Ficosa, a top-tier global provider dedicated to research, development, production and sales of safety, communication and efficiency systems for the automotive industry, is planning to hire 75 new engineers throughout 2015 for its Viladecavalls Technology Centre (Barcelona, Spain). These new recruits will not only be destined to the automotive division, but rather they will be covering positions related to sectors in current expansion, such as medical, mobility, energy efficiency and industrial equipment.
Ficosa has undergone a profound technological transformation during the last few years, stemming from a broader development of products with higher added value in the electronics and software fields. Simultaneously, the multinational has turned the crisis into an opportunity to reinforce its market share and increase its projection through a three-tiered strategy: globalization, innovation and diversification, aiming its activities at new sectors aside from the automotive industry.
Creating these new jobs is closely linked to the multinational firm’s important effort aimed at capitalizing on innovation and the latest developments that are coming about in the automotive industry and new technology sectors.
The engineering team is a key part for Ficosa, since they are in charge of carrying out all the group’s research and development. This activity has been reinforced by the growth of Idneo, a subsidiary of the multinational which provides engineering services, extrapolating Ficosa’s technology to sectors with significant growth opportunities, such as medical, mobility, as well as energy efficiency and industrial equipment.
Ficosa currently has 8,645 employees, including 600 engineers at 13 development centres all over the world, 400 of which are located in Viladecavalls. Last year, the company invested 44 million Euros in R+D, which equates to 4% of its annual revenue.
In the words of Javier Pujol, CEO, “Ficosa is at a key moment in its expansion, due to the momentum generated by new technologies, such as safety, communications and e-mobility, where, in recent years, the company has invested significantly. By hiring quality professional engineers we can face these new challenges and project this activity consistently into the future”.
In terms of the capital and business allegiance with Panasonic, Javier Pujol has underlined that “this association will not only bring complementary knowledge and technology, but will also provide regional synergies and lead to developing superior products and solutions, making it of supreme importance to have an excellent and experienced team of engineers on board”.
Ficosa has banked firmly on creating highly valuable jobs, proven by the fact that the number of engineers working in Viladecavalls has risen by 60% from 2013 to 2015. This trend is also manifest in the fact that 97% of all new people hired during the same period held a university degree. Moreover, looking towards the 2019 horizon, the multinational company is planning to generate 240 new jobs for engineers and university-qualified technology professionals.
Viladecavalls, R+D headquarters of the Ficosa group
Viladecavalls, just 30 minutes from Barcelona, is home to the R+D Centre for the whole Ficosa group. These premises, which are a benchmark for electronics and technology, focus their activity on safety, communications and efficiency. This centre is the company’s global investigation engine, feeding 13 development centres that the multinational owns around the world, close to the clients (Detroit, Germany, France, China, Korea, etc.).
The technology developed in Viladecavalls, as well as being correlated to new engineers being hired, is directly linked to the creation of new products and projects with a high added value. This vocation for constant innovation has led to 70% of the company’s revenue in 2014 coming from products and projects that did not exist just 4 years ago. Moreover, the technological contributions are backed by 470 active patents that Ficosa currently holds, being one of the companies that register more patents in our country.
Capital and Business alliance with Panasonic
Last September, Ficosa and Panasonic signed an investment agreement to ensure capital inflow, and a business alliance which will be ratified shortly. With this alliance, they plan to integrate the image technology know how and combine Panasonic’s innovative image technology with Ficosa’s automotive industry mirror technology and experience, thus accelerating the launch of the advanced technology electronic mirror system which fosters a safe and comfortable driving.
For more information on Ficosa, visit the website.
