The Grand Opening of Skanem’s brand new 4,200 square metre factory at Amata Nakorn, Chonburi in Thailand, started at ten in the morning on 20 June 2007 with Mr. Alf Moller, Skanem Bangkok’s Managing Director and Mr. Ole Rugland, President and CEO standing at the front entrance welcoming guests and delegates. Although the factory is situated outside of Bangkok, quite a number of Norwegian key persons in the Norwegian community in Thailand were present at the opening ceremony.
The grand opening started with a presentation of the Skanem group in many countries followed by a warm welcome and a brief introduction of Skanem by Mr. Alf Moller.
“We have achieved our first goal together and feel very proud of what we have achieved in a relatively short period of time,” says Alf Moller.
“To pass the quality audit has been our goal since we started up. This is a milestone and a great achievement from the team here in Bangkok and we are now looking forward to start production!”
The Skanem Bangkok site started the construction in June 2006 and ended in the middle of January 2007. The factory has now got two machines, a fully operational design facility – all state of the art machinery – and an organisation of 25 employees eager to start production. Delivery of the first batch of labels is now scheduled to begin end of June 2007.
Next of the opening program was Thai traditional dance which not only aimed to entertain the guests but the dance itself was to bless and welcome a new factory in Thai traditional way.
After the dance was a speech by Mr. Ole Rugland, Skanem’s President and CEO.
“Asia is a growing market and many potential customers are from this region. The site was developed once we had a major contract in place with a customer and it is Skanem’s first construction in Asia from which Skanem can now gain invaluable experience in order to realise the scope of opportunities in the Asian market.” Rugland said.
“It is a long term market opportunity and we must concentrate in Thailand and South East Asia market as well.”
According to Rugland Skanem has been doing business with Thailand for over 20 years by shipping cans produced by Skanem to Thailand. He has been traveling back and forth between Thailand and Norway every month during preparation and construction of the factory.
“I travel across the world every month to check on the progress of the factory however this factory would be nothing without a perfect team work. We are lucky that we have fantastic staffs here at Skanem Bangkok,” continue Rugland.
“It is important for us to wake up everyday and do a better job and that wouldn’t happen without trust and teamwork.”
“It takes a very short time to create full skill organization and I’m very proud to be the owner of this company and I’m looking forward to the future.” concludes Rugland.
Rugland also thanks Norway Embassy and Innovation Norway in Thailand for advising him the steps in making business in this region.
The next guest of honour to give the speech was Mr. Arne Lundby, Minister Counselor of Norway Embassy in Thailand.
“I am proud to have Skanem in Thailand as a Norwegian company,” says Lundby.
“It is important to improve and promote good relationship between Thailand and Norway especially to increase trades between these two countries.”
Another two guests of honor were Pol. Gen. Chavalit Yodmani, Chairman of the Board of Directors Amata Corporation PCL. and the Deputy Governer of Chonburi Province Mr. Reungsak Mahavinidchaimontri.
“Amata Nakorn now has over 400 factories in our site and we have over 26 nationalities of companies,” says Pol. Gen. Chavalit Yodmani.
“I would like to say welcome and thank you to Ole Rugland for expanding Skanem’s vision to Thailand. It’s an honour for Thailand to serve a long historical company. I congratulate Skanem in this occasion and wish the company good luck for another one hundred years.”
Skanem was founded in 1905 under the name “Stavanger Blikktrykkeri og Maskinverksted” (Stavanger Printers & Engineering Workshop). In 1973, the company changed its name to Skanem. Ole Rugland – the present owner and Group President acquired Skanem since 1986.
A factory tour was divided into groups after the speeches finished. Skanem’s very own architect and its staffs guided guests and delegates with information on the process of making labels.
The guests were shown to in house pre-production where labels are designed. The tour also included introduction to plate making process and the printing and slitting process as well.
After the tour everyone was happy and full with a nice lunch offered by Skanem at a Golf Spring restaurant in Amata Nakorn.
For more information on Skanem please visit www.skanem.com
