The operation involves an initial investment of $15 million to date and will generate 200 jobs during 2015.
The plant in La Lima, Cartago will produce printed circuit board assemblies (PCBA) for high technology industrial, automobile and precision measuring equipment
The company projects growth and investment plans over the next three years.
Costa Rica, Cartago, January 21, 2015. Today, the German electronics manufacturing company, Zollner Elektronik AG, inaugurated its Costa Rican plant, the first in Latin America. The company has invested close to $15 million to date in its Costa Rican operations.
An additional injection of $2.5 million is projected for next June as part of the arrival of the newproduction line. This plant will also be the first to startup operations at the Cartago, La Lima Industrial Park. Currently it extends over more than 8,300 square meters.
Zollner is one of the largest Electronic Manufacturing Service Providers (EMS) in the world today. In Costa Rica they will manufacture printed circuit board assemblies (PCBA) for the industrial, automobile, office electronics and precision measuring sectors.
The Minister of Foreign Trade, Alexander Mora and the General Director of CINDE, Jorge Sequeira participated at the inauguration. The company’s founder, Manfred Zollner, the Regional President and Director, Faiyaz Syed and the General Manager for Costa Rica, Octavio Matus also attended the ceremony.
Growth in sight
During 2015 the new operations will create more than 200 jobs for industrial, mechanical, electromechanical and production engineers, as well as midlevel technical staff in the field of electro mechanics.
The arrival of the new production line next June is just the start of growth plans for the country. By 2017 company projections include the establishment of a strategic support center here to handle continental and worldwide operations. It will concentrate accounting and financial services, quality testing and purchasing, engineering design and testing development among others, representing new job opportunities in other professional fields in the near future.
The Vice-President of the Republic, Ana Helena Chacón said "The establishment of sustainable and high-tech companies in Costa Rica is always an opportunity for jobs and for promoting new skills for the citizens. We will continue pushing for this type of investment throughout the country to capitalize on the advantages that each region has. This is also a major achievement for Cartago Province and we are committed to boosting job attraction."
“Costa Rica is a strategic location for Zollner and we project the consolidation of a key support service center for our operations, in conjunction with the high technology manufacturing processes. Our goal is to achieve solid positioning to project us throughout the region and make our presence in the country more robust, both for specialization and in human capital and business development” said Octavio Matus, General Manager for Costa Rica.
Additional plans include the expansion of manufacturing processes.
Costa Rica: key location
Costa Rica was selected as the location for Zollner's first operations center in the region from among other strong industrial contenders, including Mexico. Its solid trade relations, the stability offered by the figure of the free trade zone, favorable socio-economic climate and highly educated people and technically qualified professionals combine to make this country a key point in our Latin American business strategy.
The Minister of Foreign Trade, Alexander Mora, emphasized how important this investment is and how important the opportunities are that it creates for professionals and technical people in Cartago and the adjoining areas, as well as the potentialities of exploring local supplier chains. "We started the year out with the excellent news of this extremely important investment. The Zollner Group is world renowned as a high prestige conglomerate due to the quality of its products and processes, their great specialization and technological sophistication. By choosing Costa Rica as its preferred destination for setting up this operation, Zollner reaffirmed the value that the country offers for developing such high level activities. The trust the Group has shown fills us with pride. In turn, we reiterate our pledge to work intensely on continuing to ensure conditions that are conducive to businesses such as this consolidating and continuing to grow in our country."
Mora also took the opportunity to call on domestic enterprise and academic, technical, and professional institutions with a presence in the zone to explore ways of taking advantage of the great opportunities that the establishment of companies such as Zollner is able to create, especially for the province's inhabitants. As the Minister, he reiterated the willingness of the foreign trade sector he leads -- in the form of institutions such as COMEX, CINDE, and PROCOMER -- to work hand in hand on these issues.
Cartago Province also offers an ideal scenario to comprise a working team under the specialized profile sought by Zollner because it is close to important university centers and vocational high schools.
“We have always preferred organic growth to enable the development of operations from the start in conjunction with the progress of the region where we have established operations. That’s what we did 50 years ago when I founded the first plant in Zandt, a small but important town in my country, and that is what we expect will happen now in this Costa Rican region that receives us” commented Manfred Zollner, the company founder.
Cutting-edge Engineering
Printed circuit board assemblies for high technology electronic equipment and mechatronics for amplifiers and automobile light systems, intelligent light control systems and boards for Wi-Fi products will all be manufactured from Costa Rica.
The initial team of Costa Rican engineers has already visited the first Zollner plant in the world located in the Bavarian District at Zandt, Germany to receive specialized training in manufacturing processes and transactional processes for the purpose of forming a base human capital who will be the leaders in production in the country.
The General Director of CINDE, Jorge Sequeira, commented "the announcement by Zollner is important because it reaffirms Costa Rica as a competitive venue for companies in the advanced manufacturing sector, where currently more than 60 leading companies provide employment to close to 17,000 people. Zollner, a pioneer also in the new La Lima Industrial Park in Cartago, will invigorate the socio-economic growth in the area."
Persons from engineering and technical areas related to Zollner operations can send their Resume by Email to cr_m_hr@zollner-electronics.com.
About the Zollner Group
Headquartered in Zandt, Germany; Zollner Elektronik AG was founded by Manfred Zollner in 1965. Since then its successful growth has made it one of the major EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Services) Providers in the world. Today it is number one in Germany and all of Europe. By continual investment in its own organic growth, the Zollner Group has evolved until it has become a provider of mechatronics services. As a partner to leading world companies, as well as small and medium companies, Zollner offers an impressive range of services: from Randamp;D, to production, including the entire route to post-sale services, solutions for inter-sector systems that provide support for client needs throughout the product’s life cycle.
The modern manufacturing plant and service support center in Cartago, Costa Rica is the latest addition to Zollner’s 17 locati
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