E-Weekly
Oct 16th, 2007 Print this article Balda sell-off: the end of mobile-phone molding in Europe?By Matt Defosse German molder and contract assembler Balda (Bad Oeynhausen) intends to focus its efforts on growth in Asia, and on assembly of touch screens. As a result, the firm says it will sell, possibly by year’s end, its injection molding operations for cell-phone housings in Germany and Hungary. The firm does intend to keep hold of its European medical molding business: a relatively small (€25 million/yr sales) and new unit at Balda.
Balda Solutions Europa, the mobile phone operations on that continent, includes about 500 employees in Germany and another 150 in Hungary, plus 250 contract employees. Balda officials say that they already have concrete interest in the business.
Injection molding for cell phones is fast becoming rare in Europe. Earlier this year, Perlos (Espoo, Finland), a leader in molding and assembly of cell phone components, closed its last two facilities in Finland and laid off about 1100 workers. Perlos has since been acquired by Taiwanese optoelectronics supplier Lite-On.—mdefosse@modplas.com | 
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