Epson’s choosing the PH rather than China or other countries

Big news from Epson – aside from having one of its best years ever, the company is also expanding their Lipa, Batangas plant and has earmarked around 12.3 billion yen (around Php 4.6 billion) for the task. The factory, which currently employs around 12,500 people, is set to expand operations and hire an additional 7,500 pinoys for the factory.

According to Epson President/Country Manager, Toshimitsu Tanaka, construction for the factory has already begun, and is expected to be finished on 2017. The factory, once finished will be the company’s biggest ever, eclipsing existing factories in China and Indonesia. The Lipa, Batangas plant manufactures both printers and projectors, utilizing Filipino labor with parts and machines sourced from Japan.

“Philippines is more stable compared to other countries, China and Indonesia because currently those other countries, their labor cost increased drastically year by year. However in the Philippines labor costs are much more stable against the other countries,” Tanaka said.

“Another reason is that in the Philippines the employees speak English. So if we transfer our technology to the Philippine factories it is quite easy to transfer against other countries,” he added.

It’s obvious that Filipinos are capable of producing world-class goods and electronics on par (if not better) with factories in China. We’re hoping that this is a start of something big for the country. Maybe Samsung, Sony and all the other electronics giants out there should create factories of their own here in the Philippines? We hope that they do.