AP (Thailand) committed to Japanese partner's 'Five Eyes' concept
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One year into the joint venture with Japanese real-estate company Mitsubishi Estate Group, AP (Thailand) has been learning about its partner's construction and design-quality philosophy for residential projects under the "Five Eyes" concept.
“Our Japanese partner, Mitsubishi Estate Group, has been willing to share its experience and knowledge under the ‘Five Eyes’ concept,” said Vittakarn Chandavimol, chief marketing officer of the listed developer.
The five eyes in the Japanese company’s concept are the checking eye, the eco-eye, the customer eye, the life eye and the community eye.
The first of these concerns “taking pride in quality in all stages of the process”, from the purchase of land, design, choice of raw materials, construction, pre-opening and presale, through to delivery of a home to the customer, he explained.
“We are adapting the concept of the checking eye to match our working system, enabling us to have a checklist process under the Japanese standard,” said Vittakarn.
The process is not only being used in the four projects being developed by the joint venture, as it will also be used with all of AP (Thailand)’s residential projects launched in the Kingdom, he added.
Eco-eye, meanwhile, involves the development of homes under the eco-concept, such as creating zero waste on the residential site, energy-saving, and using eco-friendly equipment.
“We are hoping to get our supply chain, especially our subcontractors, to learn about this system by inviting them to visit a Mitsubishi Estate group construction site in Japan to learn how to do it [ecologically],” he said.
The third eye – the customer eye – involves “the pleasure of creating a living space for customers that is all their own”, he said , adding that when Mitsubishi Estate Group develops a condominium, it offer customers the choice of selecting the interior design.
Each home, therefore, is customised to the buyer’s needs from a selection of three or four designs, which is a key aspect of creating customer satisfaction.
“We will apply this to all new residential projects launched in the next year,” he said.
Then there is the life eye, which concerns the developer’s pride in protecting a resident’s life, safety and security, something that is especially important in Japan, which suffers from more natural disasters than most countries.
Although Thailand is less prone to such disasters, AP (Thailand) will apply life-eye principles in the safety and security systems for all its residential projects, said the chief marketing officer.
Last but not least, the community-eye concept relates “to the pride in enabling a home-owner to achieve a rich and high-quality life, with the satisfaction provided by the services deepening year by year”, he said.
Mitsubishi Estate Group sees this is as the way to develop its after-sales service and manage its community.
“We are also learning about this and will apply it for use with our community,” Vittakarn added.
Two-way benefits
Mitsubishi Estate Group, meanwhile, is also gaining experience from the joint venture, learning about how to do business in Thailand and how to design projects that match the needs and tastes of Thai customers, said Pumipat Sinacharoen, chief people excellence officer of AP (Thailand).
He said property firms were having to change their business process by focusing on standards and minimum-cost management during an era of high competition and high construction costs.
At present, they face rises in the cost of land and construction materials, a labour shortage, and limited plots on which they can develop, among other things.
These factors are forcing them to find ways to reduce development costs to match what customers can afford to pay, he explained.
The decision to tie up with a foreign partner with long experience in developing residential and commercial buildings has enabled AP (Thailand) to improve itself to be competitive with other property companies in the market, he added.
