KCE puts expansion plans on hold

KCE Electronics has indefinitely postponed its plan to invest many billions of baht to increase the production capacity of circuit boards in Lat Krabang Industrial Estate to spend the money on rehabilitating its manufacturing site in the Hi-Tech Industrial Estate in Ayutthaya province. 

Company director Panja Senadisai said the company had to recover the factory in the Hi-Tech estate before considering investing in the Lat Krabang production sites. It has placed orders for new machinery to be installed at its Ayutthaya production base, while the plant repairs are expected to be completed by early next year. 

He said that even after completing the repairs at its plant, the company did not think it could start investing to increase production capacity in Lat Krabang immediately. The company will consider the outlook for the electronic industry before making the decision. The insurance for the factory in Hi-Tech Industrial Estate covers both business interruption and losses from natural disaster. 

KCE Electronics has three manufacturing sites in three industrial estates – Hi-Tech, Lat Krabang, and Bangpoo. The production at Hi-Tech Industrial Estate is the largest with a capacity of to manufacture multilayer circuit boards of 1 million square feet per month. The capacity at Lat Krabang is 800,000 square feet per month, while that at the Bangpoo Industrial Estate, which makes double-sided circuit boards, is 500,000 square feet per month. 

Panja said the company was still running its plants in Lat Krabang and Bangpoo industrial estates as usual, although both are deemed flood-risk areas. It has built barriers to protect the manufacturing facilities in addition to the barriers of the industrial estates. 

He said KCE now made circuit boards for clients that depended on the company’s production so as to prevent supply shortages for their customers.