Digital document management company Oce Technologies has expanded its operations in Asia with the opening of Oce Technologies Asia (OTA) in Singapore.
The new facility, which was formally unveiled last Thursday, will be the nerve center for all of Oce’s Asia operations including research and development (R&D), product introductions, supply chain management and procurement.
Oce has been active in Singapore since 1976, establishing an international purchasing office in the nation and employing some 120 staff to drive the development of an Asian supply base.
Now, with OTA the Netherlands based organisation plans to increase it’s visibility in Asia, aiming to increase its headcount by up to 72 people in the next three years and invest “several million” in R&D. Currently, Oce spends about 7% of its total revenue on R&D annually.
At the opening, Anton Schaff, Oce’s chief technology and operations officer told reporters that Singapore was chose as the hub for its Asia operations because of it has an ideal, central location in the South-East Asia region, has an excellent infrastructure and links to all other countries in the region.
“This is important to us at Oce because…a large share of production from our headquarters in Venlo, the Netherlands, has been transferred successfully to our manufacturing partners in South East Asia,” said Schaff.
“At the same time, much of our supplier base is now located in this region too. That means we have a great deal of coordinating and organizing to do with our suppliers here.”
Singapore was also the preferred choice because of its proximity to Malaysia where the company’s main outsourced manufacturing plants are located.
According to the “World Wide Market for Print” study by Pira International in 2001, two of the top three print markets in the world and four of the seven fastest growing print markets are in Asia.
The world print market is expected to amount to USD 721 billion in 2011 and the digital penetration in Asia Pacific and Japan is expected to increase from 4.8% to 7.8% by 2010.
OTA has been tasked with supervising Oce’s manufacturing activities in Asia, drive supply base developments, oversee the introduction of new products in the manufacturing plants and safeguard their quality and delivery.
In a press conference held after the official opening, executives told SDA Asia that they do not intend to transfer Oce’s entire production to Singapore. Manufacturing of certain products such as toners will remain where they are being done today. The original design of solutions will also still be done at its headquarters whilst OTA will serve to improve upon the designs and decide on how to go about producing them.
Oce said it does not plan to bring over any R&D engineers from the Netherlands simply because there is a lack of such talent there, but instead plans to fully tap into the local engineering pool in Singapore.
In a bid to increase the supply of engineers, the Dutch firm has also mooted a new Talent Scholarship Program especially for Asian engineers. The two year postgraduate course will be taught at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands and will focus on innovation and technology. Graduates will then be given a three year career contract at Oce.
“We hope this program will contribute to creating business and technology leaders of the future from Asia,” said Schaff.
Some of Oce’s largest customers come from the engineering, construction, manufacturing, financial and architectural industries.
Besides Singapore, Oce owns operating companies in Malaysia, Thailand, China and Japan. Its’ revenue from Asia amounts to SGD 207 million today
Oce said it plans to boost business by increasing its distribution power, strengthening its product portfolio and improving business process and aims to achieve these goals both organically and via acquisitions. |
