Bordnetze not planning to close plant in Nitra

CAR-COMPONENT manufacturer SE Bordnetze-Slovakia on Monday refuted information published in Hospodarske Noviny on the same day, according to which the company is planning to shut down its production in Nitra in 2009.

"On the contrary, we're currently engaged in intense preparations for the launch of serial production of another premium product for our important customer Volkswagen," Nikolaus Pfister and Elzbieta Skowron said. This preparation phase includes the construction of the technology centre and additional investments at its Nitra facility.

The Labour Office has confirmed that the company, which employs 1,700 people, has not announced any mass lay-off.

The producer of stranded cables for vehicles did end production in Zlate Moravce in April due to a rapid fall in demand. Some of the 750 employees were offered jobs in the company's Nitra facility, while others were laid off.

Bordnetze was set up in Nitra in 1996, although at the time it was called Volkswagen Elektricke Systemy, and was owned by Volkswagen and Siemens. In April 2006, Japanese companies Sumitomo Electric and Sumitomo Wiring Systems bought the company. It changed its name to SE Bordnetze-Slovakia in November 2006.