Briand Greer, president of Honeywell Southeast Asia, said yesterday that the company had invested heavily in Thailand on human and other resources to help it get a better understanding of the market and to continue expanding its market share.
Last year, its aggregate sales for Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines ran at about half a billion US dollars.
Thailand is one of the countries and regions that the company identifies as high-growth. Others are Turkey, Central Asia, the Middle East, Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil, Malaysia, the Philippines and Africa.
They all have experienced rapid urbanisation, a significant rise in the middle class, growing demand for energy and huge investment in infrastructure.
All of these represent foundations for Honeywell’s growth.
Over the past decade, the company has tripled revenue in the high-growth regions from US$3 billion (Bt105 billion) in 2005 to $9 billion last year.
During the next five years, these high-growth regions are expected to contribute more than 60 per cent of its global growth, up from the present 55 per cent.
According to the company’s five-year business plan for Thailand, it will focus more on increasing investments in human resources and introducing more products and services that fit well with the market’s needs, Greer said.
Honeywell provides worldwide customers with a wide range of products, such as aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes and industry; and performance materials.
The company has three subsidiaries here – Honeywell Systems (Thailand), Honeywell Electronic Materials (Thailand) and Honeywell Holdings Thailand.

Processing chickens for meat was extremely labour-intensive, and we tried to automate the process by introducing plucking machines, but without success. The size of locally-grown chickens was too variable for the machines to cope with.
In the US, however, major advances in chicken breeding had been made, and a variety known as broilers was becoming popular. They could be raised for meat in just eight weeks and, most importantly, were all of a similar size.Profitable connections
CP Group had a business relationship with Chase Manhattan Bank (now JPMorgan Chase) for the settlement of imports and exports. The American bank was kind enough to introduce us to one of its affiliates, Arbor Acres, the largest broiler breeding company in the US.
At the time, the bank was headed by David Rockefeller, a grandson of oil tycoon John Rockefeller. David’s older brother was Nelson Rockefeller, who would later become vice president under US President Gerald Ford. Nelson, an industrialist, had acquired Arbor Acres.
Around 1970, I had the chance to visit the US to observe how broilers were bred and raised. But traveling to America would not be cheap. When I talked it over with my oldest brother, Jaran, he gave me a slap on the back and said, “Go and see!”. Had he not said that, today’s CP might not exist.
After sightseeing in New York, I went to Maine. The state was the primary location for raising the birds that produce broiler chicks. Because broilers were hybrids, they could not produce a second generation of chicks. Each new crop of broilers had to come from the breeder birds.
Contract production, in which a feed company buys chicks from a breeding company and hands them over to farmers to be raised, had become an established industry |in the US. The feed company |would provide feed and medicine for the birds, and buy the chickens |back once they reached the desired size.
The variety of chick I saw grew to a weight of 1.5 kg in eight weeks. Large numbers of them could be raised even in small spaces. In those days, Thai farmers were largely limited to raising 100 chickens per household.
With these smaller broilers, a |single household would be able to raise as many as 10,000 birds. They also consumed less feed than Thai chickens.
I decided to introduce broilers |to Thailand. Arbor Acres was managed by Nelson’s son, Rodman Rockefeller. Thanks to an introduction from David Rockefeller, I was able to meet him right away. Rodman agreed to partner with CP Group in Southeast Asia.
And so, we launched a joint |venture in Thailand for raising chicks. Arbor Acres had a broiler business in India, and the first breeder birds for the Thai venture were brought over from there.
The Rockefellers later stepped away from Arbor Acres, but we maintained good relations with the family. Getting acquainted with the Rockefellers was the big reward of my trip to the US.Dhanin Chearavanont is chairman of the Charoen Pokphand Group.
This is the fourteenth of a 30-part series of “My Personal History” by Dhanin Chearavanont.
Reprint with permission from The Nikkei Asian Review.

