Mellow Digital makes Thailand product innovation and testing centre

Mellow Digital’s manufacturing and distribution base is located in China.
The company, which expects its domestic sales to reach Bt200 million this year out of a market worth some Bt300 million, hopes to expand into 50 overseas markets next year.
It also plans to invest next year with a view to cashing in on the single market under the Asean Economic Community (AEC) from 2015.
The company is in the business of manufacturing and selling huge digital LED display screens known as “intelligent screens” for stadia and concert-hall use both at home and abroad, managing director Sukrit Apinatapu said yesterday.
“We are the first Thai company undertaking an integrated business under the concept of ‘total LED’ with an emphasis on LED technology management, which means product development to fulfil customers’ needs, including counselling and after-sales service. Our business is divided into two segments: sale and rent. Our main customers will be private enterprises such as Hello Bangkok, M Star, Future Park Rangsit, Buriram FC United, GMM Media and BEC Tero, and government bodies such as Srinakharinwirot University,” he said.
Large-scale LED-screen use started to become popular in Thailand two years ago, when nearly all the products sold were imported from China.
With continuous expansion prospects, Mellow Digital’s growth rate has been impressive, with 3,000 square metres of screen sales over two years, he added.
Given the good feedback it received, the company then turned to upstream business, from rental to manufacturing, with a Bt100-million investment on 5,000 square metres in the Chinese city of Shenzhen under the name SZMellow LED.
The Chinese operation is its manufacturing base and worldwide distribution centre, including for business in Thailand. Sukrit said the company had chosen Shenzhen as its production base as it is a leading centre for LED-screen innovation.
The factory meets the German International Standard TUV NORD / ISO 9001:2008, the ROHS environmental standard and CE standards, he added.
As to Mellow Digital’s business plan, Sukrit said: “Since we own the factory, we can make products that meet customers’ requirements and we use a no-stock-raw-material supply strategy in our production to prevent obsolescence, as the IT only has a shelf life of six to seven months. This is our competitive edge.
“Meanwhile, the company will use Thailand as its innovation centre for product testing and development for all Thai and overseas customers. The [domestic] sales target this year [for LED screens] is about Bt200 million, out of a market of Bt300 million.”
The company will also form business alliances by appointing at least one dealer in each province and holding business opportunity seminars. It expects to have dealers in all regions by the end of the year, with operations already in place in Chiang Mai in the North, Udon Thani and Si Sa Ket in the Northeast, Chon Buri and Trat in the East and Phuket in the South.
“For the overseas market, we export to the UK, Italy, Brazil, the US, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Indonesia, Lebanon and India. In order to build up market knowledge, we recently participated in the ‘Shanghai International LED Industrial Technology Expo & Forum’. We have targeted our [overseas] sales this year at Bt1 billion out of a Bt100-billion overall market. Next year, we plan to expand our business into another 50 countries around the world,” he said.
“In order to reach our target, we have an investment plan of about Bt100 million for product and human-resources development in order to get ready for all AEC challenges in 2015,” Sukrit said.