Toshiba ups focus on home appliances and audio-visual products to keep 5% growth
Play
AS GLOBAL demand cools for IT devices, Toshiba Thailand is focusing more on home appliances and audio-visual electronics to maintain its growth at 5 per cent this year. "The world IT market has been in decline for more than three years," vice president
The company is also planning to replace more of its workers with automatic machines in the future. Automatic machines in the production process are somehow better than workers, but the company will change the employment structure in a gradual manner, said Kanit Muangkrachang, chairwoman of the company.
The company’s growth in revenues ran at about 5 per cent in the first half and is expected to stay at that pace for the rest of this year, which is half of the target of more than 10 per cent.
The drop is due to lower purchasing power and the economic sluggishness. The drought crisis has not been a factor and the company is confident in its water management plan for its factories.
The company has been enjoying total revenue of more than Bt10 billion since fiscal 2012, and is expecting growth in revenue of more than 10 per cent in each of the next five years.
Demand for IT devices in the global market has dropped more than 10 per cent in the last three years and is likely to continue falling in the future due to the global economic lethargy and market saturation.
The company has responded by increasing the contribution of home appliances to 55 per cent of sales this year from 40 per cent in 2012 and A-V electronics to 40 per cent from 30 per cent, while decreasing IT devices to only 5 per cent from 30 per cent.
Many people have moved into condominiums or houses with limited space, so they want compact appliances. Also, they are likely to connect their televisions to their smartphones or other IT devices, he said.
The company yesterday launched new products to increase the market share of its vacuum cleaners, rice cookers and microwaves to more than 10 per cent and to keep the market share of washing machines at about 10 per cent and refrigerators at 21 per cent.
Also, it expects to boost the market share of televisions from 27 per cent to 28 per cent this year, he added.
The ongoing drought has been affecting the company’s plants for more than a month.
“We have to wait and see if rain will fall in mid-August as the government stated,” Kanit said.
Due to the drought, some saline water has mixed in with fresh water, making it unusable for production. However, the company believes its water management is effective and quality checks are sufficient. It uses reserve osmosis to separate salt water from fresh water.
The company operates more than 10 factories in Nonthaburi’s Sanambinnam area and Pathum Thani’s Bangkadi Industrial Park. More than half of its output is exported to Japan.
