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Thursday, February 05, 2004
First overseas factory for UK firm in Cebu
By Jessica B. Natad
AN England-based company manufacturing sails for sailboats has opened its first overseas facility outside the United Kingdom in Cebu.
According to Hyde Sails Limited (HS) owner and managing director Edward Hyde, the company initially invested P15 million for its manufacturing plant, Hyde Sails Cebu Inc., inside the Cebu Light Industrial Park Inc. in Basak, Lapu-Lapu City.
He said the support of the Philippine government, specifically the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza), coupled with the country’s English-speaking people, convinced HS to change its earlier decision to locate its manufacturing plant in Vietnam.
“We were very impressed by the support Peza gave to our small company. We were also impressed at how well the Filipinos speak and understand the English language,” Hyde said during the inauguration of the firm’s manufacturing plant Tuesday.
In her speech during the event, Peza Director Lila de Lima thanked HS for choosing the Philippines over other countries in Southeast Asia.
“We hope that you will tell the good news to your business partners and associates about the good things in the Philippines. I hope we will have more Europeans in the country,” she said.
Aside from bringing dollars to the country, companies like HS also bring in new technology, De Lima said.
Hyde said the company had checked out Thailand, China and Vietnam before settling on the Philippines.
Transfer
HS technical director Mike Lennon said the company plans to transfer its entire manufacturing operations to the Philippines as soon as possible.
HS-Cebu aims to ma-nufacture 10,000 sails by next year.
All sails from the Cebu plant will be exported to its mother firm, which will distribute the sails worldwide.
HS now has 34 employees. It will add 10 more next week, Lennon said.
HS-Cebu started operating last November.
(February 5, 2004 issue)
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