SET-listed Sahamitr Pressure Container Plc (SMPC), Thailand's largest gas cylinder maker, plans to use robotics at its production facility to reduce human workers by 20% over the next few years.
Managing director Surasak Urpsiri said the company is preparing a budget of 100 million baht for the robotics plan, aiming to reduce labour costs while maintaining safety standards.
"This move is aimed at increasing competitiveness in overseas markets because current sentiment is stiff and many currencies have sharply fallen compared with the baht," Mr Surasak said.
Some 94% of SMPC's sales revenue stems from gas cylinder exports, while 6% comes from Thai gas traders.
Mr Surasak said many clients in South Asia have suspended their purchase orders because their local currencies have declined 30% since the fourth quarter of 2018.
"That made our total sales in each quarter 858 million baht, down from 1.2 billion baht during a normal period," he said. "But the purchase orders from that region are expected to resume as normal in the second quarter of 2019."
In addition, SMPC's major clients are national oil firms and other global giants such as PTT, Total, BP, Pertamina and Exxon, accounting for 40-60% of total sales.
Asia-Pacific represents 38% of total revenue, followed by Africa (31%), North America (13%), Oceania (7%) and Europe/Middle East (5%).
For 2019, SMPC is aiming to increase its sales revenue by 10-15% to exceed 5 billion baht with 7.9 million units sold.
The company posted a 3% rise in 2018 revenue to 4.45 billion baht with 6.9 million units sold.
SMPC has a production capacity of 10 million gas cylinders per year in Bang Khun Thian district, but it utilised 80% of the capacity in 2018, down from above 90% during 2016-17.
Mr Surasak said SMPC plans to expand its production facilities overseas in a bid to trim transport costs in the longer term, but it has yet to make a decision on the new location for the facilities.
"The new capacity of the overseas plant is crucial, as the existing plant in Bangkok is nearing its maximum rate," he said.
Moreover, SMPC plans to tap into great demand for cylinders in western Africa, South America and South Asia, where markets have strong growth potential.
Mr Surasak said 2.8 billion people globally cannot access cooking gas, instead using charcoal as cooking fuel.
"Last year we tested the demand in Peru and Venezuela, sending 50,000 gas cylinders in the first shipment from Thailand," Mr Surasak said.
SMPC shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 10.70 baht, up 20 satang, in trade worth 3.3 million baht.
