Metal works firm focuses on local market

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu-based metal working and engineering firm Wellmade Motors and Development Corporation is bent on expanding its capacity to serve the growing local need, despite the enticing opportunities to pursue similar investments overseas.

Wellmade, founded and managed by business leader Philip Tan, is widening its reach in the growing metal works and engineering services in the Philippines via franchise package and build-operate-transfer (BOT) system.

"Metal working is one of the backbone industries," Tan said announcing that the company is going to add five more plants around the country, through franchise concept.

Tan's company was established in 1988. It is the provider of metal works requirements of companies across industries, especially those that have big transportation fleet, heavy machineries, among others. This type of business is traditionally known as "machine shop."

In 2011, Tan came up with a concept of offering machine shop "franchises. He said that these are not franchises in traditional sense, but for lack of a better word that he calls the service of setting up fully operational machine shops, including equipment, training of personnel, software and systems, which he could transfer to customers or franchisees.

Offering this type of franchise, which averts from the traditional franchise paradigm, earned Tan a prestigious award as "Innovation Entrepreneur" of this year's Entrepreneur of the year award given by Ernst & Young, in cooperation with SGV Foundation in the Philippines.

Although, Wellmade has an existing joint-venture arrangement with Malaysia, Tan said the Philippines offers much more attractive potential in the metal working service, the reason why the company developed the franchise and BOT systems for home-ground expansion.

Wellmade has established its own training institute to support the growing demand for skilled metal workers, and quality managers to support its expansion–where-in the turn-key type of franchise requires the company to supply the skilled personnel to man the franchised outlets.

"We have to consistently train people, not only because of the growing local need, but also to cope with the fast turn-over of personnels being pirated abroad," said Tan.

At present, Wellmade has two franchise outlets located in the cities of Dumaguete and Tacloban. In the couple of months, an outlet in Ormoc will be opened, as well as in Tagbilaran in the first quarter of 2016.

The company also had done BOT (build-operate-transfer) system arrangement in 2011 with Davao's largest taxi operator.

"There are good opportunities to expand overseas. But, we have to serve the growing need in the Philippines first, at the same time providing opportunities for employment to Filipinos through active local expansion," said Tan, who is also the current representative to the Central Visayas Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).— Ehda M. Dagooc (FREEMAN)