Arad, Sept 23rd, 2021 | Today, Huf, the leading specialist for secure car access and authorization, celebrates the official inauguration of a new plant annex in Arad as well as the 15th anniversary of Huf Romania S.R.L. Since hand-over of the new facilities in December 2020, 114 new employees were already hired for the ramp-up of the additional production lines that are now in full operation. Thus, the Huf workforce In Arad rose to almost 500, including the team of the newly established European Requalification Center of Huf.
“As Huf Romania is a very important cornerstone in our global network, we decided to have at least a small event celebrating the official opening of our Arad plant annex in line with the COVID-19 restrictions – first of all to thank our employees for their engagement in the past 15 years and for getting the new production lines up and running in record time during challenging times”, said Dr. Lars Placke, member of the Huf management board. Since 2006, Huf operations in Arad have been rapidly growing, as the company is leveraging the opportunities of a great talent pool with skilled employees and the proximity to its key customers’ sites in this important Eastern European automotive cluster. At the event, Placke underlined that the company will further increase its competitiveness by extending activities in best cost countries like Romania.
In Arad, Huf produces mechanical and electronic parts for Mercedes, BMW, Dacia, Volvo, Stellantis and VW. The production portfolio comprises plastic molding and assembly of door handles, brackets, kick sensors, lock sets and fuel filler caps. In the newly established Requalification Center in Arad, all regular quality tests for OEM series products in Europe are bundled. “On our 20,000 square meters for production, testing and administration, we offer attractive working conditions and career perspectives for highly skilled specialists as well as talented workers whose skills we further develop with tailormade training programs. Currently, we are offering another 100 jobs”, stated Nicolae Viasu, the new plant director of Huf in Arad. “I feel honored to contribute to the growth of Huf in Romania with such a great team. Huf has a fascinating portfolio of products for conventional cars as well as electric vehicles, so our future prospects are good. Together, we will continuously improve our operations in Arad to deliver top quality products to our customers, manufactured in a sustainable way”, he continued.
In a short address, Călin Bibarț, the mayor of Arad, appreciated the commitment of Huf to the city and the entire region. “It is an enrichment for our community that an automotive supplier like Huf is creating overall 250 new jobs in these challenging times. This also confirms that we are on the right track in Arad with our policy providing favorable conditions for the industry while considering sustainability aspects in all areas”, Bibart stated.
Toth Csaba, the prefect of Arad County, also thanked Huf for the continuous investments. „I congratulate Huf for its 15 years of history in Arad, a city with a strong industrial tradition. The high number of employees celebrating their anniversaries is a proof of Huf as an attractive employer, contributing to the benefit of the people and the strong economy in Arad.
10th anniversary of Huf Development Center Timisoara
The event also was attended by Huf employees from Timisoara, who had started their careers at the company’s Software Development Center established at this Romanian IT hotspot in 2011. In January 2020, the team moved into new buildings at Timisoara’s trendy ISHO district. This was also the starting point to ramp up the new European Center for Development, Testing & Prototyping of Huf in Romania. Since then, the Huf workforce at Timisoara has doubled to more than 220 software specialists, hardware engineers and technicians. The number also includes a team of accountancy experts for the European Shared Service Center Finance recently relocated from Poland to Romania.
The Development and Testing Center in Timisoara will be further extended to fulfil its role as global hub for software and hardware development at Huf. Teams are working on projects for customers like Audi, BMW, Ford, GM and Stellantis, developing passive entry systems, kick sensors and innovative solutions like Phone as a Key. With an appealing open space office area enabling agile work concepts for product development as well as generously equipped labs for Testing & Prototyping, Huf is attracting the much sought-after specialists.
