Managing director Lin Tzu Keng said this factory is located in Ben Cat, 45km from Ho Chi Minh City. 

He said the third factory occupied about 10ha of the 37ha site where the second factory, or RK Resources (Vietnam) Co Ltd, was located. The third factory is running at 50 percent capacity. 

“We expect it to be running at 100 percent capacity by the year’s end,” he said. “By next January, we expect to meet our new sales target of US$7.5 million, up from the current US$5.5mil recorded monthly.”

He said production from Latitude’s Vietnam plants was solely for export to markets such as the US, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. 

Currently, the company has no plans to seek new buyers, but he said Vietnam’s operations could be focused on the US market.  

“We are receiving many orders and queries from US buyers, driven possibly by the fact US buyers receive attractive incentives if they import from Vietnam,” Lin added. 

Its Malaysian operations currently focuses on producing rubberwood furniture, while in Vietnam, production involves manufacturing collection sets with materials such as hardwood and marble. 

Lin said Latitude was able to do collection pieces in Vietnam such as dining room sets, bedroom sets and study sets as there were abundant resources in this country. 

He said the ample land and large number of workers allowed Latitude to come up with designs specifically for collection sets, which consist of four or five pieces. 

Also, in its Vietnam operations, the company was able to produce wood-carvings for its furniture, a labor intensive process, he said. 

“The cost of labor is low, allowing us to take advantage of this resource to manufacture a variety of designs for our customers,” he said, adding that there were 5,000 workers in its Vietnam factories. 

Latitude has invested over US$20mil for its Vietnam operations since setting up its first factory there in 2002. 

Of the imported raw materials, 30percent is rubberwood, 35 percent is medium density fiberboard and the balance hardwood from the US.  

Latitude is also the original manufacturer for brands such as JC Penney, Marks & Spencer and Laura Ashley. 

Source: thestar online