TOTO Ltd., Japan’s top residential equipment maker, will launch manufacturing centers in India and China by the end of this year. Locations in the promising markets are expected to promote overseas housing material businesses. The plan to develop the factories is a part of the company’s long term strategy by 2017 and will be the last investment actions decided by the strategy.
　 The factory in India will have an annual production capacity of 500,000 sanitary wares. While it will serve as a supplier to Europe and other emerging economies, the company aims to expand the sales in the country mainly targeting at the high-income class.
Located in Fujian Province, its fourth factory in China will be able to produce 600,000 units annually. The manufacturing center will supply its products to inland China and export them to Taiwan.
President of TOTO, Madoka Kitamura said to reporters on April 8 that the company aims to increase the rate of overseas sales to 50% in 10-20 years from current 20% level. The overseas sales recorded 75.1 billion yen in fiscal 2013, and it is estimated to reach 100 billion in the end of fiscal 2014 for the first time in the history. (2014/04/10)