 At the time, companies in Japan, the US and Europe were already using plucking machines to remove the feathers from chickens and other fowl. The Thai government had a machine made in Denmark, but it could only be used if the chickens were of a uniform size.
Japan had a machine that used a different plucking process. In the early 1960s, the cooperative decided to send me to observe chicken-processing facilities there. It was my first visit to the country. The Japanese officials who received me must have been startled to find the Thai government had dispatched a 21-year-old on such an important mission.
I don’t mean to be rude, but even Japan’s processing facilities did not seem very advanced. Nevertheless, I purchased 16 plucking machines and took them back to Thailand. Dr Chamnan Yuvaboon, the head of the cooperative, advised me: “Machines alone aren’t enough for automated processing. We must make the size of the birds uniform.”
In Thailand, most chickens were locally raised, free-range birds, so their sizes and ages varied greatly. How could we raise chickens that were all the same size? This problem remained unresolved while I was at the cooperative. Overcoming it is what propelled CP Group into a global company – but that was still in the future.

Global tensions, local woes
I married when I was 23-years-old. Unfortunately, my professional fortunes were about to take a turn for the worse.
During the 1960s, relations between the world’s two biggest communist powers – China and the former Soviet Union – went from bad to worse. China criticised the Soviet Union’s brand of socialism as revisionist and accused it of making concessions to capitalism. The Soviet Union, in a rage, halted all assistance to China, which meant the country had to quickly repay the loans it had received from the USSR.
China was strapped for cash at that time, so it opted to repay its debts in exports of local products. Because Chinese manufacturing was still in its infancy, the country began exporting large amounts of agricultural products instead.
Initially, China shipped hogs to the USSR, to the extent that Hong Kong suffered a pork shortage. Beijing then turned around and sharply expanded agricultural exports to Hong Kong, causing the prices of pork and eggs to plummet. As a result, exporting eggs to Hong Kong from Thailand was no longer profitable.
The cooperative’s funds ran dry. Because it was set up to assist chicken farmers, the cooperative never had much money to begin with. I was at my wit’s end. Even if we wanted to improve our business operations, we didn’t have the financial means to do so. One consolation was that since our management had been clean, none of the cooperative members blamed me for the difficult situation.
At the age of 25, I lost my job. The Thai government dissolved the cooperative and again began allowing anyone to freely export eggs.
In 1964, I returned home. At that time, my oldest brother, Jaran, was serving as chairman of the company, and my next-oldest brother, Montri, was serving as president and managing the feed business.
Montri offered me the presidency. He was a person with lots of ideas and was involved in a number of ventures beyond feed, including trading in corn, mung beans and soybeans, and managing a plant that made jute bags for holding grain. He also wanted to specialise in commerce and plant management.
So I took over as president and began overseeing the feed business. In terms of the value of feed handled, CP was already the largest company in Thailand. With around 200 employees, it was also fairly large in terms of its workforce, but I had gained valuable experience managing an organisation during my time at the cooperative. My oldest brother, trusting his little brother with this important role, left all the details to me.

Dhanin Chearavanont is chairman of the Charoen Pokphand Group.
This is the twelfth of a 30-part series of “My Personal History” by Dhanin Chearavanont.
Reprint with permission from The Nikkei Asian Review.

 

