Japanese firm Leading Co. Ltd. will be putting up a wiring harness facility in Batangas to produce $12 million worth of export products annually for the US market, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said on Thursday.
Commercial Counselor Dita Angara-Mathay, the lead officer of the DTI office in Japan, said in a statement that Leading is eyeing to finish the construction of its 1.7-hectare factory in Lima Land, Batangas by third quarter of the year.
“We welcome the expansion of Leading in the Philippines as it will not only generate foreign currency for the country, but also create thousands of jobs for Filipinos,” Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said.
“More importantly, the company’s willingness to invest in the Philippines signals on the ground their confidence in the country’s strong fundamentals and as a top investment location in the world,” he added.
Leading has four business groups, including trading, electricity, assembly and wiring harness manufacturing. Using diversified computerization technology, the wiring harness group has an end-to-end operation from design to production.
Employing just-in-time delivery, the company follows a streamlined process for production scheduling, component procurement, assembly, continuity checks and visual inspection.
Angara-Mathay said the department is planning to hold more consultations with wiring harness firms to encourage more to invest in the Philippines. She stressed that the said products are important for the production of high-tech products.
“Wiring harness applications have been expanding beyond the automotive sector to cover the telecommunications and medical industries. Our Philippine engineers can certainly contribute to investor plans to upgrade products and processes,” she said.
Leading was among the Japanese companies that recently met with the DTI chief this month. At the time, DTI disclosed that additional P10.5 billion worth of investments were secured from some of the firms.
Lopez encouraged the Japanese firms to expand their operations in the country given that wiring harness is a major export product.
Last year, the Philippines exported a total of $1.886 billion worth of wiring harness—$857 million or 45.44 percent of which were shipped to Japan, making it the biggest foreign market for said product. This is followed by the US, South Korea, Canada and Thailand.
DTI noted that the Philippines is the fourth largest exporter of wiring harnesses in the world, with Lopez stressing that demand for greater fuel efficiency and electric vehicles will bode well for the manufacturers.
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