Market leader Mitsubishi Elevator puts safety first

The company has also set its business target for Thailand to maintain its market share at 30 per cent with increase in demand at between 5 per cent and 7 per cent per annum. 
“We expect our annual sales for Thailand to surge from 1,800 units of elevators targeted for this year to 2,200 units by 2020. Ultimately we look forward to being the No1 in the business with our lead in safety procedure, innovation and service quality. We aim to grow with great support from the community,” said Suntipong.
Suntipong said that Mitsubishi Elevator’s two largest markets in Asean are Thailand and Vietnam, but while Thailand’s growth is constant and continuous, Vietnam’s is dramatic by comparison. 
“Vietnam has been facing drastic growth in the past 10 years. Our positioning is very straightforward. We position ourselves as the market leader in circulation and safety. For Thailand, we always have had the No1 market share, which is around 30 per cent (29 per cent so far this year),” he said. 
“The headquarters, Mitsubishi Electric (Japan), had foreseen Thailand’s potential and had placed its trust in Thailand to be the hub of manufacturing by setting up our manufacturing plant in Thailand 25 years ago. The plant has been manufacturing standard-series elevators and distributing to more than 80 countries worldwide while non-standard series are still being manufacture in Japan.”
At Mitsubishi, the brand’s core competency has always been safety. That includes the safety of the stakeholders whether it is be passengers, customers or the employees who install and maintain the smooth operation of the product.
Suntipong said that Mitsubishi Elevator (Thailand), known as MET, had set safety as its top priority. The company had invested some of its budget to develop the Mitsubishi Elevator Training Centre last year. 
“This is our second vertical transportation training centre and it is the largest training centre in Southeast Asia,” he said. “The facility is fully equipped with related material to vertical transportation, for example different types of elevators and escalators, motors and so on.
“The instructors are highly experienced with expertise in this field. The centre has offered various training programmes to ensure safe operation. The purpose of establishing a training centre is to have a complete facility as a vertical transportation knowledge hub for interested parties. 
“Other than MET’s people, the training centre had opportunities to train and lecture personnel from neighbouring countries including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. The instructors are from Japan and rotate from many Southeast Asian countries. Our ultimate aim is to develop efficient personnel with the correct knowledge so they can spread the correct practice and information to others and eventually create a safe working environment in this industry.
“Our strategy puts emphasis on safety-oriented procedure and product. We would not deny that profit is vital in the business but we would like to grow with the society and give back to the community as well,” he said.
MET engages in various Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS) activities. Establishing the training centre was one of uts CSR schemes as it aims to originate a safe working environment for the people. 
Suntipong added: “We believe that when people know there are procedures and tools to ensure their safety, they tend to be more effective and produce quality output, which means a quality product and service to the customers. We hope our training centre will be an efficient prototype and we would like to lead the safety-oriented procedure because in the end it benefits everyone in society. Other interesting CSR activities are Care for Kids, One lift You Need One Seed We plant, and Hometown School Development projects,” he said.
Suntipong said that for MET, growth has been constant. The company’s business has not grown drastically due mostly to a reliance on the growth of real estate industry. This year, that is slightly down due to the majority of demand being residential. 
Driving factors are condominium and residential developers. There are many new players in the industry and demand has expanded to developments upcountry rather than in the Bangkok metropolitan area. 
Another factor is government policies that support mass transportation, especially the mass transit project. The expansion of the mass transit project elevates the land value and attracts developers to invest in those areas. 
Regarding Bangkok , the inner area is considered to be premium due to the land value and the prime area. A number of developers are still interested in this area, even though there is a ceiling on the price.
Suntipong said that the growth of the elevator market in Thailand stayed around 5-7 per cent per annum and the total market value will be approximately Bt12 billion this year. The sales proportion between Bangkok and upcountry was usually 50:50. However, it has slightly shifted to 45:55 this year and the upcountry scale is expected to reach 60 per cent in the next three to four years.