PROJECT 2
We launched Benda Thailand with an explicit strategy of “creating maximum profit with minimal inverstment and running costs”, and we aim for it to serve as a model case for Benda Group’s manufacturing in the future.
It was former Chairman Yasuhiro Yashiro who had the dream of setting up a new Benda base in Thailand, the location he had chosen for overseas expansion after South Korea and China. Sadly, he passed away suddenly in Qingdao, China before he could make that dream a reality. But the former Chairman’s thinking was resolutely inherited throughout the company, and was turned into reality by a band of members headed by Managing Director Yujiro Yashiro.
We have established Benda Thailand in order to respond to the demand for a switch to local suppliers, and to entrench our presence as a provider of ring gears in the ASEAN market into the future. Another purpose is to have a base with a high-profit structure that practices the most rigorous manufacturing cost-cutting in the Group. As an overseas production base placing third after those in China and Korea, Benda Thailand will also play a role of mainstay importance in Benda Group’s overseas strategy over the future.
Benda Thailand had a “vertical takeoff” of remarkable speed – only 10 months between its founding in April 2013 and the start of production in January 2014. So there were tears that parts of the plant construction and/or some of the equipment might be missed out. But the plant managed to get safely into operation without any major troubles, thanks to collaboration and cooperation between local staff who were involved in the construction right from the start, and Japanese staff who arrived onsite halfway through in September 2013.
*Official positions are in those days.
The Thailand plant’s greatest emphasis is on “manufacturing lines with waste-free, flowing processes”, with no lifts installed onsite. Also, a companywide Quality System is being constructed for Benda Thailand, pursuant to acquisition of ISO9001 / 14001 certification.
40% of the equipment for the plant was procured by reconstituting machinery that had already been in use inside Benda Group. It was aa case of “vertical takeoff” in a short timeframe, and the aim was to keep the costs down to a minimum.
To keep production efficiency high and setup changes to a bare minimum, production offerings are limited to inertia rings, ring blanks and ring gears. Benda Thailand has been created with an efficient mass production system that minimizes waste and loss.
We implement advance education to render all employees “multi-skilled”, that is, capable of doing the work for multiple processes. This is not just for experienced personnel – we are moving ahead with standardization of our manufacturing expertise generated in Japan, South Korea and China so that all employees will be capable of product manufacture at equal levels.