SUBIC BAY FREEPORT – A Japanese steel company is set to invest P392.5 million in this premier free port to produce gear parts for industrial robots and specialty steel products for other companies here and abroad.
Taiyo Subic Philippines Corporation, a subsidiary of Japanese integrated special steel trading firm Taiyo Shoji Co., Ltd., was established here in February and has leased a 6,200-square meter facility at the Subic Techno Park (STP) here.
Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said Taiyo Subic has initially subleased a property with Nidec Subic Philippine Corp., another Japanese company at the STP, which manufactures spindle motors for hard disk drives.
“But Taiyo Subic has committed to construct its own factory here within this year at the cost of P142.5 million,” Eisma said during a media briefing here on Friday.
“This only goes to show the continuing confidence among Japanese investor-companies in Subic,” she added.
The new company has located in Subic to engage in the business of importation and exportation of special steel materials, and manufacturing of parts for use in the automobile industry, industrial machineries, plant machineries, and information technology.
It plans to set up a manufacturing facility that will manufacture and supply specialized gear parts for industrial robots both in the Philippines and abroad.
According to its business plan, Taiyo Subic will import materials from Taiyo Japan and Daido Steel Co., one of the world’s largest specialty steel manufacturers, refine these materials, and thereafter supply precision materials and gear parts to to other companies here and abroad.
Specifically, Taiyo Subic will supply speed reducers for Subic Nidec, using the special materials and parts that were developed by Taiyo Japan and Daido Steel.
The firm plans to supply Nidec Subic with 100,000 units of speed reducers per month by March 2020.
The entry of another Japanese manufacturer here heralds a resurgence of Japanese investments in the Subic Bay Freeport, noted Chairman Eisma.
Just this January, Nidec Shimpo, a sister company of Nidec Subic, launched in Subic an entirely new product line for super-silent speed reducers that has not been manufactured elsewhere in the world.
This was followed in March by the opening of a research and product development facility by Japanese technology firm Sanyo Denki Philippines, Inc. also at the Subic Techno Park.
Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Koji Haneda, who graced the Nidec Shimpo inauguration, said the new projects show “the continuing Japanese investor confidence in the Philippines’ business potential.” (Dante M. Salvana)