When we talk about factories that produce car components in Moldova, it seems that the stereotype of some big buildings has already been imprinted, not a number of hundreds or even thousands of people work. But in addition to those admirable companies, there are beautiful stories on a smaller scale, but which have managed to achieve great things even if they operate not in the capital, but in the smaller cities of Moldova. Moreover, if you look at the impact they have had on their community, you can see how much it can change the quality of life for even a small team when it comes to thinking globally and doing great things. Today we have a report about such a small team, from Straseni, where we went directly to meet them.

This team started 3 years ago with only 4 people. Yes, 4 people, who had then put the beginnings of a factory, which today came to produce a lot of components for Dacia, Renault, Nissan; Preugeot, Opel, Jaguar and Land Rover, but also for John Deere agricultural equipment and even luxury yachts. It’s about Whetec, a team you probably haven’t heard of in Moldova, because all their products go directly for export, the company operating as a resident of the Balti Free Economic Zone in the Straseni branch of ZEL. We went to Straseni and spoke directly with Alexandru Magnet, the leader of this team of 70 people today, who also showed us the whole production process of what is happening today in Straseni. And we did it to the German Cooperation Agency of Moldova, GIZ Moldova, which revealed a series of such fascinating stories.

It all started in 2017, when the French group T Connect was looking for a place for a new factory, which they wanted to build. The French contact the chambers of commerce, responsible for French relations, in Romania and Moldova. The one from Moldova was faster in response and the people there took over the discussions in helping the French to put them in contact with local people, who would like to get involved in the local project. At the same time, the Moldovan-French Chamber of Commerce had contacts with Alexander, as he was studying at a university in France. So Alexander was called there one day to be asked if he was interested. He acted immediately.

A period of analysis, calculations and sketching of the business plan followed. Then the French investors decided in favor of Moldova and decided to go for implementation, obtaining the status of member of the free economic zone, in the branch in Straseni. The site of the factory today, however, was a dilapidated building that promised to be renovated. With the good experience of those from ZEL Balti in what they have done in several regions of the country, both Alexandru and the French investors were confident that the building will be brought to a decent condition, as promised, fact. what happened.

For the most part, sensors and cables attached to the sensors are produced here. And when we talk about sensors – their diversity is great – from the sensors of gaseous substances, used in car engines, to sensors like those used in parktronic systems. Those in Straseni plan to expand production to liquid sensors as well. But, at present, the sensors produced in Straseni are based on the model such as Dacia Duster, Peugeot 30 and other 08 models of the above mentioned brands. In the case of the 3008, for example, in Straseni, the whole set of parktronik sensors and all the cables associated with them are produced, which are attached to the bumper.

The end customer, however, is not the manufacturer itself, but OEM suppliers in the automotive industry, who gather for example those complete bumpers and then supply them to the factory that assembles the cars. And that’s because the sensors produced on Whetec Straseni end up being part of whole modules, usually.

As I said, the team from Straseni also delivers such sensors and cables to agricultural equipment, especially those from John Deere. And last year, in the context of a pandemic in France, they had special orders to produce and deliver electrical systems for field hospitals, used by French armed forces and NATO, as support for pandemic red zones. And a month ago, they started delivering the entire electrical wiring system for all the luxury yachts produced by Dufour Yachts! So, imagine that a small team of people from Straseni, Moldova, produces the whole essence of the electric system for luxury yachts!

The logistics used by the factory in Straseni assume that all their production goes directly to France, to the distribution center of the parent companies, and from there to the respective plants. It is interesting that because Moldova exports so little from France, the people of Straseni faced the problem of the permanent lack of free trucks going to France on a regular basis, so they bought their own truck, which they . use as a basis for permanent deliveries, and only when they have higher order values ​​and it does not cope, contact additional carriers. And, of course, the resident status of the free economic zone, which allowed them to have a fast logistics of import of raw materials and export of finished products. Just two days after leaving Moldova, a product can already be in the warehouse in France.

To ask them, the ones from Straseni are the smaller company, which can react faster to ad-hoc requests, but at the same time can deliver consistently based on long-term contracts. For the local community, this relatively small factory and a job offer the 70 people decent wages, and in regular hours, without night shift, which is very popular in the cities and villages of Moldova, as we. says Alexandru, because this way those who work here have the opportunity to dedicate enough time to their families.

Alexandru, an admirable young and energetic manager, does not say that the global semiconductor crisis has affected many orders in the long run, due to the fact that car factories cannot produce cars as quickly. But it is a delay in time, not an effective reduction in demand, and even if the effect is felt, Alexandru says that the team should be able to replace the remaining volumes with ad-hoc orders, so as to operate almost at full capacity anyway. And that makes him, and his team, look forward to the future.

And he says that the greatest pride was when he saw a Land Rover model working on components that he knew he and his team had produced. He tells us that Land Rover has some of the most advanced requirements for their wiring, requiring additional insulation, including sound insulation, so that those cables do not vibrate inside and subsequently produce sounds in homes, and on next to that are all sorts of sophisticated electronic requirements. But all this is done for a perfect premium comfort, which they, as suppliers, understand thoroughly. And when he saw the end result on a modern Land Rover model, he was proud to see that there, after that lighting in the passenger compartment so sophisticated — a premium model — were actually hiding products he had worked on or teamed up with. ours, from Moldova, from the city of Straseni!