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Noriyuki Takahashi, managing director
of NOK Precision Component |
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Rarely are stories told of companies before their inception. Noriyuki Takahashi, managing director of NOK Precision Component (NOKPCT), was a member of the group that planned this overseas subsidiary of NOK Corporation of Japan. For that group, Thailand was the obvious choice for the location of its hard disk drive (HDD) components manufacturing facility.
‘‘Manufacturing near the customer is important,’’ says Takahashi, whose company sells its products to companies in Ayuttathaya. More than 80 percent of the company’s customers are Japanese (Hitachi, Fujitsu, TDK, Toshiba, to name a few) but Takahashi hopes to even that balance by increasing business with current and new non-Japanese customers like Seagate, Maxtor and Western Digital.
‘‘For the first two years, we focused on establishing the company and tried to improve the manufacturing system,’’ Takahashi states. Today, his priorities are on growth and the continuous improvements on the process and products. In a business where precision and consistency are essential, process control is key for producing high-quality products. NOKPCT has been able to continuously refine its services, having received feedback from customers.
‘Our vision is to become a world-class manufacturer and to serve our customers and employees. My dream is to expand our reputation beginning right here in Ayuttathaya’
Currently, almost 100 percent of its products are exported but Takahashi sees a lot of potential in the Thai market. He feels this is where much growth will come from in the next few years. Plans are being drawn for a second factory to anticipate this expansion.
Takahashi admits that NOK started its HDD components business comparatively later than others in the field but he views this as a positive factor. He believes that the late start should drive NOKPCT to continuously and quickly develop new items. ‘‘Our vision is to become a world-class manufacturer and to serve our customers and employees. My dream is to expand our reputation beginning right here in Ayuttathaya,’’ he states.
www.nokpct.com |