Sakae Lace Co., Ltd. will set up a new Leavers lace factory in Thailand in January 2017. The new plant is intended for diversifying risk, such as labor shortages and disasters, as well as for increasing its production capacity and reducing production costs.
Construction started this July in Mae Sot, a town near the Myanmar border, and is expected to be completed around January. A new company will be established for operating the factory.
The factory will have a total floor area of 2,500 square meters, and initial investments are to amount to 150 million yen. Operations will start with 30-40 employees.
Since Leavers looms require skilled workers for operation. After the factory is completed, engineers will be dispatched from the main factory in Chiang Mai to train workers for starting full-fledged production two years from now.
Six Leavers lace machines that are not in operation in Japan will be installed in the new factory. When this new factory goes into operation, Sakae Lace will have a total of 52 Leavers lace machines in Thailand, including 46 at Thai Sakae Lace Co., Ltd.
The factory in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China has 35 Leavers looms, and its production capacity will be maintained at the current level.