Importance Is Also Attached to Training Production Technicians
Thai Yamaki Co., Ltd., the Thai subsidiary of Yamaki Co., Ltd., a Japanese shirt manufacturer, is focusing on training production technicians and strengthening its function as an ASEAN apparel manufacturing center. The company is also eyeing the possibility of developing new apparel manufacturing bases by dispatching technicians from Thailand to partner factories in third countries.
Thai Yamaki has a capacity of manufacturing 70,000 shirts a month, but as a result of rising labor costs in Thailand, the company has been diversifying its production items in recent years, and increasing its role of providing technical guidance to apparel manufacturing bases in neighboring countries.
In addition to dress shirts, the company started the production of casual shirts a few years ago, and in recent years, its high valued-added shirts (such as wrinkle-resistant shirts), knitted dress shirts and pure polyester shirts have begun to attract attention in ASEAN and Europe.
The Thai domestic market accounts for about half of its sales, and Japan occupies 10%. Other markets are ASEAN, Europe and Australia. In recent years, OEM business has been growing for India, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, the manufacturing quantity in Thailand is smaller than before, but the role of providing technical guidance to neighboring countries is increasing. Seven Thai engineers are currently station at Lao Yamaki Co. Ltd., a group company in Laos, as well as in Indonesia and Bangladesh.
The company is able to dispatch technicians, as it has been attaching importance to training. When sales to department stores began about 10 years ago, 130 persons were sent to Japan for training, and since then technicians have been brought up with importance attached to the development of human resources. In the future, Thai Yamaki intends to place an emphasis on training factory managers with a plan of increasing the use of partner factories in the form of dispatching technicians, including to new areas such as Vietnam.