Samsung shutting down a manufacturing plant in Slovakia
Sadly, Eastern Europe is not a good place to open a manufacturing plant these days. The main reason is the exodus of the qualified workforce to the Western countries, mainly Germany and the United Kingdom. Slovakia is in the same situation, and it looks like Samsung is directly affected by it.
Some older rumors claimed that Samsung was going to close both manufacturing plants in Slovakia. Fortunately for most of their employees, they settled with only one. According to an official statement by Samsung that was quoted by Reuters, "Samsung Electronics is consolidating its production facilities in Voderady and Galanta in order to enhance its synergy and efficiency." The good part is that all workers at the Voderady plant can move to Galanta on a voluntary basis.
Samsung has about 2,000 employees in Slovakia, and both manufacturing plants in the country are making LCD TVs. In the future, Samsung admitted that it might limit the output of the Galanta plant. Obviously, it might take a while to complete the closure of the Voderady plant and to relocate the workers who choose to move to the remaining factory.
On the other side of the planet, Samsung recently opened its first US home appliance plant. Located in Newberry, South Carolina, the new factory manufactures washing machines and is expected to create over 1,000 jobs by 2020.