Since the Ford plant in Almussafes revolutionized the Valencian economy in the seventies, there had not been an investment with such an injection, both morally and economically, in the Valencian Community until the commitment of Seat-Volkswagen with its battery gigafactory. Both American and German automobile companies are already drawing the industrial future of the region, but not without many questions still to be resolved.
Many of them pass through the Almussafes factory, in a constant back and forth since the pandemic. To the successive ERTEs to which the plant had to be added, uncertainty over the electric car was added. Two years ago the doubts were dispelled and the company’s management chose Valencia to turn it into its electric platform in Europe, a decision in which the collaboration of the staff, led by the UGT-PV union, was decisive in closing an “Electrification Agreement” that would adapt working conditions to the new context.
That happened two years ago and now the scenario is different, but there continues to be a certain uncertainty that the workers always insist on clearing up. This is how last April they made the company’s commitment to produce a new vehicle from Valencia, which the firm has only classified as multi-energy, without yet giving details of how or how much, nor when it will begin to be manufactured. The company explains that it follows the evolution of the European markets “closely” in search of opportunities to improve its current product offering, but the staff crunches the numbers and predicts a significant surplus of personnel if there is not an adjusted production volume.
Recently, UGT-PV agreed on a new ERTE at the plant to go through this time without specificities, since to the surplus generated by the completion of the Ford Transit this spring, they now add the shortage of parts at the engine plant. Thus, from the excitement of knowing that it has been saved, the plant falls once again into the uncertainty of a temporary ERE waiting to breathe again when the details about its new vehicle arrive.
This happens from the factory doors to the inside, while from the outside the Ford suppliers that populate the Juan Carlos I industrial park in Almussafes show concern. And above all, they are looking for alternatives to dependence on the large driving firm to maintain themselves in a sector that is gradually showing symptoms of change. Firms such as Lear and SAAS and the center in charge of logistics supply of the Rhenus Automotive group in Almussafes announced their closure. Also linked to the sector, the German steel company Thyssenkrupp Galmed announced the closure, which will completely relocate production from the Sagunt plant to other production plants in the group, which in practice will mean its closure.
Without a doubt, Sagunt is the other key town in this industry that is experiencing intense times. There PowerCO, a subsidiary of Seat-Volkswagen, is currently building, still in the initial phases, what will be the Sagunt battery gigafactory. It was the great economic news for the Valencian Community in 2022, making this region the great hub of sustainable mobility in southern Europe. “The largest industrial investment made in the history of Spain,” maintains the company.
The future gigafactory will directly employ 3,000 people and indirectly employ more than 12,000; with a direct investment of 7,000 million euros. While it is being built, the PowerCO firm located its headquarters in Valencia and more than a hundred employees already work in its offices, and a total of 57, more than half, are from the Valencian Community.
The project involves the creation of a battery campus, which will be located next to the plant, the so-called Battery Campus, which will have the capacity to train 400 students in a curricular design that will adapt to the needs of PowerCO and will occupy a plot of 16,000 square meters in the industrial park.
New technologies that will need new talents and a global look at mobility. Reason enough for the AVIA cluster to change its statutes this past April to allow companies related to mobility to enter as full partners. “The vehicle has become a device with wheels. And all the services it provides now are part of the cluster,” said its president, Francisco Segura.
