Teradyne breaks ground for larger facility in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines - Mactan Export Zone (MEZ) locator and American firm Teradyne has marked the construction of a multimillion-dollar facility that will consolidate operations of its two current buildings in Cebu by mid-2015.

Once completed, the facility will be Teradyne’s biggest outside its main headquarters in Massachusetts, USA. The project already broke ground yesterday inside MEZ-3.

Teradyne, a leading supplier of automated test equipment (ATE) used to test semiconductors, wireless products, data storage and complex electronic systems, has established presence in Cebu for 15 years now through its 12,000-square meter site at the MEZ-2.

The Cebu site is important to the firm’s overall operations since it tests all electronic parts before being shipped out for sale to industrial firms in different parts of the world.

In the Philippines, Teradyne also maintains another office in Alabang in Metro Manila.

The MEZ-2 site presently houses their repair center for its inventories, as well as its 24/7 customer service call center.

The new facility is expected to accommodate Teradyne Cebu’s repair work facility, call center and administrative offices in one structure “built to suit” by Ohmori Development Corporation (ODC) in an area roughly covering a total of 17,000 square meters.

ODC, the developer that has tied up with Teradyne for this specific project, will bear all costs of construction, although the arrangement with Teradyne provides that the latter can call the shots in so far as how the building is going to look like.

“We want to make sure that the building will look modern and techy but still feel homey, and depict the industry that we belong,” said Teradyne Cebu director Jacqueline Briones, adding the new Cebu facility will be three storeys high.

Briones revealed the plan to fuse all their site offices has been standing for five years now. While their mother company had long given them the green light for the consolidation effort, the plan never materialized for “external reasons,” she said.

At present, the Cebu site has a workforce of over 640, composed mainly of Cebuanos. With its new facility’s much larger size, she expressed optimism that more workers will be employed in the future.

Meanwhile, this development is ODC’s first major project designed for any company in the manufacturing industry, said leasing and ancillary general manager Grace Mercado.

Mercado said construction alone will cost ODC about P315 million. Teradyne will then lease the property for a renewable period of 10 years.

In 2008, Teradyne first entered the Philippines when it bought out Megadesk, a major competitor in the ATE industry. Currently, it is the only ATE player existing in the country.

The multinational company recorded sales of $1.66 billion and currently employs over 3,700 people worldwide.  (FREEMAN)