Here’s how the French Thales abandons Germany and focuses on Italy
The French group Thales closes the Ditzigen (Stuttgart) site to expand the Gorgonzola site in Italy, which will become the only hub in Europe for assembling air navigation systems
The French Thales says goodbye to Germany and relocates to Italy.
Today Thales Italia inaugurated the renovated headquarters in Gorgonzola, in the province of Milan where it has invested 50 million euros. The restructuring has made it possible to unify the NAS (Navigation Aids & Non-Radar Surveillance) activities in Gorgonzola, previously divided between the Italian headquarters and the one in Ditzigen (Stuttgart) in Germany. In particular, the optimization of the site has made it possible to accommodate a double number of workers so as to become the only center in Europe for activities in the field of air navigation aid of the French group, specialized in aerospace, defense, security and land transport.
“The idea of relocation was born after the crisis in the civil aviation market caused by the pandemic. The logic pursued by the group is that of rationalization”, explains the managing director of Thales Italia, Donato Amoroso. “Gorgonzola aims to be a best practice for the Thales Group not only as regards engineering hard skills but also and above all Diversity and Inclusion” added the number one of Thales Italia.
All the details.
THE GORGONZOLA CENTER
The Gorgonzola site has long been a global center of expertise for navigational aids and non-radar surveillance, developing, among other things, on-board computers, navigation equipment, mass storage and testing systems. The optimization of the headquarters has allowed the creation of 122 new jobs, which are added to the 110 resources already present, leading to a substantial doubling of the number of employees.
THE STRATEGY OF THE CEO OF THALES ITALIA
“We have invested around 50 million euros to expand the Gorgonzola site – adds the CEO -. We chose it for the quality of its products and the high skills of its professionals, who will inherit Germany's order book".
The systems produced in the Lombard city will thus supply customers in around 170 countries and will handle more than 70% of global air traffic (excluding the United States).
NEW RESOURCES COMING SOON
To pursue this strategy, the company has expanded the staff of the Gorgonzola site.
The recruitment of new resources concerned in particular the engineering field (46 units), above all systems engineering, hardware and software specialists and new professionals such as Scrum Master and Cybersecurity Engineers, but also Bids and Projects managers (30 resources) and Strategic and Operative Services (27 employees), who have joined the tested expert technicians already present in Italy. To date, employees of 13 nationalities work at the Gorgonzola site, compared to only 2 nationalities present until 2019.
"To pursue best practices in terms of Diversity and Inclusion", comments Amoroso, "we have also created shared workspaces and are experimenting with flexible solutions that include smart working and digitalisation".
Finally, the Italian pole will be crucial for the development of the French group. “The tender for the renewal of navigation systems throughout the United States will soon open and we aim to win it also thanks to the optimization of the Gorgonzola plant” underlined CEO Donato Amoroso.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/ecco-come-la-francese-thales-abbandona-la-germania-e-punta-italia/ on Wed, 16 Nov 2022 12:02:28 +0000.