the plant extension included Serbia’s Finance Minister Sinisa Mali, the Vojvodina province prime minister Igor Mirovi?, the French ambassador to Serbia Frédéric Mondoloni and Novares’s CEO Pierre Boulet.

They were joined by other Serb officials to cut the ceremonial ribbon to mark the launch of the expanded facility.

Zrenjanin plant, which is situated in Serbia’s Vojvodina province, manufactures complex moulded plastic auto components including interior and exterior car parts, body trim and engine parts.

Paris, France-based Novares took advantage of 2.2ha development space offered by the expansion of Zrenjanin Free Zone’s East business complex to extend the plant which originally opened in 2012.

Earlier, the company was quoted by Serbian media as anticipating that the growing plant would increase its workforce to as many as 280 employees by 2020.

Novares’s latest investment project was supported by Serbian government and provincial funding of €300,000 in national aid and €200,000 from Vojvodina province.

The Serb operation, originally established to allow Novares to serve automotive customers in south eastern Europe, today supplies major clients with regional assembly plants including Fiat, PSA Group, Suzuki, Jaguar Land Rover and Dacia.

Novares’s chief executive Pierre Boulet, commenting on the inauguration said Zrenjanin plant had “excellent performance and quality records”.

“This extension is a sign of our confidence in the plant and our commitment to better serving our customers in the region where they operate. Serbia is growing in importance as an automotive hub, so our increased presence in the country reflects this,” he added.