IPTE, a Belgian company active in the automotive industry, is leaving Slovakia. It announced on October 20 that its sub-contracting division, Connect Systems, is closing its Slovak plant and transferring all activities to its Romanian plant in an effort to cut costs, Reuters wrote.
Connect Systems CEO Luc Switten said in a statement that maintaining two cabling factories led to “production inefficiency, growing operating costs (stock control) and double management”.
“The location and structure of the Slovakian plant also limited any expansion,” he said.
The transfer of all cabling activities from Slovakia to Romania will be finished by March 31, 2009, the statement added.
According to IPTE’s annual report, the company employed 155 workers at its plant in Vráble, the SITA newswire wrote.