Tatung plans Thai hub for Asian sales
After keeping a low profile in the Thai market for almost 13 years, Taiwanese consumer electronics manufacturer Tatung yesterday announced plans to expand its market in the Kingdom.
The company, which operates five major assembly lines at its plant on 80 rai in Chon Buri's Amata Nakorn Industrial Park, has set itself the challenge of taking on other makers of consumer electronics, from Japan, South Korea and China. "We also plan to promote Thailand as our regional headquarters for the Southeast Asian market in the next five years, then expand to the Middle East," said Charlie Lan, president of Tatung (Thailand) Co Ltd. "Our headquarters is also investing more than Bt100 million this year in Thailand. Half will be to expand our manufacturing facilities for car electronics and displays. The rest will be for sales promotions," said Lan. Lan said that Tatung had operated its local factories for CRT televisions, CRT monitors, PCB assembly, LCD monitors and desktop computers in Thailand, under BoI privileges since 1990. In 2003, the company started manufacturing LCD and plasma televisions. Almost 99 per cent of local production is exported, mainly to Japan, Europe and Australia. "We have made and supplied large-screen television sets and other consumer electronics, computers, communications products and car electronics, mainly to leading consumer-electronics brands in Japan and Europe, through original design manufacturing deals. More than 10 million products, built with Tatung's 'surface mount' technology, have been exported over the past 13 years," said Lan, adding that to date, more than 500,000 LCD and plasma televisions have been shipped from its Thai facilities under international brand names. Lan said the company had set up a new management team this month to take care of domestic sales and marketing activities. "We expect to sell 7,000 units of consumer electronics this year, while another half-million will be for export," said Lan. He added that the company also expected to sell up to 20,000 units domestically, with another 600,000 units to be exported next year. Lan said flat-screen television sets had become fashionable in Thailand, where more consumers in the middle and upper classes preferred that type of product. Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn The Nation
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