Taipei, Nov. 29, 2011 (CENS)--S.T. Chen, chief executive officer (CEO) and president of household appliance maker Sampo Corp., recently announced that his company and its subsidiary Rechi Precision Co., Ltd. will expand cooperation with TCL of mainland China and Sharp of Japan.
Chen pointed out that he recently met with TCL Group Chairman Li Dongshen to discuss a joint venture deal between Rechi and TCL to set up a rotary compressor plant in Wuhan of the mainland, to support TCL's plan to open an air-conditioner factory in Wuhan.
In addition, the two chief executives talked about expanding cooperation to cover manufacturing of white appliances, namely fridges and washing machines, from manufacturing of TVs, otherwise known as black household appliance.
TCL executives noted that white appliances contribute around RMB1.5 billion (US$234 million at US$1:RMB6.4) a year to its revenue. They added that their company will resume cooperation on production after recently ending a contract with Sampo's factory in Tientsin to produce 120,000 fridges a year for TCL.
The two companies' collaboration on air-conditioner manufacturing was reached into support TCL's plan to increase delivery of air conditioners to four million systems in 2012, one million units more than the firm's annual shipment for 2011. TCL's manufacturing strength in air conditioners includes four in-house production lines. Its joint venture with Rechi—TCL Rechi (Huizhou) Refrigeration Equipment Co., Ltd.—will back it up with three lines.
Sampo's expanded partnership with Sharp is underscored by a 5-6% ownership of Rechi Precision by Sharp and increased contract production of fridges and washing machines at Sampo for Sharp in 2012. Contracts, including those from Sharp, have inundated Rechi's production lines until March next year.
These new deals are part of Sampo's plan to boost revenue and sales at annual rate of 20% or so from 2013.
