The building of Sensirion’s first European manufacturing plant outside the mainland in Debrecen, Switzerland, has reached its highest point.
At Tuesday’s bouquet ceremony, Deputy Economic Mayor Lajos Barcsa said, “this investment also indicates that the economic development of Debrecen cannot be stopped by the pandemic”.
Sensiron’s presence further strengthens Debrecen’s crisis resilience, after the politician pointed out that their products – the various sensors and sensor systems – are used on a wide scale, from healthcare to the automotive industry. He noted that the company spends 24 percent of its sales on research and development, which guarantees that it will continue to be at the forefront of the world in the future.
According to Lajos Barcsa, twenty years ago the local government made a good decision when it supported the establishment of companies representing high value-added products and services in economic development, and provided a prepared workforce for enterprises based on the knowledge base of the University of Debrecen and transforming vocational training.
He said that in 2020, 566 jobs were created by companies settling in the city worth HUF 72 billion, in 2015 this number was 130 jobs worth HUF 8 billion, which is a significant development.
The deputy mayor pointed out that the Határ út science and technology park, which also houses Sensirion’s factory and is operated by the Xanga Group, has expanded from 40 hectares at the start to 135 hectares, home to 60 companies employing six thousand people.
István Herdon, President and CEO of the Xanga Group, emphasized that their business model has not changed in the last twenty years: they are developing turnkey production and logistics infrastructure in which manufacturing companies moving in as tenants can start operating after installing their own technology.
He added that in order to provide the financial resources needed for future investments in the long term, in 2019 the Xanga Group established a strategic partnership with MFB Invest Zrt., Part of the MFB Group, and jointly launched several thematic financial funds, including a HUF 30 billion Debrecen Industrial Development Fund, which provides the financial background for the implementation of the development, and which is managed by Xanga Ventures Private Equity Fund Management Ltd.
The construction of the Sensirion factory will be implemented in the investment of the Xanga and Szinorg groups of companies, with the participation of MFB Invest: the five thousand square meter hall, which will be built from HUF 3.5 billion, will be handed over to the tenant Sensirion Hungary Kft. in May, he added.
Patrick Good, Director of Maintenance and Infrastructure at Sensirion, explained that the company manufactures a variety of sensors, micro-sensors that are found not only in one-third of the world’s cars but in a variety of medical instruments, ventilators and many already measuring instruments.
The director said they are planning for the long term in Debrecen, they will employ 50 people in the first phase of the investment but plan to increase the number of employees to 200 in the coming years.
Patrick Good also said that the first production technology equipment will arrive in Debrecen in the second quarter, and production will begin in the third quarter. The director indicated that Sensirion will be celebrating the completion of the one-billionth sensor in Stäfa in the near future, which took twenty-two years. Referring to the fact that 125 million sensors were sold last year, he expressed his conviction that it would not take more than two more decades to build the next one billion sensors, and this performance will include the work of the people of Debrecen.
László Ábrahám, Managing Director of Sensirion Hungary Kft. Announced that their company wants to contribute to the Smart City program of Debrecen and to support the creation of a smart, livable, efficient and sustainable, healthy city. Therefore, the Swiss company presents Debrecen with one of the most modern air control systems in the world, the so-called Nubo, which it handed over to Deputy Mayor Lajos Barcsa at the opening ceremony.
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