The first half of the year is encouraging – the companies operating in the B2B segment are doing well, they have plenty of orders and they forecast growth, although it will likely be slower than in 2022. But there is considerable uncertainty regarding potential results for the second half of the year.

The reason for slower growth, according to Darius Lasionis, is that customers accumulated large inventories of components in their warehouses last year, so they must first use up the inventories they have. In addition, rising interest rates and more expensive loans are reducing companies’ appetite for risk when investing in technological renewal and expansion as well as reducing their willingness to purchase new products. All of this has an effect on corporate decisions and is setting the stage for more modest growth.

“But the overall image of the first half of the year for companies making electronic components, electronic equipment, machinery and devices, metal products and automotive components is largely positive,” says Lasionis.

Nevertheless, he warns that the situation is uncertain and companies should remain flexible, so they could adapt on short notice to a potentially fast-changing situation.

Liutauras Variakojis, Director of the Swedish-owned UAB “SLT Industrial Components” in Biržai, says that the company does not see a downturn; on the contrary, turnover is increasing. The company’s operations include three areas – packaging of sweets, components for medical devices, and automotive components. The company receives most of its orders for automotive components from Volvo.

“When we are constantly growing, a small slowdown in one of the operational areas is not painful. Let’s say that instead of three shifts, we began to work in two shifts, and when we get more orders, we hire more people,” he explains.

That the situation is not worsening is also shown by the fact that SLT Industrial Components is acquiring from “Šiaurės vilkas” the building of the former brewery “Astravas” and will relocate part of its production capacity, the packaging of sweets, to that building.

Will hire several hundred each year

“The forecasts of companies in our cluster are quite positive. Maybe the smaller companies are talking about modest growth or that they will try to maintain the turnover they had last year, but the larger companies are making significant investments into new products and services, and are planning to increase production,” says Giedrius Valuckas, Chairman of the Board of the Baltic Automotive Components Cluster (BACC).

According to him, although the volume of orders may fluctuate, the scales often tip toward an increase. And some factories are being forced to postpone or even turn down some orders, because they lack employees.

For example, the electronic components manufacturer Continental sees its future prospects quite optimistically and intends to further increase the number of employees by several hundred each year until it reaches its target of 1,500.

“I am pleased that we have already put together more than half of our team. We will continue to look for people, mostly for production positions – operators, warehouse workers, technicians. But we always need quality engineers, maintenance engineers and test engineers, and we will certainly continue to hire them, too,” says Shayan Ali, Managing Director of Continental in Lithuania.

His thoughts are echoed by representatives of AQ Wiring Systems, a maker of cable harnesses and electromechanical modules. They say that growth will not stop. The company, with 1,243 employees, is planning to hire an additional 150 this year.

Automotive parts maker UAB “Hella Lithuania” will also hire at least another 50 employees.

“We can take satisfaction not only in a record-breaking year, but also in the increasing motivation of job applicants, and we are getting more and more applicants who already have experience in the automotive industry. This year we also plan to hire engineers and quality specialists in a number of areas,” Maxim Zakletski, Managing Director of Hella Lithuania, is quoted in the announcement.

Companies producing components for cars, agricultural and construction equipment created more than 2,000 new jobs in 2022.

Valuckas believes that Lithuanian companies probably have no lack of orders thanks to the strong foundation they built in prior years, focusing on efficiency, digitisation and attracting talent. Because the European automotive industry’s moods can change quickly, order quantities are smaller and order delays are longer. And disrupted supply chains remain unstable and uncertain.

“However, the increasing number of employees shows that Lithuania’s companies have managed to avoid these problems,” he emphasises.

The lack of qualified employees is a problem in the Lithuanian Automotive industry.

“The lack of quality, process and equipment maintenance engineers is felt the most. There is a critical lack of test engineers in the market – their demand already exceeds the supply, says Giedrius Valuckas, Chairman of the Board of the Baltic Automotive Components Cluster (BACC).

BACC member companies cooperate with educational institutions, appreciate the quality of studies and hope to achieve positive results in the near future.

Despite the lack of qualified specialists, the Automotive sector increased 20%, creating over 2,000 new jobs. This sector is working effectively and hope to achieve even better results!

Source: Verslo žinios 

During the Annual Conference organized by the Confederation of Lithuanian Industrialists, CIE LT Forge was awarded as the “Lithuanian Exporter of the Year 2022”.

In 2022 CIE LT Forge sales increased 35% and reached 43.5 mln. EUR, 99.5 % of manufactured products were exported.

One of the most important news in 2022 – the company entered the Scandinavian market by signing a long-term contract with a large commercial transport manufacturer in Sweden. CIE LT Forge expanded their number of customers in Poland, Germany, Hungary, Romania, France, USA, Mexico.

The effective work of the team helped to achieve the best results. The company set ambitious goals – constantly invest in process improvement and focus on robotization of production lines. Thanks to the professionalism of the team, CIE LT Forge is flexible, respond effectively to the market changes and meets needs of customers.

On 23th February, 2023 the Event – Career Day took place at Kaunas Technology Training Centre, Gauk kontaktą – pasirašyk kontraktą 2023 (Make a Contact, Sign a Contract 2023), which attracted so much attention from young and motivated students, full of energy. Company representatives had an opportunity to present their business, working conditions, open positions, and internship opportunities to all the students.

We are very pleased to see that the contacts made during the event will not only help young people to find an opportunity for an internship or apprenticeship, but also a full-time position and new career opportunities.