Korean furniture firm expands, upbeat in Davao market

TAKING advantage of the surge in property development in Davao Region, driven by increasing demand for shelter, including mid- and high-end condominiums, and expansion of various companies that have to set up its offices in the region, a South Korean furniture firm has decided to set up its first international branch in Davao City.

Incheon-based OTR (On the Rock) Furnitures, recently opened its factory and a showroom at Sabido Compound on R. Castillo street in Agdao, Davao City. OTR is one of the leading furniture brands in South Korea.

"We bring in the latest Korean technology in furniture making right here in Davao City. This is OTR's first expansion outside of South Korea," Liz Kim, OTR-Philippines marketing head, said. Kim is a Filipina who married a Korean businessman.

"We see a lot of property developments in Davao City and neighborings areas and we see a growing demand for home and office furnishings and we want to help address that," she said.

Kim assured of OTR's high-quality products and services, the fact that they hired Korean engineers who are highly-regarded furniture makers in their country.

"We hired four Korean engineers to train our Filipino workers, some of whom are students from Tesda who are undergoing on-the-job-training," Kim said.

These Korean experts, she said, trained their Filipino workers on proper way to assemble furnitures and on the use of various machines that they shipped in from Korea.

"All raw materials for the furniture that we offer here came all the way from South Korea. And these are assembled here using our modern equipment that were also shipped in from that country," she said.

She said they have poured in an investment of at least P10 million for their Davao expansion.

"OTR products are quality guaranteed. This has been proven and tested by several Korean homeowners association. These are the same products that we want to povide to our Filipino clients," Kim assured.

She said OTR specializes on customized kitchen cabinets, closets, sofas, beds and office furnishings.

"Our prices vary. We offer products that are very affordable, in fact, lesser than those offered by other furniture companies. Yet, we don't compromise the quality of our products," Kim said. "Kaya from low-cost to high-end housing, we have products available for them."

Kim expressed confident on the Davao market, saying there is actually a big demand for quality home and office furnishings in this part of the country.

"Daming nagpapatayo ng bahay, especially those starting a family. And almost all big companies from Metro Manila are coming over to set up their branch here and they need fursnishings for their offices. We are here to address that," she said, as she assured faster service to their prospective clients.

"While it would take others to install kitcehn and other wallcabinets in a week or two, we assured our clients that we can do it in two to three days. We only need to get the dimensions and everything is done fast because we have the modern equipment that can do it faster," she said.