Mitsubishi to make appliance parts

“We’re planning projects to manufacture some parts that we can do by ourselves together with placing orders from overseas suppliers to diversify the risk. The investment projects and values will be disclosed later,” Praphad Phodhivorakhun, chairman of Mitsubishi Kang Yong Watana, said yesterday. 

Although the company has not revealed the budget for the projects and the details of the parts it will make, the projects will be implemented soon. 

Mitsubishi’s plants located on Bang Na-Trat Road and at Amata Nakorn Industrial Estate in Chon Buri were not directly affected by the flooding last year, but the company could not run production smoothly due mainly to the supply disruption. Some of its suppliers in Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani were inundated and could not deliver parts as usual. 

Mitsubishi had solved the shortage by importing parts, which raised product costs, but they are not enough for the company to serve demand, which has been growing strongly after the flood receded. Product delivery is also a problem, as it cannot be done within 24 hours as usual. Mitsubishi now has many orders in all the lines it has marketed that it cannot fill. 

Praphon Potivorakun, deputy managing director, said the company expects operations to return to normal in March or April.

Despite the flooding, Mitsubishi’s sales during the first nine months of its 2011 fiscal year ending March still experienced growth of 3 per cent to Bt6.5 billion from the same period of the 2010 fiscal year. Mitsubishi projects sales of Bt9.5 billion for fiscal 2011, but could possibly beat the target. 

Mitsubishi faced an opportunity loss in October due to the severe flooding, but sales could recover in November and December when demand rises for appliances to replace damaged ones, especially refrigerators and water pumps. Mitsubishi is among the leaders in those products. The company’s sales during the last two months of calendar 2011 soared by 10 per cent from the same period last year. 

“We do believe that demand for electric appliances for new residences and for replacements will continue growing. Our job is to restore production to the normal level as fast as we can. Mitsubishi also projects our sales to reach Bt10 billion in the 2012 fiscal year, an increase of 5 per cent from the expected sales of Bt9.5 billion this 2011 fiscal year,” he said. 

In November, Mitsubishi Electric Kang Yong Watana celebrated its 40th anniversary of operations in Thailand. 

Mitsubishi was also studying manufacturing large-scale jet towels in Thailand. It has produced small jet towels in Thailand and will start exporting them to Japan and other Southeast Asian countries within a few months. Mitsubishi now has to import large jet towels from Japan to sell in Thailand. If the market is promising for the product, Mitsubishi might invest in manufacturing it in this country.