The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
Alfod es Eszak; Eszak-Magyarorszag; Borsod-Abauj-Zemplen
Location of affected unit(s)
Ózd
Sector
Manufacturing Manufacture Of Rubber And Plastic Products And Other Non-Metallic Mineral Products Manufacture Of Other Non-Metallic Mineral Products 23.42 - Manufacture of ceramic sanitary fixtures
300 jobs Number of planned job creations
Announcement Date
30 March 2021
Employment effect (start)
30 March 2021
Foreseen end date
31 December 2021
Description
Hungarian wellness equipment manufacturer Wellis purchased the premises of the former ABB production site in Ózd after ABB closed its operation last year. The company plans to create 700-800 jobs in a new plant over the next three years and to let the first 300 workers into work before the end of 2021, following the installation of the new machinery and going through the necessary retraining. The Ózd plant will produce hydro-massage pools. The creation of the new plant is a response to the growth of market demand for in-home wellness products, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The closure of the ABB plant was a severe hit on the regional labour market – the employment rate is significantly lower in the Ózd area than the national average – hence the government took active steps to find a new investor. The decision at Wellis to place the new production centre in Ózd was incentivised by non-refundable government support amounting to about one-third of the total investment cost of €24 million. Also, the availability of a pool of newly available qualified workers motivated Wellis to choose Ózd as the location of the new plant. The first batch of workers will come from the freshly laid-off personnel of the defunct ABB plant – they will receive the necessary retraining at the principal site of the firm, in Dabas.
This business expansion is part of a strategy to increase the firm’s global market share. If the market conditions are favourable, the plant will reach its total capacity – 50.000 hot tubs per year – in three years. With such a magnitude of output, the firm will become a world leader in the jacuzzi market, said the management. On a national and European level, Wellis is already a market leader.
7 October 2020: Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (hipa.hu)
Citation
Eurofound (2021), Wellis, Business expansion in Hungary, factsheet number 104500, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/104500.
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