The new director of the Iberian pole transfers to the workers of Zaragoza that only “to be the best guarantees the future” – Concern in Balaídos for the competition tomorrow.
Juan Antonio Muñoz Codina from Vigo, new director of the Iberian Cluster and of the PSA Group’s Zaragoza plant (before General Motors), has made it clear in his first communication to the Aragonese workers that he will apply the same recipe for success that he used for years in Balaídos and which provided such good results in the midst of the crisis. At the same time, he summarizes his lines of work: “Permanently optimize total costs, comply with the production schedule every day and within the established schedule and constantly improve quality to the customer.
Its objective is to turn Figueruelas into a “reference” factory, with two challenges: to maintain a biflux structure (two production lines); and to ensure the competitiveness of the four plants. In Vigo, Aragonese competition begins to worry when it comes to fighting for new projects.
His most immediate challenge is the launch of the new generation of Opel Corsa, and he acknowledged that Zaragoza “is very good at successful launches”.
His appointment as director gives him power over the four plants that make up the cluster (Balaídos, Mangualde, Madrid and Zaragoza), and was interpreted in the Galician sector as an opportunity, as for the first time a Vigo is at the head of the pole, and at the same time as a threat, as the capital of the cluster will also for the first time not be in Vigo, but in Figueruelas.
Sources consulted by Faro de Vigo admit that Figueruelas has not reached the minimums of profitability, efficiency and costs that Tavares craves to maintain a plant with two production lines (from 2020 only Vigo and Zaragoza will conserve this biflux system; the rest of the group’s factories in the world are already monoflux). This is recognised by the technicians from Vigo who have visited the Aragonese factory in the last year: the cadence (the number of vehicles manufactured per hour) and labour flexibility follow light years ahead of those of Balaídos, and in terms of labour costs, despite the adjustments agreed in the last collective agreement, as well.
Codina is known for its fame as a dialogue with the union, but also because once it sets the course, it is very difficult to change it. That is why Tavares has relied on him to make Figueruelas profitable and maintain the competitiveness of the four-plant complex.