Arpa Phusangmook, director and general manager, said the

firm had decided to shut down its plant in Australia and move 12 pieces of machinery to Thailand to reap the advantages of the market's aggressive growth and cheaper labour.

She said most of the products produced at Thailand's current facility are sold to the domestic market while the additional products produced by the newly installed equipment will be exported to markets in Southeast Asia and Australia.

Presently, 95 per cent of its

production is for washroom products and the rest is professional products. However, the plan is to increase the proportion of professional products to 10 per cent within three years, she said.

KCP will focus more on selling its professional goods, particularly wipers, in the workplace segment such as industrial plants, hospitals, restaurants and hotels.

She said only the workplace segment recorded growth of 30 per cent last year. A survey showed more than 95 per cent of industrial sites used cloth rags for general cleaning tasks. She said its strategy to penetrate this segment was to change the habits of customers from using cloth rags to wipers.

"Cloth rags have hidden costs such as labour and detergents for washing. Hence, we believe demand for our wipers will rapidly increase because of their greater cleaning efficiency and no extra cost," she said.

Meanwhile, the company is scheduled to introduce 12 new products next month. As a marketing strategy, the firm will distribute material in workplaces "in order to educate customers on how to cut their costs by using these products", she said.

The company has targeted to reach revenue growth of 15 per cent this year. It generated revenue of around Bt1 billion last year, accounting for one-third of Kimberly-Clark Thailand's revenue.

Chalida

Ekvitthayavechnukul

The Nation