General Motors (GM Poland Sp. z o.o. ul. Domaniewska 41, P-02-672 Warsaw) whose new manufacturing plant is being built at Gliwice, southern Poland, is considering a number of Polish thermoplastics processors as potential suppliers of components for its cars. It is thought that the overall value of all the parts and components contracts is around USD 700m, half of which could go to Polish manufacturers. However, the strength of the relevant industries in the country varies considerably. Whilst metal, glass, rubber and electronic components are expected to be fairly easily sourced, the number of suitable manufacturers in the plastics sector appears far more limited.

It is believed the Polish front-runners tipped for major injection moulding and blow moulding contracts are respectively Bilplast S.C. and Sp. Inw. Elremet. Both companies have certification to ISO 9001/2 and are capable of meeting the exacting quality requirements. At the same time, GM expects the relative weakness of the Polish automotive plastics components sector to force it to source most parts from its existing suppliers outside Poland. The company believes there is considerable scope for foreign investment in the sector, which would follow the example of Findlay Industries Inc (1957 Crooks Road, Troy, MI 48084, USA) in setting up in April of this year a 70,000 sq. ft. facility at Tomaszow Mazowiecki to manufacture headliners and door and quarter trim panels for Opel/Saab (see Plasteurope.com 6).

The DEM 500m GM Gliwice plant is due to commence production in September 1998.