Europe

Yanfeng Automotive Interiors (YFAI), celebrates today the opening of its new plant in Kragujevac, Serbia.

Together with high-ranking officials and industry representatives, the state-of-the-art manufacturing facility was unveiled today. As a new employer in the region, YFAI is looking to recruit up to 800 new employees over the next few years.

- With this new plant in Serbia, we are expanding our manufacturing capacity in Eastern Europe’s growth markets and responding to our customers’ increasing presence in the region - said Tony Elenbaas, Vice President & General Manager, Europe & South Africa at Yanfeng Automotive Interiors.

- As the global market leader in automotive interiors, we have strong business growth now and in the future. We made a strategic decision to further invest in our European locations and extend our production network into Serbia - said Milan Radovic, Plant Manager for YFAI Kragujevac. - With this new site we have set up additional production capacity with state-of-the-art technology in Central and Eastern Europe. We are pleased to celebrate the grand opening of our new plant in Kragujevac today -.

The new plant was established next to the city of Kragujevac and has a production area of approximately 18,500 square meters. With its high-tech manufacturing equipment and operational expertise, automotive interior components will be manufactured at the plant and provided to other YFAI locations in Eastern Europe.

During today’s opening celebration and ribbon-cutting event, YFAI’s global management was joined by Serbian political and public stakeholders and automotive industry representatives.

YFAI is an attractive and important employer in the region

The good infrastructure in place and the availability of skilled workers in the Kragujevac region were key to selecting this location. With production ramping up over the next few months, YFAI will become an important employer in the Šumadija district.

We rely on local labor and already have 180 employees on board at our new plant. We will gradually increase the number of employees to 250 by mid-2020 and intend to hire up to 800 skilled people from the region by 2023,” said Milan Radovic. - We offer promising career opportunities and attractive working conditions, as well as benefits, both for production operators and administrative functions. Currently, we are looking for operators and staff for the tool maintenance department as well as Human Resources support. The recruitment process for these open positions is already taking place -.

In the region of Central and Eastern Europe, the new plant follows the expansion of the company’s manufacturing network. The key factor in the decision to choose this location was its central position in Southeast and Central Europe and proximity to other YFAI plants in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In addition to these manufacturing sites, the company has a Technical Center in Trenčín and an Automotive Business Center in Bratislava. With these existing sites and the new plant in Kragujevac, the company can meet all customer requirements in the region and support the company’s growth plans in Europe.