Socomec powering up its thai operations

It has marketed in Thailand through a local distributor for nearly 30 years and will now be able to react to the market faster, closely monitoring large projects and competing on prices directly from its headquarters in France.

Jean-Philippe Ehret, managing director of Socomec, said the company believed in the potential of the Thai market.

"We do not see the present political situation as critical for our targeted market segments driven by IT demand for new equipment that is eco-friendly, with greater performance and reliability. Demand … will therefore increase steadily in the coming three years," he said.

Ehret said the company was negotiating with the Board of Investment for local privileges regarding its investment in the technology-exchange market.

He said specialists and technicians from Socomec's regional office in Singapore would provide technical knowledge.

"We have great interest in the Thai market, which shows strong potential for UPS systems. We will allocate a substantial investment of about Bt20 million to Thailand in the next three years. We also expect to increase our market share here from 15-20 per cent currently to about 25 per cent over the next three years," said Ehret, adding that the company had a strong base of about 150 customers in Thailand.

Thailand's UPS market is worth about Bt1 billion and enjoys annual growth of 15 per cent.

Ehret said the Bangkok office would accommodate the local computer-IT market, which he said had continuous growth potential.

Socomec will introduce its latest innovations and space-age technologies, such as the "flywheel" to replace the battery.

Its target customers are government offices, state enterprises and private industrial plants and medical firms.

Socomec has factories in France and Italy for large and medium-sized UPS devices respectively and contract sub-manufacturers in China and Taiwan making small models.

He said the increasing business and individual demand for computers and IT systems in Thailand had resulted in tremendous growth in UPS devices as awareness of their importance for data protection grew.