Compared to other investment sites in Asia, like China, expanding in Cebu has several advantages, especially on the ability of the workforce to speak efficiently in English language, creativity and fast learning abilities, said Timex Corporation president and chief executive officer (CEO) Joe Santana in a press conference.
Timex maintains a small plant in China, Santana cited that in terms of labor rate, the Philippines cannot compete with China, but the quality of workforce, China cannot compete with the Philippines.
Santana, who was in Cebu Wednesday to officially open the company's Global Distribution Center, said the political uncertainty in the Philippines has not affected the company's decision to put in more money here.
However, Santana did not divulge any planned future investment in the Philippines, he said if there is such a plan, the company would still prefer to invest in Cebu, rather than any other areas in the country.
Timex Philippines, with plant located at the Mactan Export Zone (MEZ-1) is the pioneering locator when the zone opened its arms to foreign investors in the late 70's.
"We have been here (Cebu) for 26 years now, it's just make sense to expand here. I don't think we should consider other areas in the Philippines, if the company will decide to expand further our Philippine operation," Santana said.
Timex's Global Distribution Center's launching on Wednesday was graced by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The center allows Timex watches to be shipped to the different locations worldwide.
The facility, which is located in a 4,300 square meter are, delivers 170,000 watches per day, to 5,000 multiple or bulk buyers around the world.
Eighty percent of Timex's watches distributed worldwide is made and assembled in its Cebu plant.
In her speech, Arroyo said in today's very competitive market environment logistics is the "name of the game," And Philippines is very fortunate to be picked by Timex as the location for its first and largest distribution center in the world.
Timex's Global Distribution Center, which now employs 200 people, is the first distribution center being established in the world's watch industry.
Timex Philippines Inc. main charter is to assemble Timex watches and other watch products, and manufacture watch components. The company also performs the packaging operations and distributes the package products to the different Timex locations and customers worldwide. With the US$13 million investment and expansion into direct shipping, Santana said this could be done more efficiently throughout Europe, the Americas and Asia.
At peak, Timex Philippines employs about 4,600 people, (excluding the new 200 personnel for the Global Distribution facility), with varied labor pool ranging from the regular operators manning the labor intensive lines to highly automated product lines manned by highly skilled technicians and engineers.
The company in itself is technologically enabled running on Oracle database and state of the art supply chain and demand planning systems. Sitting on about nine hectares of land, the company has invested in fixed assets amounting to about US$30 million.
TMX Philippines, Inc. is a domestic corporation operating inside MEZ-1 and is 100 percent owned by TMX Ltd. NV, a company existing in Curacao, the Netherlands Antilles.