The company, a subsidiary of Zurich-based DKSH Holding, has promoted Somboon Prasitjutrakul, currently executive vice president for consumer goods, as its new president, effective January 1. Somboon will succeed current president Walter Brenneis, a Swiss, who will reach retirement age this month.

"We are able to promote somebody with a very successful track record in business and very strong leadership. Somboon has proved himself the most appropriate person for this top country position," said Joerg Wolle, president and CEO of DKSH Holding.

With almost 14 years working with Diethelm, Somboon will become one of nine top executives who will report directly to Wolle.

"As the new president of Diethelm, Somboon will keep our excellent standing and grow Diethelm both from within and through new acquisitions," said Wolle, adding that the company was looking to acquire local family owned companies in the areas of consumer goods and speciality raw materials.

Diethelm yesterday officially opened its latest distribution centre for consumer products at Bang Na-Trat Road, km 20. With an investment of Bt1.2 billion, including an IT system, the new distribution centre will be the biggest and most modern in Thailand. Located on 61 rai of land, it has 45,000 square metres of storage space with a capacity to handle almost 65,000 pallets.

Wolle said Diethelm would spend another Bt1 billion next year to set up a new distribution centre for healthcare products at another 40-rai plot of land near the existing centre for consumer goods on Bang Na-Trat Road. The new healthcare-product distribution centre will have 34,000 square metres of storage space with air-conditioning and be able to handle almost 30,000 pallets.

The establishment of new distribution centres in Thailand is part of Diethelm's policy to consolidate its distribution centres in the Kingdom, in order to provide more efficient, faster and flexible services and with a larger range of products for its business clients. The company has already consolidated its distribution centres for consumer goods from 14 to five. Next year, the company will do the same for healthcare products, reducing the current five distribution centres to only one.

As a result of a merger between the Diethelm, Keller and Siber Hegner groups, DKSH enjoys a strong distribution network in Asia, with more than 21,000 employees and Bt240 billion in sales across the region. The company is one of the largest in Thailand in terms of size and business strength. Diethelm currently employs more than 10,000 people in Thailand, while its sales have doubled since 2002. The company expects to reach sales of Bt88 billion this year, up 16 per cent from last year.

"We will take Thailand as a hub and centre of excellence for Indochina," said Wolle, adding that DKSH currently had 310 offices in all markets across Asia. DKSH also expects to achieve double-digit growth in Thailand next year and double its sales again in the next five years.

Somboon said he would focus on the installation of new SAP software in the Thai operation next year. The new SAP enterprise and supply-chain application will replace the current Legacy system used by the company.

DKSH this year applied the SAP application to some of its major Asian operations, including Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Hong Kong.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation