Ocean Glass Plc, has invested THB 990 million to set up a new facility to make crystal products. Managing director Supa dhwan Kanyaprasith said the launch of crystal production in 2007 would fulfill t…
Ocean Glass Plc, has invested THB 990 million to set up a new facility to make crystal products. Managing director Supa dhwan Kanyaprasith said the launch of crystal production in 2007 would fulfill the company“s vision of making the Ocean Glass brand a world-class market leader by 2012, as well as lifting sales. The company recently received shareholder approval to put THB 990 million into setting up a third furnace at its Banpu factory to produce non-leaded oxide crystal products for the first time. Construction of the new facility will begin in the next few months with operations scheduled to launch by the end of 2007 or early 2008. Initial output from the furnace will be eight million pieces of crystal per year, a figure expected to increase to 14 million pieces in 2009. Most of the crystal will be exported to Asia, Europe and the United States. Mrs Supawan said that funding for the new furnace would come from bank loans rather than through the issue of subordinated debentures. Ocean Glass now produces around 150 million items of soda-lime glass a year, 68% of which is exported to more than 50 countries, with the remaining 32% for the domestic market. “We are confident we can compete with world-class brands such as Arc, Riedel and Schott Zwiesel in product quality, design and service because we have been in glassware production for 24 years,” Mrs Supawan said, adding that the company would consider a new brand name for its crystal products. Suphote Sriudomporn, the firm“s executive director of marketing, said the company expected the new Ocean brand to become a global competitor in the next five years after launching locally in 2006 and through Asia in the next three years. Ocean Glass plans to expand aggressively in China, Vietnam and India. It plans to launch more innovative product designs and development processes and invest in building its brand image through marketing activities. The company recently established Ocean Glass Trading (Shanghai) Ltd, to act as a marketing subsidiary. For the domestic market, it has spent THB 3 million to upgrade its showroom on Asok Road, which now also stocks wooden and ceramic products. Sales of Ocean Glass in the 1H of 2006 totalled THB 740 million, up 11% from the same period of 2005, with a target of THB 1.6 billion by year-end. After expanding into the crystal business, its total sales in the next five years should reach THB 2.5 billion, excluding two or three planned projects. Ocean Glass reported a 41.7% fall in net profit to THB 59.5 million in the 1H of 2006 due to currency fluctuation and higher operating costs.