“We are really pleased to be opening the new fischer Automotive plant in Jagodina. A company of fischer’s significance strengthens Serbia immensely. We wish the company and its employees lots of success and all the best”, the Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced during the opening ceremony, which took place on 10 June under strict coronavirus regulations. The Serbian Minister for Economic Affairs and other high-ranking representatives of the Serbian government also attended the event in the new factory hall.

The new site provides fischer Automotive with the opportunity for further growth. Serbia is on its way to becoming an emerging industrialised country. A high level of training, qualified staff, good infrastructure and a positive investment environment provides fischer Automotive with an ideal start for its activities in Serbia. Other companies from the automotive industry are also based in the region, which means that the existing necessary manufacturing know-how in terms of injection moulding technology results in valuable synergies.

“Our new plant in Jagodina allows us to further expand our competitive power, as Germany has now become too expensive as a production site”, Prof. Klaus Fischer said during the opening ceremony. The owner of the global fischer Group of Companies, which fischer Automotive is part of, thanked Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić and the government representatives for their straightforward and flexible cooperation across borders that allowed the new site to be set up within such a short space of time.

He also expressed his gratitude to the members of staff in Serbia and at the German headquarters who managed to set up the new site together in record time despite the coronavirus restrictions. The project began last May. Since then, rooms and administration and logistics processes were set up in addition to the machine park. The first products were already produced this February, just ten months later. “All of the Serbian and German members of staff worked together excellently as a team”, Prof. Fischer stated.

The new fischer Automotive building comprises a total area of 8,500 m² that houses injection moulding, assembly, logistics and administrative departments. “The workforce will grow up to 450 members of staff, making fischer Automotive a key employer in the region”, said Johannes Konrad, Speaker of the Board of Directors for fischer Automotive, who described the new Jagodina site as a “crucial cornerstone of our company’s successful development”. In future, the new plant will manufacture air nozzles for customers such as Mercedes, the Volkswagen Group and BMW.

In addition to air nozzles, the product range of the fischer Automotive division includes cup holders, trays, socket covers for electric vehicles and multi-functional components that provide organisation and comfort within the vehicle. Several million cars including renowned electric vehicles are equipped with fischer Automotive products every year.