Japanese Firm to Set Up Manufacturing Plant in PHL

Top executives of Thermos, the world’s largest manufacturer and seller of stainless steel vacuum flasks, recently announced the company’s move to establish a production facility in the Philippines.

During the meeting with Department of Trade and Industry-Industry Promotion Group (DTI-IPG) Undersecretary Ponciano C. Manalo Jr., the firm’s executives declared an initial investment amounting to P 1.62B and identified the First Philippine Industrial Park II in Santo Tomas, Batangas as the site of its new factory.

Thermos registered its investment project at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under the name, Vacuumtech Philippines, Incorporated. It intends to put up an 11,600 square meter (sqm) plant, on over seven hectares of land, which will have an initial production capacity of 10M units per year.

Thermos Philippines incoming president Yoshihasu Tamaru informed Manalo that the company will commence construction of the facility this month.

Tamaru said that they expect to complete the facility’s construction by September 2015 and start its production operations by December 2015. He added that the project will require about 1,500 to 2,000 workers by 2019.

Taiyo Nippon Sanso, the mother company of Thermos, has interests in steel, chemical, electronics, automobile, construction, shipbuilding, and food industries. Thermos products are developed in Japan, and sold in approximately 20 countries and territories worldwide.

Manalo said that he hopes the company will also consider producing its other globally recognized product lines such as vacuum insulated cooking pots and storage containers in the Philippines.

From November 6 to 7, 2014, Manalo was in Tokyo, Japan to meet with senior executives of Japan’s major trading houses and keynote an investment seminar for 150 heads of Yokohama-based small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The presence of Philippine Ambassador to Japan Manuel L. Lopez also bolstered the strategic importance of both events to the Japanese community. These events were organized by Yokohama Bank, Hamagin Research Institute, and the Industrial Development Corporation.

Yokohama is part of Kanagawa Prefecture, with a gross prefectural output amounting to JPY 29.8T or USD298B. Yokohama’s profile includes shipping, semiconductors, heavy industries, knowledge-based and technological industries focused on research and development and manufacturing.

Source: www.dti.gov.ph