A million cooling devices from Valjevo factory in early 2019 – Gorenje initiates new investment cycle worth EUR 12 million, fridge component production planned as well

(Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, president of Gorenje Group management, Franjo Bobinac, and director of Gorenje Valjevo factory, Boris Pavcnik, taking a tour of the facility) In the next two years, Slovenia’s Gorenje will invest EUR 12 million in expanding the production of cooling devices in Valjevo. As soon as mid-2017, when the first phase of the investment cycle is to be completed, 50 new workers will have been employed and, with the completion of the planned investments in early 2019, a total of 300 of them will have found a job there.

The company marked a decade of doing business in the city on the Kolubara on December 1, on which occasion a memorandum on subsidies for the realization of the announced investments and new employments was signed with the Government of Serbia. It was pointed out that the Gorenje factory in Valjevo had been constantly increasing its production in the preceding ten years as a greenfield investment. Devices assembled on its production lines are exported to all the countries of the world, and the factory employs more than 1,500 people and cooperates with over 60 local suppliers.

– For Gorenje, Valjevo is the center of the freezer and refrigerator production, with 800,000 cooling devices produced annually, and, with the completion of the announced investments by the beginning of 2019, the factory’s total capacities will amount to a million devices – says the director of Gorenje Valjevo, Boris Pavcnik, for eKapija.

As he explained for our portal, the planned investments in the Valjevo factory will be carried out in stages, and the first phase has already begun.

– We have ordered the equipment and the first part of the investment, worth around EUR 3 million, with which the capacities will increase to 200 to 250 refrigerators a day, will be completed in mid-2017. In the second phase, another EUR 6 million will be invested in expanding the production in the existing factories, so we will be producing more than 4,000 refrigerators a day in early 2019 – says Pavcnik for eKapija.

(Minister of Economy Goran Knezevic and president of the Gorenje Group, Franjo Bobinac, signing the Memorandum) Parallel to this, around EUR 3 million will be invested by the company in initiating the production of certain fridge components, which are now procured from the suppliers. The new production will start in early 2018 in the premises of the former leader in the production of electric heaters in former Yugoslavia, the company Novi Elind in bankruptcy, bought by Gorenje. For this purpose, between 50 and 60 workers will be hired.

– The Government’s subsidies pertain to all EUR 12 million of investments and 300 new workers – Pavcnik pointed out and added that he believed that an agreement on the amount would be reached very soon.

This was confirmed by Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, who attended the celebration.

– We have provided more money to the Ministry of Economy and the Development Agency of Serbia for the next year and we will soon sign agreements with Gorenje. When the Valjevo factory opened in 2013, 7,000 people applied for 400 jobs, which shows how important each new employment is in this area. Furthermore, Gorenje Valjevo contributes more than half a million euros a year through various donations and financing sports clubs.

Export to 50 countries

Seeing how it exports 90% of its production in the amount of EUR 140 million, Gorenje Valjevo is one of the biggest exporters from Serbia. Cooling devices from this factory, Pavcnik says, are shipped to around 50 countries of the world, from America, through Australia, to Russia and other countries of Europe and Asia.

– Our biggest market is Germany, to which 25% of the production is delivered, followed by Serbia, Slovenia and Croatia.

Increasing market share

Franjo Bobinac, president of the Gorenje Group management, reminded that Gorenje had been present as a brand in Serbia for over 65 years and since 2006 as a local producer. The Valjevo factory, Bobinac points out, along with the one in Velenje, is the biggest one in the group, and Serbia is seen as a part of the local market and the development plans for this area are ambitious.

– Gorenje employs 2,500 people in Serbia, and we expect EUR 1.25 billion in revenues this year, which will further increase our market share.

The Gorenje Group has four factories in Serbia, of which two in Valjevo and one each in Stara Pazova and Zajecar. They produce household appliances, whereas one of them produces tools for the car industry and major appliances. In the past 10 years, EUR 136.8 million has been invested in them.

Ivana Bezarevic

Gorenje d.o.o Valjevo

Gorenje d.o.o. Beograd

Ministarstvo privrede Republike Srbije

Vlada Republike Srbije

Razvojna agencija Srbije

Gorenje Valjevo

production of cooling devices

production of refrigerators

production of freezers

Boris Pavcnik

Aleksandar Vucic

Franjo Bobinac

subsidies for employment

Gorenje investment in Valjevo

Gorenje investments in Serbia

export of refrigerators

export of cooling devices

Velenje