Visiting Thai-based electronics manufacturing facilities affected by the floods

Visiting Thai-based electronics manufacturing facilities affected by the floods

Western Digital, Benchmark Electronics, Fabrinet among sites visited

BY JEFFREY BAUSCH

Today, as part of Thailand’s Board of Investment media tour, I visited three facilities affected by last year’s floods: Western Digital, Benchmark Electronics, and Fabrinet.

Here’s how they were affected, how they reacted, and where they are today:

Western Digital:

Of the three companies listed here, Western Digital was the one most impacted by last year’s flood. This factory – home to 27,000 workers – saw flood levels rise to over 10 feet on the company’s grounds.

How high the waters reached in on spot of the grounds.

The world-renowned HDD manufacturer suffered greatly as a result of being underwater for 47 consecutive days, but the greatest surprise to come from this horrible disaster is the efforts of the company’s employees. A majority were on hand to help with the clean-up efforts, and thanks to this unprecedented level of commitment, they were able to see one of the fastest turnarounds among all the companies affected by this disaster in Thailand. Furthermore, the company was able to repair nearly 80% of damaged equipment, saving on costs for repair, as opposed to spending on replacements. Today, the company is surpassing quarterly and annual fiscal goals. They’ve also since put into place numerous flood prevention measures, including flood retaining walls and improved dyke systems, to protect the grounds.

Personal takeaway: How well Western Digital treats its employees.

The company has an extremely low turnover rate, and it’s largely the result of their efforts in recruiting and cultivating talent from their college years on. Such personal involvement in the well-being of their workers is what led to the company’s employees returning favor, if you will, when the floods hit Western Digital. This, in turn, is what led to the company’s remarkable recovery, which saw it turn out its first HDD nearly a month and a half after the floods first hit the grounds.

Benchmark Electronics:

Benchmark Electronics saw flood waters rise between 6 and 9 feet on their grounds last year.

There is s still a water stain that marks where the water levels reached.

As part of their recovery efforts, they’ve heightened land surrounding the facility, deepened their protective dykes, and improved overall flood wall protection. They’ve also improved manufacturing at their Korat facility so that in the case of an emergency where the Bangkok facility must close they can immediately pick up the job at another facility, so the client doesn’t miss a beat. This was an enormous task because Benchmark doesn’t focus on one niche industry, but rather a variety of technologies, including medical, communication, and industrial equipment. They’re high mix specialists who focus on more technical equipment as opposed to cell phones, MP3 players, and the like; at any given time 200 to 300 different types of equipment being produced on their grounds. To that regard, they need to guarantee a higher level of reliability to their customers as they depend on the technology in order to do their jobs.

Personal takeaway: The high level of dedication that the company has to their clients.

It was noted in the meeting that the one thing that most affected the company was their inability to deliver equipment to their clients. This is something that they repeatedly brought up in our meeting as being something that they never want to have happen again. They’ve invested a tremendous amount of money and have taken enormous measures to ensure that this is just the case.

Fabrinet

Similar to Benchmark, Fabrinet creates a wide variety of electronic equipment for highly technical professionals. They too are not much involved in the consumer sector; rather, they provide technical manufacturing solutions for optical and electro-mechanical technologies, among other industries. In regards to the floods, the company did not see multiple feet of water on their grounds like the other two, but one building was affected which, in turn, affected the company’s production. They had to close the facility for two weeks and rather than halt manufacturing for this amount of time, Fabrinet floated equipment on barges 20 miles down to a sister manufacturing facility and provided an assembly crew so that they could continue building equipment on behalf of the clients.

What’s more, they also made it a point to take good care of their employees during this difficult time, including the transitioning of some of the company’s grounds into a pseudo-campground for some 1300 employees affected by the floods. They had a place to stay, clean restrooms, food, and flood aid assistance all set up.

In terms of making sure that nothing like this happens again, the company set up flood walls that stand 10 feet high and extend 10 feet below the surface.

It’s unlikely that flood waters – or anything really – will breach these walls.

Personal takeaway: The company’s commitment to the future.

Fabrinet representatives took us on a tour of their grounds, and it was an awe-inspiring experience. They just finished their newest manufacturing building and have already broke ground on another one. Demand is that high for a reliable country like Fabrinet, which can provide end-to-end solutions for all types of technologies, and the company is focused on continuing on into this very promising future. ■