Enter the robots – automation fills gaps in east Europe’s factories

An employee assembles a customised factory automation system at the Hungarian Vesz-Mont 2000 plant in Nemesvamos, Hungary, January 23, 2018. Picture taken January 23, 2018. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo

PAPA, Hungary: Plant manager Gabor Kiraly remembers the meeting a couple of years ago when he and his Austrian bosses learnt how severe the worker shortage in Hungary was about to become – it was, he said, a "shocking realisation". 

The unemployment rate in the western Hungarian town of Papa, where Hirtenberger Automotive Safety employs 725 people making products such as seat belt pre-tensioners, was approaching virtually zero. High turnover was already a big problem.