Asia
Pacific Wire & Cable Corporation (APWC), Digi International, JDSU,
Infinera and Western Digital are few of the companies that announced their
action plans to reduce the business impact due to the ongoing flood situation
in Thailand.

 

The
business of several large and medium component companies has started affecting
in a big way. If the flood continues, it has the potential to impact the
telecom manufacturing in other parts of the world as well. It will hit the
telecom service business across the world since Thailand is one of the major
ICT component producers.

 

The
list of companies which are shutting down operations in Thailand is growing.

 

Recently, Asia Pacific Wire & Cable Corporation (APWC) announced
that Siam Pacific, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company’s Charoong Thai
Wire and Cable (Charoong Thai) Thailand subsidiary, has suspended operations
temporarily due to damage sustained from the region’s recent flooding.

 

The Siam Pacific facility, located 30 kilometers north of Bangkok,
manufactures enameled wire and communication wire. The facility has sustained
water damage, as the water level has reached approximately 1.5 meters, which
has damaged some of the machinery and equipment in the plant, as well as some
of the inventory in the warehouse.

 

APWC‘s insurance policy covers the
flood damage to the building, machinery, and inventory; however it does not
cover the business disruption. The company is pursuing recovery under its
insurance coverage.

 

Siam Pacific is focused on restoring operations to full production
levels as quickly as possible. The operations at the Charoong Thai facility
remain unaffected at present. The company will do its best to minimize the
impact of flooding to its operations in Thailand by utilizing its expertise and
manpower from other operations in the region.

 

Digi International announced that the operations of a contract manufacturer it utilizes near
Bangkok, Thailand has been significantly impacted due to flooding.

 

The flooding is causing
problems with the region’s infrastructure, including facilities, transportation
and utilities. On October 22, the flooding breached a levy and inundated the
majority of the operations of the manufacturer. The contract manufacturer is
conducting a full assessment of its ability to meet its customer requirements.

 

All operations in Thailand
that service Digi are currently suspended. Digi is assessing its ability to
meet customer requirements by utilizing other existing contract manufacturing
partners, new contract manufacturers, its own US facility, and existing
inventory.

 

JDSU announced that flooding in Thailand is impacting the operations of Fabrinet,
one of three primary contract manufacturing partners that provide services to
JDSU’s Communication and Commercial Optical Products (CCOP) business segment.

 

Fabrinet provides contract
manufacturing services supporting a portion of the CCOP product portfolio from
its Pinehurst facility in Thailand. Operations at Pinehurst facility are
suspended due to the impact of flooding on utilities and transportation
systems. JDSU is not supplied from Fabrinet’s Chokchai facility, which
Fabrinet has reported has been breached by flood waters.

 

Flooding in Thailand is impacting the operations of component and
service suppliers to the optical industry as well.

 

Fabrinet, one of Infinera‘s contract manufacturers, reported last week a significant escalation of the
impact of the flooding on its facilities in Thailand.

 

“Our thoughts and prayers are with our partners and their families
in Thailand as they deal with this disaster,” said Tom Fallon, CEO of
Infinera.

 

The company is executing business continuity contingency plans using
existing inventory and moving to alternate contract manufacturers and second
sources.

 

Meanwhile, Western Digital announced that production of hard drives in
its facilities close to Bangkok, Thailand, will be constrained in the current
quarter due to flooding in Thailand.

 

The flooding is causing problems with the region’s infrastructure,
including transportation and utilities, and has resulted in the inundation of
some supplier facilities and employee homes. The company is gratified to report
that its approximately 37,000 Thailand-based employees are deemed safe at this
time.

 

Western Digital is working with its suppliers to
maximize throughput and availability of parts in order to best meet the needs
of its customers.

 

In the quarter ending July 1, 2011, WD shipped approximately 54 million
hard drives from its facilities in Thailand and Malaysia, with approximately 60
percent coming from its Thailand sites. The company’s Thailand operations
source much of its supply of components from local suppliers.

 

By Baburajan K
[email protected]