If you recently travelled with a plane made by the European manufacturer Airbus, it's very likely that the doors you've entered through have been produced by another French giant in the airline industry - Latecoere. After a while, somewhat surprisingly, some of these doors will be produced in Bulgaria, as on Wednesday the company opened its own factory in the industrial zone near Plovdiv.

The project was announced last year, after which the Bulgarian subsidiary Latecoere Bulgaria was founded. It then became clear that 15 million euros will be invested in the base by 2020. At the moment, the first phase of the project, which covers an area of ​​5,000 square meters, is underway and in 2019 the second stage will be completed, adding another 4,000 square meters.

At first, the Bulgarian factory will assemble electric cabinets for Airbus, and after time parts for doors. They will be for the A350 and A380 models. The plans include, in time, the Airbus Military - A400M, which is a military transport aircraft. The European aviation industry leader is number one customer of Latecoere, with about 60% of the production produced by the group being for them. The company is also a supplier for the competitor Boeing, as well as Embraer and Dessault Aviation.

What are the plans of Latecoere in Bulgaria?

"In the year 2019, the second phase of the project must be completed, as today we have the capacity to produce these cabinets for airplanes, but we would like to develop other products in Bulgaria, as well as parts for doors, the idea being to make the skeleton for as well as opening and closing mechanisms, explained Ollivier Quéruell, the Director Latecoere Bulgaria.

"It is specific to the plant in Plovdiv that it is engaged in assembling, assembling cabinets, the parts coming from other factories in France and the Czech Republic, and our desire to position itself precisely because it is more specific as an activity," he added. 

In his words before moving to Bulgaria the group of the French Latecoere were considering options to expand their production closer to France.

"In the beginning, our idea was to choose a country from the Eurozone, and of course we also considered countries in Eastern Europe, Bulgaria has quickly appeared in our development plan because it offers many interesting economic advantages for accommodation and proximity at the same time" , said Quéruell. He revealed that there were other two cities discussed alongside Plovdiv.

"We were potentially looking at Sofia, Plovdiv and Rousse as the most important thing for us was to have the opportunity to expand our production in time, so Sofia dropped out, and there was another important point in the search - the qualified staff. and in Rousse, because there the industrial zone is also well developed, but we have found such potential in terms of employees in Plovdiv, since there is a branch of the Technical University, "said Quéruell.

By the end of this year, Latecoere Bulgaria will employ 150 people. Answering to the question how many more people will be hired next year, the director of the Bulgarian subsidiary said: "We do not want to say that we will reach a final figure, rather we want to focus from phase to phase, every time we expand our production with 4,000 square meters, and hopefully we will have three, four, five phases of development."

The head of the Bulgarian subsidiary also explained that all employees are going through a lengthy period of training lasting between six and nine months. That's why the company does not look for people with specific knowledge and skills, and they are more committed to having the potential for such a job and working well in a team. Ollivier Quéruell further explained that the bulk of the planned investment was focused on the first stage of development of the Plovdiv plant.

"We can say that for the already completed first phase the investment was about 10 million euros. As the first part had the greatest financial burden, the second phase would be half that of what had been invested so far, "he said.

Who is the Latecoere group?

Founded in Toulouse, the company has a 100-year history, and to date it is one of the leaders in the aviation industry. Latecoere is the leader in the supply of electric cabinets for aircraft and the leading manufacturer of aircraft doors. Apart from France, the group has its own bases in nine other countries, including Germany, the Czech Republic, Tunisia, Morocco, India, the United States and Brazil. At the end of last year, company employees were 4451. For the year 2017, the group's revenues amounted to € 652.5 million and operating profit amounted to € 11.7 million. Latecoere's share capital amounts to nearly € 190 million.

Source: Money.bg

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