Haier to invest Bt300 million on R&D in Thailand
CHINESE home-appliance maker Haier Group plans to invest Bt300 million next year in Thailand on research and development to support its production of high-end products for the Kingdom, said Haier Electric (Thailand) president Yang Xiaolin.
The move is in line with the company’s strategy to localise its products to serve consumer demand better.
Currently Haier has one refrigerator factory, one air-conditioner factory, one washing-machine factory, and one freezer factory in Thailand. It also has an R&D department in the Kingdom.
Du Jingguo, chief executive officer of Haier Asia, said Thailand was an intensely competitive market, and he forecast that more Chinese home-appliance brands would enter the country.
While the global economy has weakened, he is confident that Haier can deliver growth in Asia and increase its brand recognition.
He added that Haier had global revenue of US$30.3 billion (Bt1.06 trillion) and net profit of $2.89 billion in 2015. Its sales revenue in Asia last year was $1.5 billion.
He said Haier was able to maintain its recognised position as a top global home-appliance manufacturer largely because of its ability to adapt its business model to the Internet age. One example of this is its establishment of a number of smart “online factories” as part of its adoption of the global “Industry 4.0” trend.
Currently the company has eight online factories, all in China, which allow Internet-connected consumers to control the manufacturing process to develop products according to their own specifications. These plants include a refrigerator factory in Shenyang, an air-conditioner factory in Zhengzhou, an electrical-appliance factory in Foshan, and a central air-conditioning interconnected factory in Qingdao.
Its central air-conditioning interconnected factory in Qingdao began operations on October 27, with a maximum annual capacity of 338,000 units. The plant employs 227 workers.
Yang said that in the future Haier might consider transferring its smart plant technology and know-how to its other operations in other markets, depending on the readiness and business environments of those markets.
Haier studied the Thai market in 2002 and in 2007 took over Sanyo Universal Electric and renamed it Haier Electric (Thailand). Then it set up Haier Electrical Appliances (Thailand) as a trading firm.
