Samsung SDI building Li-ion battery plant in Hungary; global triangular production structure
31 August 2016
Samsung SDI has decided to use Hungary as its Li-ion battery production base in Europe. The new battery plant will be built in Goed, north of Budapest in a 330,000 m2 site, using existing facilities previously used for display production. The new facility in Hungary will enable Samsung SDI to establish a global triangular production structure along with existing plants in Ulsan, Korea and Xian, China.
Aiming to start commercial production in 2nd half of 2018, the company will build production lines with annual capacity of batteries for 50,000 pure electric vehicles, investing around 400 billion won (~US$358 million).
As it can use large portion of existing plant infrastructure, Samsung SDI expects to generate profit sooner than usual by reducing construction period and costs.
| “In the forthcoming electric vehicle era, we will enhance our capability to respond to
customers in Europe.” —Executive Vice President Jeong SehWoong |
The company initially built the plant in Hungary in 2001 to manufacture cathode ray tubes (CRTs) and remodeled it for PDP production several years thereafter.
In addition, the new plant in Hungary will enable the company to significantly reduce logistic costs while immediately responding to demand from customers since production bases of European automotive manufacturers are concentrated in Central and Eastern Europe.
Moreover, the company will be able to sharpen its competitive edge in automotive battery industry by establishing integrated production system ranging from battery cells to packs, generating synergy with SDIBS (SDI Battery Systems, Austria), the production base of battery packs it acquired last year.
The Government of Hungary expressed strong commitment in supporting Samsung SDI’s activities in Hungary in order to ensure smooth implementation of the project.
Using existing infrastructure will allow Samsung to lower battery mass production cost and better compete in the world market place.
Multiple production facilities will also reduce transportation cost.
Posted by: HarveyD | 31 August 2016 at 08:59 AM
Multiple production facilities reduces risk, a concept lost on Tesla.
Posted by: SJC | 31 August 2016 at 11:24 AM