AkzoNobel will create 80 new jobs in Catalonia by expanding its Barcelona plant

The Dutch multinational AkzoNobel will create 80 new jobs in Catalonia by expanding production at its plant in the Zona Franca (Barcelona). The company will invest 14 million euros to transfer the production of paints and coatings for the automotive sector to the Catalan plant, an investment project supported by ACCIÓ-Catalonia Trade & Investment -Catalonia's Business Competitiveness Agency- and the General Directorate of Industry of the Ministry of Business and Labour.

According to the Minister of Business and Labour, Roger Torrent, "Investments such as AkzoNobel's show why Catalonia is one of Europe's leading regions in the chemical and automotive industries. The Zona Franca (Barcelona) automotive paint relocation project is an example of the type of investment we want the government to promote: projects that reindustrialize Catalonia with sustainability and circular economy criteria".

The relocation project in Barcelona will allow the company to increase production and R&D activities related to paints and coatings for the automotive sector. In fact, the Barcelona plant, which currently employs around 566 people, will become AkzoNobel Group's most important European plant in this sector.

According to AkzoNobel's Cluster Manufacturing Director, Sergio Olivas, "the consolidation of development and manufacturing activities for the European automotive market at the Barcelona plant allows us to continue creating synergies to ensure the future competitiveness of our centers, especially in a sector as strategic as the automotive sector in Catalonia".

Olivas emphasizes that "this commitment is an important lever for continuing to create skilled jobs in operations and product development in the chemical sector" and that "the transfer of products allows us to continue contributing to the creation of a business and local ecosystem that promotes innovation and development".

This new investment is in addition to opening a new hub in Barcelona at the end of 2021 to centralize the planning and management of all the company's production plants and warehouses in Europe. This project will create 65 skilled jobs. The new EMEA Planning Hub, staffed mainly by engineers, is dedicated to managing and planning the company's 30 production plants and 125 warehouses in the European regions, aiming to increase the capacity of the facilities and optimize their performance.

With a commercial presence in more than 150 countries, AkzoNobel currently employs 1,140 people in Catalonia, 566 of whom work in the Zona Franca (Barcelona) facilities, the company's headquarters in Spain.