Solectron wants to hire 800 people in three months

The Timisoara factory of the American manufacturer of electronic equipment and subassemblies Solectron will increase the number of its employees by more than 800 over the next three months.
“Timisoara is strategically important to Solectron’s worldwide operations,” stated Fabrice Gomez, general manager of the factory in Romania, which currently numbers 2,400 permanent employees and 800 temporary employees.
The representative of the company added that 35% of European equipment production was made in Timisoara. Revenue grossed from Europe over the 2006 fiscal year, which ended on August 31, reached 1.5 billion dollars, of which Timisoara generated “more than 20%, somewhat proportionate with the output,” stated Fabrice Gomez, who would not provide a specific figure.
The demand for new employees came as a result of an increase in orders from 14 corporate customers, but mainly because of a contract that was signed with a telecommunications industry client this summer, which transferred its production from Asia to Timisoara. “Deliveries to this client in Europe were required to be made in five days, and transport of telephone exchanges by plane from Asia would add a great deal to the costs,” explained Gomez, regarding the decision by the telecom customer he did not wish to name.
Solectron is one of the biggest companies worldwide, developing products on their own assembly lines for companies in the electronics, telephone exchange, medical and computer industry. The manufacturing process is often at times contracted out to Solectron entirely, with the corporate customer only applying its logo on the finished product.
“The contracts with our customers are very strict and they do not allow us to disclose their names. This is because products we develop that are almost technically identical are sometimes sold under different brands, resulting in companies losing their differentiation,” Richard Leslie, HR business partner EMEA operations, told ZIARUL FINANCIAR.
Globally, Solectron has three lines of business, product design and development, electronics manufacturing and post-sale services. “We only had assembly lines for production in Timisoara until last year; now we have a research department with 50 engineers, which designs products for our customers,” stated Fabrice Gomez.
Solectron opened its Romanian factory in 1998, following a 150 million-euro investment. The first products manufactured by this facility were mobile phones.
“We no longer make mobile phones and I am happy because there were a lot of models and demand varied a great deal,” Gomez said. The fluctuating demand caused the company to shed 800 jobs two years ago. “We are now focusing on complex telecom and medical industry equipment and electric components for the automotive industry, where demand is much more stable,” Fabrice Gomez stated.
The average personnel fluctuation at the moment stands at 2%. The factory in Timisoara also has the biggest training centre in Europe.