Zreče, 16 April (STA) - GKN Driveline, a British-owned car industry supplier, significantly scaled up its production last year, improving sales by around EUR 7m to almost EUR 84m. Profit also increased from the EUR 7.5m in 2016, but the Zreče-based company would not unveil the figure just yet.
Head of operations Andrej Poklič noted that the company had invested profit into development over the past few years and had significantly increased its capacities.
Investment has proved profitable, as revenue almost doubled over the past few years and is expected to exceed EUR 100m this year.
"We currently employ around 400 people. We'll surely take on new workers, but not a significant number, because our investment is focused on latests technologies," Poklič told the STA.
"This means lots of robotisation, which makes work easier. We thus mainly employ staff with know-how and experience in mechatronics and engineering."
Driveline ended 2017 slightly above plans, but the year was crucial for the coming years because they introduced new projects. "We invested more than EUR 12m to this effect last year alone, which is a significant figure for our conditions," Poklič noted.
This year, the company is launching a project for Jaguar with Magna Steyr and has launched projects with Volvo and Mercedes. It also works with Dacia and Ford.
Given past projects with Magna, Driveline expects to benefit from Magna's plant in Slovenia, which Poklič sees as an opportunity for all Slovenian car industry suppliers.
"Magna is a big player in car industry and if the trend goes in Magna's direction at one moment, it can subsequently prove an opportunity for us all to grow together," he added.
GKN Driveline started out as Unior-Atras in 1986. In 1996 it was acquired by the German firm GKN Automotive, which in turn passed into British ownership in December 2009.