Industrial News

It’s official: Husqvarna Motorcycles will be manufactured and sold in the Philippine market in 2020. The brand will be handled by the Ayala Corporation, with Husqvarna units initially to be sold at several KTM dealerships across the country. The brand’s first local offerings will be the Husqvarna Vitpilen 401 and Svartpilen 401, but there are plans to produce bigger-displacement bikes, too. These models will be sold at six of the 40 KTM dealerships in the country, though the company has yet to specify exactly which ones. The Husqvarna Vitpilen 401 is a sub-500cc middleweight motorcycle featuring an attractive retro design. It peaks at 44hp and 37Nm of torque, and is being marketed [...]

SOUTHFIELD, Mich.--Power management company Eaton today announced its eMobility business has chosen Jabil, a U.S.-based global manufacturing services company, as its partner to produce electromechanical and printed circuit board assemblies. “Jabil is a leading manufacturing solutions provider with a global footprint similar to Eaton’s,” said Jeff Lowinger, president, eMobility, Eaton. “Its international presence offers flexibility to scale production around the world, when and where we need it. This partnership will benefit our customers through world-class quality and improved speed of production.” Jabil is a manufacturing solutions provider that delivers comprehensive design, manufacturing, supply chain and product management services for a [...]

Part 2 of a report looking at the Philippine electronics manufacturing landscape and the need for the Philippines to find its niche technologies to improve its position in the global supply chain. Part 1 of this report looked at the challenges facing the semiconductor and electronics manufacturing industry in the Philippines due to a dependance on imported electronic parts, such as ICs and wafers. It also looked at the potential impact of a proposed regulatory change which could affect the competitiveness of locators in the Philippines. Below is part 2 of this report. **Finding Niche Technologies** From an education perspective, [...]

The semiconductor and electronics manufacturing industry is the biggest economic growth driver in the Philippines. Mainly composed of semiconductor manufacturing services (73%) and electronics manufacturing services (EMS) firms (27%), the industry employs around 3.2 million direct and indirect workers. In 2018, the segment accounted for about $37.57 billion of commodity exports—representing more than half or about 55.67% of the country’s total exports—up by 2.83% from 2017 figures, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). From January to September 2019, total electronics exports grew to $32.22 billion, up by 2.25% from the same period last year, and accounting for 61.3% of [...]

U.S. solar company SunPower (SPWR.O) said on Monday it will split into two publicly traded companies, separating most of its solar panel manufacturing operations from storage and energy services, sending its shares up as much as 15%. The move was intended to boost value in SunPower shares, which are trading at the same level they were at two years ago. Monday’s news was welcomed by investors, with shares up nearly 3.7% at $8.68 in afternoon trade. The new solar panel company, named Maxeon Solar Technologies, will be headquartered in Singapore, with manufacturing operations in France, Malaysia, Mexico and the Philippines. [...]

Southeast Asia is seeing a boom in foreign direct investment as the intensifying trade war between the US and China prompts companies to shift production to the region. Vietnam saw manufacturing inflows jump 18 percent in the first nine months of 2018, driven by investments including a $1.2 billion polypropylene production project by South Korea’s Hyosung Corp., according to a Maybank Kim Eng Research Pte. note on Monday. In January through July, Thailand’s net FDI rose 53 percent from a year earlier to $7.6 billion, with manufacturing inflows surging almost five times, according to central bank data. In the Philippines, [...]

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's Infineon has agreed to buy Silicon Valley-based Cypress Semiconductor for $10 billion, in an expensive move by Europe's largest chip-maker to expand further in next-generation automobiles and Internet technologies. Investors swiftly gave the deal a thumbs-down on concerns that Infineon was paying a heavy price just as the chip business was weakening, pushing its shares 9% lower on Monday. The deal would create an automotive leader with a 13% market share, coupling Infineon's prowess in managing electric drivetrains with Cypress's superior connectivity in areas such as in-car entertainment. That would enable the combined company to offer more complete [...]

MANILA, Philippines — A consortium of Japanese and Filipino firms has bagged the contract to design and build the first phase of the Metro Manila subway project, which will commence construction this week. The Department of Transportation (DOTr) said it has signed the design and build contract for the Metro Manila Subway’s first three stations, or its partial operability section, with the joint venture of Shimizu Corp., Fujita Corp., Takenaka Civil Engineering Co. Ltd. and EEI Corp. The joint venture will be in charge of designing and construction the subway’s partial operability section, which consists of its first three underground [...]

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines, with its continuing economic expansion and population growth, is now seen as the best place to invest in Asia as far as the aviation industry is concerned, an executive from European aerospace giant Airbus said. Jean Francois Laval, Airbus executive vice president for sales in Asia, in a presentation, showed that air traffic growth over the next 20 years in the Philippines is forecasted at 6.1 percent per annum. The growth will primarily be driven by domestic traffic which is seen rising 6.7 percent annually. “An economic growth of the Philippines forecasted at five percent [...]

We take pride in our local manufacturing industry, so it comes as a shock when we hear that a model will no longer be produced in the Philippines. The Isuzu D-Max midsize pickup is the latest to be given the axe. We’ve reached out to Joseph Bautista, Isuzu Philippines Corporation’s (IPC) division manager for marketing and sales, and this is his statement: “We met with local suppliers this morning to inform them that we are discontinuing the assembly of the D-Max in the Philippines. Our 5,000 unitsproduction cannot compete with the 1,000,000 units production in Thailand. Isuzu Philippines will continue to sell the D-Max locally, except that [...]