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Foreign Investors In Estonia | STONERIDGE
Global Reach
Beyond Stoneridge Electronics in Tallinn is Stoneridge Electronics AB, itself a part of the Stoneridge Group, a New York Stock Exchange-listed designer and manufacturer of engineered electrical components for the automotive, medium- and heavy-duty truck, agricultural and off-highway vehicle markets. The Stoneridge Group makes highly-engineered parts such as electrical distribution systems (primarily wiring harnesses), telematic systems, instrument clusters, tachographs, electronic and electromechanical switches, as well as sensors for familiar names such as Scania, Volvo, Daimler, John Deere, Ford, and GM. Headquartered in Warren, Ohio, in the United States, the group consists of 20 manufacturing and design centers in eight countries around the world.The group employs over 6,000 workers and its annual turnover regularly exceeds 700 million dollars.
Local Capability
Stoneridge Electronics in Estonia got its start in 1998 under the name of Berifors, a company formed from a management buyout in Ericsson’s automotive division. Due to a crowded factory in Sweden and cost pressure from its customers, Berifors needed to immediately expand. At the time, the company was torn between setting up new operations in Poland or Estonia. “For a variety of reasons Estonia prevailed,” says Per Lindberg, a member of the board and a Swede with a management background who is, via a stint with Stoneridge Scotland, working for Stoneridge Estonia for the second time in his career. “First and foremost, Estonia was just a good fit.” “In those days we were a small company in Sweden with 300 people,” says Lindberg. “The small country of Estonia just seemed to be a natural fit and had the necessary experience in electronics—a small country for a small company.” As Berifors looked more closely at Estonia, Lindberg says Poland became less attractive. “Poland was farther away and did not have the ferry connections and geographic advantage that Estonia had. Also, Estonia had just started the EU membership process, and the government was quite welcoming. Enterprise Estonia was active in helping us find a location to manufacture.” Lindberg notes that Estonia’s Prime Minister has even visited the Berifors headquarters in Stockholm. “The attention was very welcome and not something the company probably would have received elsewhere. In Poland,” says Lindberg, “we would have just been one of many.”