ONE and a half years after the US company Molex which operates in the industrial park of the eastern-Slovak village of Kechnec announced mass lay-offs, the company has decided to leave the village for good, the Sme daily reported on July 21.
Molex was the first company to arrive in the industrial park 10 years ago. The company produced cell phone cables, connectors and cards. Its products can also be found in Nokia, Siemens and Sony Ericsson phones.
As recently as 2008 Molex still had nearly 1,000 employees, mainly women working in blue-collar positions. According to Sme, the reason Molex is leaving Kechnec is a decision by the company’s shareholders to move production to a new plant in China which will have four times the production capacity and significantly lower labour costs.
