German giant HELLA announced about the construction of its plant at the Kaunas Free Economic Zone just 10 months ago. Now, it can already celebrate its first shipment and the team of almost seventy employees which managed to implement the most optimistic start-up plan for HELLA Lithuania in record time.
The construction of the 8000-square-meter automotive electronics factory in Kaunas Free Economic Zone’s green field territory of 8.9 hectares started in October, 2017. In less than a year, the 3700-square-meter industrial premises were built and equipped as well as the 2300square-meter warehouse and a 2000-square-meter administrative building. This is the first HELLA Lithuania module from the four planned. Its space will be sufficient for the next year’s development and production growth. An investment of 30 million euros into long-term property is planned during the first stage of development.
Currently, the company employs almost seventy employees not only from Lithuania but also from other European Union countries. The company plans to recruit about 250 employees in total during the three years of the first development stage.
Serial production of the first product BiLED HighBeam – Printed Circuit Board Assembly – PCBA was officially launched in August. The circuit boards are fitted into the headlamps of European-made cars. It is planned that the production line that started its operation in the factory located at the Kaunas Free Economic Zone will produce over 1 million circuit boards per year and the first shipment of the product has already been sent to the client in the middle of August.
“We have reached a very important stage in the history of our new factory – we have sent the first products of HELLA Lithuania to our customers. On behalf of HELLA Lithuania managers’ team, I can say that we are fascinated by and proud of our team without which this goal would not have been achieved. Our employees bravely embraced this ambitious challenge, focused on the most important things and acted as a team,” says the head of Hella Lithuania Michael Jarecki, emphasizing that the implementation of ambitious plans in a record time – in just a few weeks would not have been achieved without the team’s focus, initiative and close communication.
HELLA – an international family-run company operates in 125 locations in more than 35 countries. The company employs over 40,000 employees, 7 425 of which work in research and development.
In the fiscal year of 2017/2018, HELLA’s sales revenue amounted to 7.1 billion Euro.
