“Following many years of production, the German Viessmann Group is now also bringing its service activities to Hungary; the Hungarian Government is contributing 106 million forints in funding towards the 533 million forint investment in Pécs”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced in Budapest on Tuesday.
“The internationally leading manufacturer of industrial heating and refrigeration systems will also be creating 50 new jobs for highly skilled employees as a result of the investment”, Mr. Szijjártó added.
Viessmann is a family frim that was established 100 years ago, and which has continuous development to thank for its market success. The company is now placing emphasis on digital developments in view of the fact that today “even a boiler manufacturer sells services, and not iron”, he said. The Minister stressed that the Hungarian economy can also only remain successful if it can link production to digitalisation.
According to Mr. Szijjártó, the investment will serve to further strengthen German-Hungarian relations and the service centre sector, which attracts the second highest level of foreign investment after the automotive industry. The Hungarian Foreign Minister also told reporters that according to the latest first quarter figures Hungarian exports to Germany had increased by 10 percent, meaning exports are expected to once again reach record levels the end of the year.
Managing Director of Viessmann’s international Service Division Michael Weber said the new service centre in Pécs would provide service support and advice initially to German clients, and then later to the company’s international clients.
Managing Director of the Viessmann Group’s local subsidiary, Viessmann Technika Dombovár Limited, Andor Beck told reporters that the company has been present in Hungary for 24 years and transferred a proportion of their production to Dombóvár in 2007.
According to Mr. Beck, Pécs was chosen because of the presence of over 22 thousand university students in the city, the favourable ratio of German speakers in the county, the fact that the city had an excellent industrial park and services, and has available the real estate with which the company expects to begin providing its services in the autumn of 2017. He also told reporters that the company’s plant in Dombovár is the exclusive manufacturer of biomass boilers for the Viessmann Group, and 50 percent of the parts used are supplied by Hungarian small and medium-sizes enterprises.
The area’s Member of Parliament (Fidesz) Péter Csizi highlighted the fact that more than a thousand people are now working in one of the city’s several service centres, and the latest investment is also an indication of the fact that the city has done a good job with relation to attracting investment.
According to the press information provided, the new service centre in Pécs will be the third Viessmann facility in Hungary following its sales centre in Törökbálint and its plant in Dombóvár. The company employs 280 people in Dombóvár and 35 in Törökbálint, and together with the newly announced service centre will have a total of alost 400 employees in Hungary. The company has invested 2.6 billion forints (EUR 8.4M) in Dombóvár. The family-owned company that was established in 1917 employs 12 thousand people worldwide and generates an annual turnover of 2.25 billion euros.
According to publically available company data, Viessmann Technika Dombovár Ltd. achieved an annual turnover of 4.8 billion forints in 2016 with after tax losses of 393 forints. In the previous year, the company posted profits of 8.4 million forints with a turnover of 4.4 billion forints.
(MTI)
