After lay-offs, Magneti Marelli opens factory
Valor Econômico 01/23/2009
One week after communicating the laying-off of nearly 800 employees, Magneti Marelli opened its unit of production of injector nozzles for cars, in Hortolândia, in the interior of São Paulo, yesterday. The total investment in the factory was nearly 30 million Euros. Not having published the estimates of production and results for 2009 yet, the auto parts manufacturer was glad with the numbers published on the licensing of cars during December and the first fifteen days of January. In the opinion of the president of the group in South America, Virgílio Cerutti, it is probable that the process of fall in sales of cars in Brazil has been stopped after the measures taken by the Federal Government. However, the executive did not rule out new cuts in the personnel in the country. Asked about the fact of opening a new factory a week after making a cut of almost 8% in the staff in the country, Cerutti affirmed that it was one way to show Magneti Marelli, in spite of the difficult moment of the market, is sticking to its mid- and long-termed plans. The productive capacity of the injector nozzle unit in Hortolândia is nine million units a year, but the forecast is to reach a volume of three million units until the end of 2009. From that amount, nearly 80% will be sold in the domestic market. The new unit has five thousand square meters of built-up area. The company should publish its global results for last year in the next days. For Brazil, the forecast announced in the middle of the second half of 2008 was a result near R$ 2.2 billion (US$ 1.2 billion), which would mean an increase of 15.8% compared to the 2007 income. South America, in which Brazil contributes for most of the result, is responsible for 16% of the global sales of the Magneti Marelli, only behind Europe. In 2007, the group sold 5 billion Euros.