Zumtobel to open a factory in Nis on September 28

The CEO of the Zumtobel Group, Alfred Felder flagged 2018 as the “transition” year for the company, pointing out that the company was in the process of restructuring. He also announced the opening of the new factory in Nis on September 28.

At the press conference during which he presented company's results for the second quarter of 2018, Felder said that the part of the production was transferred from China back to Europe, to Nis.

Felder said the move was caused by the increase in production costs in the Chinese factory in the meantime compared to Europe and that the production in China was also connected to the 2-month transport period to Europe. He added that beside that, some customers were “allergic” to “Made in China” label on the product.

Felder said that the new manufacturing facility in Nis was set to officially open on September 28 and that there were already 300 people employed there, but the number would reach a thousand employees.

Nis facility manufactures light bulbs and lighting components and the investment is worth EUR 30 million.

According to Felder they would keep thee production in China but the factory would be moved out of and the production downsized. He added that the second factory in China would be downsized too while at the same time new software centre would be opened in Porto, Portugal which the company chose after extensive background checks.

The group headquarters in Dornbirn would continue to produce hardware the while the software production in tat facility was “frozen” for the time being because they were not able to find enough qualified work force, Felder said.

Tripling the production is the mid-term goal for the financial year 2020/2021, Felder said and added that Zumtobel family was still interested in continuing to develop the business, thus denying various speculations.

According to Felder, the clear goal of restructuring the company is to focus the light bulb segment of the production to Europe. He added that he saw the global market as the potential future for growth of the lighting component segment.

ZG Lighting SRB d.o.o. Beograd

Zumtombel

Zumtombel in Nis

Alfred Felder

light bulbs

lightbulb production

lighting component production

Zumtobel business