Picture perfect investments
In January LG Electronics signed an agreement with the Polish government that provides for the construction of the company's new plants in the Wrocław region. According to estimates by the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ), the firm will invest about zł.420 million by 2011 in the project. About zł.250 million will be invested in a plant producing white goods, while the second plant, with an investment input of zł.170 million, will produce flat-screen LCD televisions.
The plants, to be located in Kobierzyce, are expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2007. According to the company's estimates, more than 5,000 jobs in the Wrocław region will be created with the establishment of the plant.
According to company sources, the Lower Silesian capital is an ideal location for the plant, thanks to its motorway connection with Western Europe and Poland's proximity to Russia and the CIS states. "The investment will improve LG Electronics' competitiveness through a reduction of logistics and labor costs," said the president of LG Electronics Wrocław, Yoon Byeng-Do.
"The investment in Wrocław plays a key role for the company's strategy in Europe. LG plans to become the leading producer of white-goods equipment as well as LCD and plasma televisions in Europe," Yoon added.
This is not the first investment by a company from the LG Group in Kobierzyce. LG Philips LCD is already constructing a plant where LCD television modules will be produced. The plant will be opened in the first half of 2006 and initially it will produce three million modules annually.
The Korean company is the first international LCD producer to open a production plant in Europe. The Kobierzyce unit will produce 26-, 32-, 37- and 42-inch screen modules as well as 19-inch and larger screens for plasma televisions. The plant's ultimate production capacity of 11 million modules should be reached by 2011. LG Philips plans to invest more than EUR 400 (zł.1,600) million in the area by 2011.
The investments by LG Group companies, along with suppliers, should provide jobs for 12,000 people across the country.
