16. Daikin grows home and abroad
OSAKA-BASED Daikin Industries is investing Bt15 billion to build a room air-conditioner factory in Vietnam and further expand air-compressor production at its Rayong plant to meet growing demand at home and abroad.
Hitoshi Tanaka, president of Siam Daikin Sales, said yesterday that his parent company Daikin Industries recently revealed the Bt10-billion plan to increase production capacity in anticipation of the rapidly growing demand in Vietnam.
The new plant in the capital Hanoi is expected to be opened in 2018, starting with annual production capacity of 700,000 units before ramping up to one million units by 2020.
"Vietnam is the fastest growing market for Daikin. Therefore, we need to have the new factory to help the Thai factory, which is now at full capacity," he said.
Daikin's Sri Racha factory still remains the biggest manufacturing centre outside Japan and mainly produces A/Cs and compressors for domestic and overseas markets in Asia and Oceania, Japan, Europe and India.
The remaining Bt5 billion would be used to increase annual air-compressor production at the Sri Racha factory to 3.5 million units by next year.
Siam Daikin Sales is focusing more on expanding its distribution channels upcountry.