Ms. Milena Stoycheva, Minister of Innovation and Growth was welcomed at Schneider Electric’s Smart Factory in Plovdiv, which is the company’s first and only Smart Factory in Eastern Europe.
The company’s local Plant Manager Mr. Martin Yordanov shared with the Minister of Innovation and Growth exciting information about their ongoing expansion of 3000sq.m. that is expected to reach its completion in September and open at least 100 new job positions. The new facility will allow the company to increse its production capacity of circuit breakers by 30% and meet the needs of their growing demand from the EMEA region. Moreover, despite working towards increasing the factory’s automatisation, the company is also actively involved in retaining talent through internal trainings and re-qualification.
Ms. Stoycheva was delighted to hear about the company’s ongoing and future plans and pointed out that Schneider’s Smart Factory in Plovdiv is among the leaders, not only in Bulgaria, but also in Europe, when it comes to innovations in the high-tech industry. The event was also attended by Deputy Mayor of Plovdiv Mr. Stefan Stoyanov who shared the Municipality’s readiness to support the future plans of the company in education, innovation and increasing of the production capacity.
During the meeting Mr. Yordanov signed an official Charter for Carbon Neutrality initiated by Trakia Economic Zone – one of the largest and fastest developing industrial zones in Southeast Europe. The Charter, already signed by 6 other comapnies, is part of TEZ’s plans for going fully carbon neutral by 2050 and is in full correspondence with Schneider’s global vision for carbon neutrality. In line with that, the French giant shared news about their investment in alternative power sources with their new geothermal installation that is expected to begin functioning by the beginning of the autumn/winter season.
Schneider’s shared their intentions to continue developing in the region after the current investments as Plovdiv remains an important and attractive investment destination for the French company.
