Thai Yamaki Managing Director Kagaya Yuetsu

‘‘I am not a hunter. I am a farmer.’’ So goes Thai Yamaki Managing Director Kagaya Yuetsu’s comparison of textile manufacturers and textile traders, the latter of which he refers to as the industry’s hunters. ‘‘They are good at selling our product and we are good at making that product, and that’s the way our business works.’’

And over the past 16 years, Thai Yamaki, one of Thailand’s premier manufacturers and exporters of men’s casual and formal shirts, has built a solid foundation and recently implemented steps to guarantee further success both inside and outside Thailand.

Within the company, Yuetsu has paid special attention to his local workforce of 700, of which 130 during the past two years have gone to Japan for training. Following the training in production and

quality control that takes between one and two years, these employees found themselves communicating effectively with Thai Yamaki’s Japanese engineers and prepared for assignment in any of the company’s factories at home or abroad.

In recent years, the company has set up operations scattered across the region, from Bangladesh to Indonesia, Vietnam and Laos.

The Laos factory is Thai Yamaki’s newest and is expected to produce 1 million pieces within the next three yars. Meanwhile the Bangladesh plant holds the most potential as it could put out 1 million pieces every month within two years should negotiations to take over a newly built factory end successfully.

Currently, Thai Yamaki’s local operations put out 2 million pieces each year while its Bangladeshi factory makes another 2 million. The company manufactures a total of 6 million pieces yearly for brands such as Elle, Arrow, and its own Louis & Clerk line.

Half of Thai Yamaki’s shirts are exported to Japan while the other half goes to Europe, Asia and the United States. And it is that last market that Yuetsu is most excited about.

‘‘I want to increase my exports to the U.S. Now, only 10 percent goes to the U.S. due to quotas. With our new factory in Laos, exports to the U.S. should increase tremendously. After six years of operations in Thailand, we have the experience to come into Laos and do very well. Because of this, I would like to see 50 percent of my exports go to the U.S. and Europe in the future.’’

But despite such ambitions, Yuetsu dismissed the possibility that Thai Yamaki would one day try its hand at manufacturing and trading, ‘‘No, no, no. I am happy with how things are. I want to be a farmer forever!’’ he stresses.

www.thaiyamaki.thailand.com