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Japan's SUS to invest B2bn |
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SUS Corp, Japan's top factory automation equipment supplier, plans to invest two billion baht within 10 years to build seven more factories in Thailand as its sole manufacturing base outside Japan. President Yasuo Ishida said SUS has prepared 164 rai (262,400 qm) in Lamphun province to serve the company's strategic investment plan that would eventually make its Thai operation three times larger than the one in Japan. In January, its first factory, worth 330 million baht, began producing parts used to connect and fasten aluminium frames. About 90% of its output will be exported to Japan, Oceania, US, and Europe, Mr Ishida said. ''We will invest approximately another two billion baht in Thailand over a period of 10 years. By then, we will have a total of eight factories,'' he said in an interview. By November, the company would begin building a second factory to make aluminium extrusions, he added. Thailand is the only overseas production base of SUS but it has sales and warehouse facilities in China, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea. ''Personally, I don't think that China, where SUS also has an assembly operation, is cheap in terms of manufacturing costs in the long run, given its currency, which has been kept undervalued,'' said Mr Ishida. ''We have viewed countries such as Vietnam, Laos and Burma as potential investment locations but not for the time being.'' Thailand is well positioned in terms of logistics with road links being developed within the Greater Mekong Subregion. ''With its concentration of automotive and electronics manufacturing facilities, SUS has placed Thailand as the most important location of our overseas business development centred in Asia,'' he said. Toshio Sato, SUS's group leader for overseas sales, said the company's key customers in Thailand were automotive part makers led by Thai Stanley and Denso, as well as semiconductor producers such as Minebea. It also supplies factory automation systems to Toyota, Honda and Nissan. Japanese affiliates comprise 80% of turnover, while the rest comes from Thai, US and European clients. SUS was also studying the possibility of manufacturing aluminium home automation applications in Thailand. |
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Bangkok Post, 10.03.2008 |
