R&D centre and foreign partners for lighting firm
Lighting and Equipment CEO Pakorn Borimasporn, right, stands with the chief executives from the UK’s Thorn Lighting and Australia’s Lumascape Lighting Industries during yesterday’s conference to announce the company’s strategy as a total provider of light
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Lighting and Equipment (L&E), a locally listed manufacturer of lighting products, will set up its first research and development centre by the end of next month as part of its plan to differentiate its products and improve value.
The new centre serves the company's plan to boost exports by taking advantage of buyers turning their backs on China in favour of countries offering better prices and value. "Huge amounts of orders for lighting products, particularly from Europe and the US, previously went to China, which had relatively low product prices," said CEO Pakorn Borimasporn. "However, the appreciation of the yuan, which has raised prices, has made importers decide to place more orders with other sources. Lighting producers in Thailand and neighbouring markets can benefit from that decision." He said the new centre would be in a three-storey building close to its factory complex on Chaeng Wattana Road in Bangkok. "We're studying whether to open new representative offices or appoint local distributors in key export markets, including Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines," said Pakorn. L&E's first representative office opened in Vietnam in 2005. The company last year exported more than Bt10 million worth of products to Vietnam and expects business there to double this year. Pakorn said L&E might upgrade its representative office in Vietnam to a branch, which would provide more flexibility in importing products from Thailand. It is also considering opening a production facility in Vietnam. "We expect the contribution of our export business to grow significantly, from only 2 per cent of our revenues last year to about 10 per cent in the next five years," said Pakorn. The company recently received investment privileges worth Bt112 million from the Board of Investment for factory expansion and manufacturing modernisation, which will double production of its fluorescent luminaires to serve rising domestic and export demand. The factory will complete the installation of new Bt40-million automatic machines in the second quarter. L&E expects sales to increase 15 per cent this year, up from Bt1.5 billion last year. About 65 per cent of last year's sales were to private and government projects, including commercial and residential lighting, landscape lighting for hotels and resorts, industrial lighting, street lighting and tunnel lighting. Another 33 per cent of sales were wholesale and retail, with 2 per cent from exports. "We're preparing to make two major bids worth a total of more than 100 million in the third quarter, to install the lighting systems for two major Chao Phya River bridges in Bangkok," said Pakorn, adding that the company recently won the bidding for installing a lighting system worth more than Bt30 million on the Rama IV Bridge. L&E yesterday announced a link-up with UK-based Thorn Lighting and Australian firm Lumascape Lighting Industries. Thorn specialises in infrastructure lighting, while Lumascape focuses on spa and hotel complexes. Cooperation with foreign partners is intended to help the company strengthen its business in providing total lighting solutions. Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn The Nation
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