Honeywell opens factory in Ploiesti on Gov't-granted aid of EUR 16 million

US company Honeywell Transportation Systems on Oct. 8 opened a factory at the West Park Industrial park of Ploiesti, Prahova County, southern Romania, on an investment that is planned to reach 57 million euros by 2015. Chairman of the Friction Materials Division of Honeywell Rainer Bostel told in a press conference that out of the 57 million euros to be invested by 2015 in the new factory that manufactures brake pads, 16 million euros was aid from the Romanian Government approved in 2011 to be paid up as the investment advances. The construction on the factory started in November 2011, with the first series of brake pads having been manufactured one year later. “We wanted today to officially mark the event and we did not want to cut the ribbon to a plant, but we wanted to show how a functioning factory looks like,” said factory manager Bogdan Dimitriu. The factory has turned out more than 2 million pads, with most of the output having been exported to Europe, China and Mexico. The Honeywell factory currently employs 220 workers, set to go up to 300 by 2015. The manufacturing facility is located in the privately-run West Park industrial park, which covers 285 hectares, some kilometres away from Ploiesti.