2024-09-16 00:29:30
The manufacturer of cable sets for the automotive industry “SE Bordnetce – Bulgaria” EOOD announced a plan to reorganize its activities in Bulgaria for the next two years in a message received by BTA. According to him, “Sumitomo Electric Bordnetze” (SEBN) plans to suspend the operation of one of its plants in our country – the one in the town of Mezdra, in 2025, and the second plant, which is in the town of Karnobat, will continue to operate with reduced capacity. The company assures that the representatives of the workers and the local unions have been informed about these plans.
The reason for these actions is the transfer of production to the plants of “Sumitomo Bordnetce” in Moldova and Romania. “The decision to relocate production is due to competition in the cable assembly industry. High production costs in Bulgaria, especially rising labor costs, have negatively impacted the company’s ability to outsource new cable assembly series production projects to its Bulgarian locations” , is stated in the information provided to BTA.
The plant in Mezdra, which was opened in 2008 and employs about 950 people, is planned to close at the end of March 2025. The plant in Karnobat is planned to optimize about 100 jobs from February 2025. It currently employs 1,000 people.
“We are very sorry to have to announce this decision. For more than six months we have been working hard to find alternative solutions that would allow us to maintain our current production volumes in Bulgaria, but given the pace of increasing labor costs in the business, these efforts of ours proved overwhelming. We know how difficult this is for our employees, some of whom have been with us for many years. In addition to meeting all legal requirements regarding termination, we will provide compensation packages and a relocation program for affected employees.” said the chief operating officer of “SE Bordnetce-Bulgaria” EOOD Taner Mutlu.
SE Bordnettse-Bulgaria EOOD is part of the Sumitomo Electric Bordnettse SE (SEBN) group, a global automotive supplier with over 36,000 employees in 13 countries. SEBN is part of the Japanese group Sumitomo Electric Industries, which has 380 subsidiaries in various industries worldwide. The more than 400-year-old Sumitomo Electric Group has 280,000 employees and net sales of US$30 billion in 2023. SEBN’s product portfolio includes wiring systems as well as electrical and electronic components for conventional and electric drive technologies, including cable harnesses for multi and high voltage.