The group announced in Singapore on Tuesday that it had opened a service centre in Taiwan in May, a gateway service in Tokyo in June, a service centre in Hong Kong in September and a gateway in same month in Indonesia. Also, gateways were opened in New Zealand and in Australia in August, and the latest South Asia hub in Singapore this week.
“The ‘open sky’ implementation in the region, the emergence of e-commerce business, and overall strong [economic growth] in Asia and the Pacific are major factors driving rapid growth of logistics and freighter business in the region,” said Ken Allen, chief executive officer of DHL Express.
The company’s daily shipments from 2012 to 2015 grew by 30 per cent in South Asia, 25 per cent in Southeast Asia, and 50 per cent in Oceania. The group’s revenue in the Asia-Pacific region represents 36 per cent of its global income and the shared 44 per cent in the region.
He said the group had opened its South Asia Hub in Singapore to serve the rapidly growing logistics business in the region. The 85-million-euro (Bt3.2 billion) 24-hour express facility is in a special economic zone at Changi Airfreight Centre (CAC).
The 23,600-square-metre facility is outfitted with the industry’s first fully automated express parcel sorting and processing system in southern Asia, and is set to boost its operational capacity and efficiency by offering speedier deliveries for customers in the region.
“Over the years, we’ve invested significantly to bolster our network and services in Asia-Pacific,” Allen said.
“Our investment in the DHL South Asia hub is the most recent in a series of global network investments made, and is the largest infrastructure investment made in Singapore to date. The country’s strategic location not only boosts our operational network capabilities, but also supports growing trade in the region aided by a stronger global economy.”
Ken Lee, CEO of DHL Express Asia-Pacific, said the new hub was a significant milestone in the group’s multi-hub strategy in the region. With four hubs in the Asia-Pacific region, namely Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Bangkok, this links more than 70 DHL Express Gateways located throughout the region.
“This will also allow us to add more network flights in and out of Singapore, such as the recent introduction of the Phnom Penh-Bangkok flight that adds to our existing Bangkok-Singapore service, as regional trade continues to grow,” Lee said.
The facility processes up to 24,000 shipments and documents per hour and can handle more than 628 tonnes of cargo during the peak processing window. This processing speed is six times as fast as the manual operations in the previous facility, while the handling capacity is three times as great.
The increased efficiency is achieved from the improved sorting speed and accuracy of the automated system, multidimensional tunnel scanners that accelerate barcode reading, and automated X-ray machines that scan packages up to three times as fast as previous systems.
In addition, the facility is partially powered by solar energy, which supplies about 20 per cent of the hub’s total energy consumption.
These automation systems also enhance productivity, enabling employees to focus on higher-value tasks such as risk mitigation to prevent potential shipment delays, issues management, and additional security inspection, the company says.

“What we plan to do is to set up local distributors in potential markets in Asean starting next year. They are Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Indonesia,” managing director Saran Durongdej said yesterday.
“Those markets are quite promising, along with growing domestic consumption.
“Many countries, especially Myanmar, have just opened and started to receive new innovative products and technologies from neighbouring countries and abroad.”
The company, which celebrates its 24th anniversary this year, is investing Bt50 million in rebranding and launching technologically innovative products.
“We expect our annual sales to reach Bt1.12 billion in three years, up 30 per cent from Bt860 million targeted for this year.
“In three years, the overseas contribution will reach about 25 per cent of sales,” Saran said.
Mazuma is launching two appliances – Mazuma Magnetic Alkaline, which produces anti-oxidising alkaline water, and the Mazuma NEX Smart light water heater, which has a built-in LED (light-emitting diode) lamp that automatically turns on when there is a blackout to prevent accidents while showering.
The company has embarked on bringing in new management from the second generation of the founding family and designing a new logo to emphasise its position as an industry leader for complete water solutions.
“My challenge as the company’s managing director is bringing the organisation that had always been known as ‘the expert in integrated water resource management’, which has successfully provided water filters, water heaters and boilers for more than two decades, to grow continuously in leaps and bounds,” he said.
Mazuma targets sales revenue of more than Bt1 billion next year, driven by the expansion of its industrial water-systems business.
It will take on more large-scale industrial projects domestically and increase sales channels in new markets in the Asean Economic Community by distributing its products to countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Indonesia.
“The most important strategy that we will be using now is 4N, comprising New Generation, New Brand Logo, New Innovations and New Innovative Product Design, that is, to offer the best new innovations from around the world to our customers,” Saran said.
“We will continuously launch new products with a focus on modern designs that match our customers’ lifestyles and continue to change our product range to move with the times, and expand our market to the AEC countries.”
This year, Mazuma will continue to focus on distributing its products through the modern trade channel (40 per cent) and traditional trade (30 per cent) in cooperation with dealers and representatives nationwide.
“Our most important strategic expansion will be distributing to countries in the AEC, as we believe that this will definitely make our sales figures break through the Bt1 billion targeted for next year,” he said.