Manufacturing companies in Bulgaria are increasingly automating their processes, robots are no longer exotics and modern technologies are quickly making their way into production. Such is the picture painted by the contestants in the Factory of the Year competition organized by the Capital Weekly for a second consecutive year. This applies in full force to the winner this year, Botevgrad-based sensor manufacturer Sensata Technologies Bulgaria, which got the prize in a contest with 13 other companies. Ruse-based WITTE Automotive Bulgaria received the award for most innovative project developed with the participation of the Bulgarian team.
The advent of robots
The competition is organized in partnership with Plovdiv Municipality and Plovdiv-based Trakia Tech think-tank. The southern Bulgarian city was home to the winner in 2022, Schneider Electric's smart factory. This year the big prize goes to the western city of Botevgrad, which, like Plovdiv, is known for its well developed industry. A large manufacturing center in the northern city of Ruse, on the Danube, is home to the company with the most innovative project.
This year's winner of the Factory of the Year award is part of U.S.-based Sensata Technologies, which acquired Sensor-Nite in Botevgrad from Belgium's Elex in 2011. Five years later the company built a second factory, in Plovdiv. It also has a large R&D center and a testing facility in Sofia. Sensata Technologies has been actively automating production in recent years, ensuring improved efficiency, safer labor conditions and higher quality of products. At the same time that is not done at the expense of employees: they are transferred to other lines to cover growing demand or are trained to perform more qualified operations.
WITTE Automotive Bulgaria, which is part of Germany's automotive locking system manufacturer WITTE Automotive, tabled the most innovative project in the competition. Since the beginning of this year the company has been introducing automated robotized transport in its factory and warehouse based on its own software that integrates the management of two different robotized fleets and vehicles operated by people. The company also notes as a success the fact that the employees have been prepared to accept the robots as their own colleagues.
The competition
A total of 14 companies from different sectors and regions participated in this year's edition of Factory of the Year. Machine-building enterprises were the most numerous candidates, as well as companies located in southern Bulgaria. The initial assessment was made on the basis of a questionnaire and the seven top-scoring companies were shortlisted as finalists. The winner among them was chosen by a five-member jury.
Besides Sensata Technologies and WITTE Automotive, finalists also included Behr-Hella Thermocontrol, the Bozhurishte-based plant of the German manufacturer of climate control and thermal management solutions for the automotive industry; Czech medical equipment maker BTL Industries and Bulmint One, a Bulgarian manufacturer of gold and silver investment products, both based in Plovdiv; French aviation component manufacturer Latecoere with its plant in Plovdiv; and automotive sealing solutions maker Standard Profil, part of Germany-headquartered Turkish group, which has a factory in the city of Stara Zagora.
Manufacturing companies in Bulgaria are increasingly automating their processes, robots are no longer exotics and modern technologies are quickly making their way into production. Such is the picture painted by the contestants in the Factory of the Year competition organized by the Capital Weekly for a second consecutive year. This applies in full force to the winner this year, Botevgrad-based sensor manufacturer Sensata Technologies Bulgaria, which got the prize in a contest with 13 other companies. Ruse-based WITTE Automotive Bulgaria received the award for most innovative project developed with the participation of the Bulgarian team.
