Nov 20 2006
Düsseldorf-based ThyssenKrupp Services AG is expanding its materials and services company ThyssenKrupp Materials (Thailand) Co., Ltd. located in Greater Bangkok. In the presence of the German ambassador and 200 invited guests (customers, as well as representatives from the political and business communities) a new warehouse and service center was ceremonially opened.
At the new site, ThyssenKrupp Materials (Thailand) will focus on the warehousing of tool and specialty engineering steels plus nonferrous metals. The range of value-adding processing services is highly pronounced and stretches from sawing, grinding, milling, and boring/drilling via CNC work to the production of plastic mold frames. Thailand is among the Asian nations with the most voracious appetite for steel.
Altogether around EUR5 million has been invested in this new location including in a new heat-treatment plant so that the tool steel and specialty engineering steel businesses might branch out even further. The materials lineup will be significantly extended to include other types of steel and plastics with the ultimate aim of attained full-lineup status.
ThyssenKrupp Materials (Thailand) was set up in 1994 since when it has been run as a joint venture together with a local partner. ThyssenKrupp's stake is 70 percent; the General Manager of the venture is Nikom Tewuthatanont. Up to June 2006, the company had operated under the name of Thai-German Special Steel Center Co., Ltd. The renaming to ThyssenKrupp Materials (Thailand) reflects the closer focus on the group brand ThyssenKrupp. A workface of around 150 is presently employed and the number is set to rise.
For ThyssenKrupp Services, Asia is an exciting growth market. "This hasn't been the last step, we intend to grow further," emphasizes deputy Executive Board Chairman of ThyssenKrupp Services Joachim Limberg. "Conceivable are further acquisitions or joint ventures as well as a closer mesh with the materials services operations in the USA and in Europe."