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AKG
As a result of successful cooperation among the LIAA, the German-Baltic Chamber of Commerce in Latvia, and the municipality of Jelgava, AKG invested € 3million in a new production plant in Jelgava.
AKG is a private, family-owned, German company founded in 1919 that started with the small-scale production of coolers and has now applied its expertise to new market segments primarily focusing on the automobile industry. The holding company of AKG in Hofgeismar directs the operations of the AKG, whose 2,300 employees produce over 2 million heat exchangers in various designs each year. Currently, there are 11 production plants in Germany, France, United Kingdom, the US, China, and Turkey and they are all in operation twenty-four hours per day.
Latvia became the first country in Eastern Europe to receive investment from AKG. Before this, AKG had only set up production in the more traditional “Old Europe” countries. At the moment, AKG Termotechnic Lettland employs 80 metalworking specialists, and it is anticipated that this number will be increased in the near future.
The plant is currently operating at the capacity of 80,000 cooler and heat exchanger units a year and the final products are mainly exported to the EU, where they are used as production components by such companies as Daimler Chrysler, Audi, Porsche, and Ferrari.
The 4.6 ha production site was placed on municipality land in Jelgava, where AKG was offered an industrial park with all the necessary infrastructure at a much reduced, symbolic price.
In addition, AKG also benefited from Jelgava’s developed metalworking sector which provided an abundance of highly skilled metalworkers, making the hiring process much more straightforward.
