INALFA Industries, a car component producer from the Netherlands believed in the early 1990s that the automotive industry in central Europe faced a rich future.
After more than 10 years of operation in Slovakia through its daughter company Pal-Inalfa in Vráble, its theory is proving correct. The Dutch investor now expects a boom in the automotive industry in Slovakia thanks to carmakers that are about to open new plants. It would like to become one of their partners.
"Inalfa Industries decided to come to Slovakia because it was confident that central Europe would be an interesting territory in the future," Miroslav Krčmár, financial director of Pal-Inalfa, told The Slovak Spectator.
"That is why it was important to arrive here early to have enough time to build production capacities and prepare the whole firm, its organisation, and its people. The current situation justifies this decision," he continued.
The plant in Vráble was constructed in 1966. It was part of the state company Autobrzdy (Car gears), based in Jablonec in the Czech Republic. The company produced components for the gear systems of cars and trucks. The Dutch company Inalfa industries entered the company in 1993. Inalfa Metal Products now owns a 95 percent share of Pal-Inalfa's operation in Vráble. Pal-Inalfa focuses on pressing and welding technologies. It produces metal components for the automotive industry. Its most important customers are Volkswagen, Nedcar, Suzuki, Magna, and Rotax, and shipments go to the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, as well as Slovakia.
"Of course we are interested in cooperating with the carmakers that have announced their investments in Slovakia. We expect the indutry to expand," added Krčmár. In 2003, the company reached sales of Sk1.7 billion (€43 million) for products and services, which is 35.7 percent more than the previous year (Sk1.2 billion or €30 million). In 2001 its volume of sales was Sk863 million (€22 million).
