Roland DG Corporation opens factory in Thailand

Roland DG Corporation has announced the opening a manufacturing factory in the Kingdom of Thailand.  Located in Sinsakhon Printing City & Industrial Estate Phase 2, Samutsakhon, this facility is expected to become the region’s major production centre outside of Japan and will serve as the worldwide export hub for the group.

Masahiro Tomioka, president of Roland DG Corporation, Japan, said: ‘As the economic expansion in developing countries including Asia is expected to grow further in the mid to long term, we decided to establish a production base in Thailand so as to plan and manufacture products which meet the demand of developing countries. It was Thailand’s good infrastructure and logistics, plus the availability of skilled labour, which made Thailand a very attractive destination for us.’

The Thailand location will also ease Roland DG’s supply chain situation. ‘While Thailand experienced disastrous flooding two years ago, the damage incurred from the earthquake and tsunami that same year in Japan disrupted the supply chain, and even affected the procurement of parts for our products,’ explained Tomioka. ‘Establishing manufacturing and procurement functions not only in Japan, but also overseas has merit from the viewpoint of cost and increasing price competitiveness, as well as holds merit on the point of risk reduction. ‘

While there has been a recent slight easing in the strength of the yen, its sudden rise in value after the ‘Lehman Shock’ also required action. ‘Procurement of parts in other currencies besides the Japanese yen is another purpose of this factory, allowing us to avoid foreign exchange risks.’

The Thai factory initially began manufacturing the RE-640/RA-640a wide-format inkjet printer. The production of other printer models, such as the metallic printer VS series, is expected to be transferred from Japan to Thailand in the middle of this year. The company is planning to produce 3,700 units in 2013, and reach maximum capacity of more than 5,000 units in 2014.