Odelo started manufacturing headlights for Mercedes near to Plovdiv.
Article by Capital.bg
Name: Iglika Filipova
Link: Article
The company has already invested more than half of the provided EUR 40 million by 2023.
One year after the construction of a new plant near Plovdiv, the Turkish Odelo is already producing rear car lights for Mercedes. The company is currently working on projects transferred from the Group’s plants in Slovenia and will start production directly for Mercedes-Benz and Renault from next year. This was revealed at the official opening of the factory in the industrial zone of the city. So far, the investment is over EUR 20 million with 150 employed. The whole project will be completed in 2023 when the investment will reach BGN 40 million and the number of workers will triple.
The plans for Plovdiv
The construction of the Odelo Bulgaria plant began in the middle of last year and the contractor is the Plovdiv company Sienit. The company has a built-up area of 23 thousand square meters.
The plant is already certified to produce serial parts by clients and independent certification bodies. “This will allow us to start working on two Mercedes and one Renault projects in 2020”, said Odelo President Ahmet Bayraktar.
The whole project will be completed in 2023 when the investment will reach EUR 40 million. The company plans to increase its sales to 60 million euros by then and the number of employees will reach 450 people. “I think we will be able to find enough people in Plovdiv. The workers here need more training, unlike Slovenia. They are more experienced there because Slovenia is more industrialized”, Bayraktar told for Capital.
And the other projects
“Odelo Bulgaria” recently opened a development center in Sofia with 18 employees. In three years, their number will reach 40. The Bulgarian unit works together with the other two R&D centers of Odelo – in Stuttgart (Germany) and Bursa (Turkey), and according to Bayraktar, there are already some developed projects.
As soon as construction began near Plovdiv, it became clear that the company could significantly develop its initial plans after 2023 by building an electronics and park plant where its subcontractors would work. That was also the reason why Odelo bought a huge plot of land in the area – nearly 92 acres. Until now is not clear yet whether the extension will happen. “I still cannot give details of our plans after 2023. The important thing is that we came and started something. I hope this will be a good basis for us to make more investments”, said Bayraktar for Capital.
The company
The Turkish Odelo registered its Bulgarian company Odelo Farba Bulgaria in early 2018. Earlier this year, the name was changed to Odelo Bulgaria in connection with the renaming of the Turkish company itself.
Odelo’s main customers are Audi, BMW, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, VW. The group has a total of 8 plants – one in Germany and Bulgaria and two in Slovenia, Turkey, and China. It has three R&D centers (Germany, Turkey, and Bulgaria) and one logistics center in Mexico. The group employs a total of 3759 people. Over the last five years, it’s investments amount to EUR 220 million. The expected sales for 2019 are €433 million.
