Ministry for National Economy Mihály Varga and the Hungarian companies of breaking-systems producer Knorr-Bremse concluded an MoU to assist the development of Hungarian suppliers in the SME sector. The document was signed by Minister Varga and the representatives of Hungarian subsidiaries.

As a result of the agreement, a national supplier program working group can be established, aimed at implementing supplier programmes capable of assisting the development of SMEs in multiple ways and helping them join the Knorr-Bremse supplier network.

The Minister expressed hope that this scheme may serve as a model not only within the motor vehicle sector but also for enterprises operating in other fields. The Government had signed another agreement with Knorr-Bremse three years ago, as a result of which the weight of Hungarian operations has steadily increased. The Minister also highlighted the fact that while the traditional share of Hungarian suppliers at large motor vehicle or machinery manufacturers is some 10-30 percent in Hungary, it is 40-50 percent in the case of Knorr-Bremse. Thus, the company is linked to more than 400 Hungarian enterprises.

Under the scheme, Minister of State for Economic Development and Regulation István Lepsényi said, Knorr-Bremse provides know-how and technology free of charge for enterprises it hopes to upgrade and the SME’s costs related to training, asset purchases or other expenses will be state-financed. In the estimate of the Minister of State, the programme is set to cost some HUF 1bn, but it can cut the the development process to 2 years, from the usual 3-5 years, he pointed out. The agreement initiates the development of five companies, some of them newcomers and others aiming to increase the volume of supplied goods. Similar agreements are also in the pipeline, István Lepsényi stressed, thanks to which about 100 SMEs may join the programme.

Knorr-Bremse Hungary CEO Attila Bíró said that the company had a 20-year history of cooperation with Hungarian SMEs, and they received some 50 percent of orders through Hungarian suppliers.  Some of their suppliers have evolved from being a company with a turnover of a couple of million forints into a multi-billion forint enterprise, where the number of employees has also grown many-fold, he added.

(Ministry for National Economy)