ECI-Metro gears up for growth
Company
China’s fast-expanding economy, particularly in the western part of the country, has persuaded ECI-Metro Engineering Machinery Service to draw up an aggressive business plan to achieve 3.8 billion yuan (Bt19 billion) in annual revenue within the next five years.
The company targets average annual sales growth of more than 20 per cent in China. Sales, meanwhile, are targeted to reach 3,000 units this year, rising to 8,000 by the end of the five-year plan. Because of the rapid growth of the country’s economy, China needs to use more technology to drive further expansion as wages and other costs increase and labour shortages arise in the future.
ECI-Metro is a joint venture between two renowned Thai companies, Metro Machinery and Ek Chor Investment, the latter being an industrial-investment arm of Charoen Pokphand Group covering operations in China. The company is the main dealer for heavy machinery and construction equipment under the US brand Caterpillar.
ECI-Metro business in China covers eight western provinces or autonomous regions, namely Qinghai, Tibet, Ningxia, Gansu, Shaanxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, and one municipality, Chongqing. The company’s combined investment in these areas has reached 1.4 billion yuan.
Thanakorn Seriburi, vice chairman of Charoen Pokphand Group, said the economy in these nine western areas had grown very rapidly since Beijing launched the “Go West” economic development programme. The policy aims to narrow the income gap between people living in China’s coastal provinces and those who live inland. Last week, ECI-Metro officially opened its new head office in Chengdu, Sichuan.
The Bt500-million head office, on 140 rai (22.4 hectares), houses the ECI-Metro Product Support Excellence Centre, as all parts, repair and human-resource development operations are now located there.
It is also an integrated sales and service centre, with the biggest and most modern facilities in western China, he said.
Thanakorn, who is also chairman and chief executive officer of Automotive and Industrial Products Business Group (China), added that the nine areas, in which the company is the authorised Caterpillar dealer, cover important sectors such as gold and coal mining. Meanwhile, the Chinese authorities are moving ahead with major infrastructure construction, including airports and roads, in the region.
Thongsai Burapachaisri, chairman of Metro Machinery Co, said ECI-Metro business in China was growing in line with the rapid pace of the economy there. The utilisation of machinery and equipment is increasing rapidly, mainly in mining, natural resources and infrastructure development.
Moreover, with China forecast to face a labour shortage in the future, ECI-Metro’s products and services will serve rising demand, he added.
“Our business in China is growing six times as fast as that in Thailand, and there is a great opportunity to achieve 10 times. Sales of Metro Machinery in Thailand average Bt7 billion to Bt8 billion per year, compared with Bt20 billion to Bt50 billion in China,” Thongsai said.
Meanwhile, Metro Machinery sales in Thailand are projected to grow by just 10 per cent this year, political uncertainty having delayed many mega-projects.
The company enjoys an average of 30-per-cent overall sales growth.
