Ayala unit IMI opens new factory in southwestern China

Ayala unit Integrated Micro-Electronics, Inc. (IMI) has opened a new factory in Chengdu, Sichuan province in southwestern China, as it tries to bring its services closer to original equipment manufacturers (OEM) there. The factory in Xindu District’s Muwei Industrial Park was inaugurated last April 9. "We believe China will remain at the center of the global electronics manufacturing industry and will be a significant driver of the world economy as it regains its growth momentum," IMI Chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said in a statement. Zobel, who is also Ayala Corp. chairman and chief executive officer, said having this strategic position in the region would allow them to capture a greater share of volume orders as demand turns in step with the economic cycle. The Chengdu factory brings the number of IMI’s manufacturing sites in China to six. Its other plants are in Liantang, Kuichong and Fuyong, all in Shenzhen; Jiaxing; and Chongqing. IMI President Arthur Tan said the company had considered the steadily rising costs of manufacturing and labor supply shortages in the Chinese coastal regions in its expansion into southwestern China. "Southwestern China’s manufacturing costs are more competitive compared [with] those in the coastal cities. It also has the largest pool of migrant workers. Because of this, the move into the central regions by OEMs and their electronics manufacturing service partners has gained momentum," he said in the same statement. IMI’s 7,500-square meter Chengdu plant offers a wide variety of electronics manufacturing solutions, from printed circuit board assembly to full product assembly for OEMs in the industrial, automotive, medical and telecommunication infrastructure industries. — N.P. Aquino, GMANews.TV