To fulfil the largest order in the history of the company, UAB Jotron will rent additional premises, hire new employees, and invest approximately EUR 1 million in the acquisition of new equipment.
The 2,700 square meters of production premises currently rented are insufficient for the Kaunas-based producer of electronic equipment. To implement the recent order from the UK Ministry of Defence, the company once again contacted real estate developers to have an additional 900 square meter building designed and constructed next to the available premises.
Jotron rents production premises and the price of the new construction has therefore not been disclosed.
Waiting for a construction permit
“To start implementing the order from the military, we expect to move to the new premises in September and begin producing the requested electronic equipment,” Almantė Medžiaušienė, director of UAB Jotron, emphasised. Development of the project has been completed and the company is now waiting for a construction permit to be issued.
The order was forwarded to the Kaunas-based factory by Jotron AS, Norway, which controls the factory and is responsible for sales. Jotron AS is the main supplier of flight management system technologies to the consortium Aquila, which last year signed a contract worth GBP 1.5 billion with the UK Ministry of Defence for the upgrade of management systems of 77 military airfields in the UK. Most of the works were entrusted to the Kaunas-based Jotron factory.
According to Ms Medžiaušienė, the production of these systems will commence this autumn, and the entire order will be completed by the end of 2017. The equipment produced in Kaunas will be finished off in the Jotron AS factory in Norway, and subsequently sent for assembly to the military airfields.
Distribution centre confirmed
Last year, Jotron began production in Kaunas of a ship security equipment order from the Japanese company Furuno Electric Co. The Japanese have also confirmed their order for this year.
Ms Medžiaušienė mentioned that, to implement these works, the development of the Jotron distribution centre in Kaunas had been suspended. This centre will reduce the cost of the company’s products.
“This doesn’t mean that our plans have changed – this only means that we are unable to implement all the works simultaneously. The distribution centre in Kaunas will eventually be completed, but not this year; completion is more likely next year or even in 2017,” the director said.
The Kaunas-based centre will forward tested end products directly to customers. For the time being, readymade products, along with all other products, are sent to the distribution centre in Norway.
In Kaunas, Jotron also develops and produces marine satellite communication systems, automatic ship identification systems, and internal communication systems for ships. The Jotron customer base includes civil aviation companies, airports, shipping companies, and oil exploration and production companies. The company is capable of independently designing, producing and testing the so-called end products.
Jotron electronic equipment is exported to 60 countries.
More than serial production
Another Kaunas-based Norwegian-capital electronic equipment production company, UAB Kitron, is also undergoing expansion. The new engineering service centre has an area of 5,000 square meters and cost EUR 7.24 million. It will be officially opened at the end of May.
The new Kitron service centre will be involved in the creation of prototypes and will also provide the following services: product design supervision, component engineering, development of facilities for serial equipment testing, and project management.
At present, Kitron electronics factories located in Kaunas and Užliedžiai (Kaunas District) produce electronic panels, modules, and management units for exports for the telecommunications, medical, aviation and military industries.
Last year, Kitron earned EUR 48.11 million in revenue, with a growth of 15% estimated for this year.
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