Creating innovative assembly, handling units

By: Melissa Richter

WEISS Asia Automation Components Pte Ltd was incorporated in September 2009 and has been operational since December 2009.  It is the Asian headquarters of WEISS GmbH, Germany and is strategically located in Singapore, which is the Asian hub for numerous global trade, financial and logistics companies.
Jacky Tan, Director of WEISS Asia met with International Metalworking News for Asia (IMNA) in Thailand during the Manufacturing Expo 2011.

IMNA: Please provide an overview of the company's operations?
Jacky Tan: Weiss is a company that has been around for more than forty years. We focus mostly on products for assembly and handling units in factory automation and production processing. We serve customers in the automotive industry, the packaging industry, as well as printing, medical, plastics and electronics. Our headquarters is located in a small town in Germany.  But we are also all over Europe, and in the United States. In Asia, we are in Singapore. Recently, we opened up a new location in China. We have a large diversity of customers. In the automotive industry our customers include Mercedes Benz, BMW and General Motors. We also work with companies like Phillips, who uses our parts for the assembly of products like hair dryers.

IMNA: Did you launch any new products at the show?
Jacky Tan: This is the first time that we have attended the Manufacturing Expo 2011. We see a lot of growth in the Asian markets, particularity in India, China and Thailand. Our focus in not so much on introducing new products, we are focused on introducing our current family of products to the Asian market.
 
IMNA: What is the role played by your company's R&D in developing your products?
Jacky Tan: Research and development is an important part of Weiss, and it is accomplished through our headquarters in Germany. Although we do research in other regions, as well as the U.S., we are looking at doing more research in Asia. If I am to give you a conservative estimate about our research budget, it is probably be somewhere between 10-20%.

IMNA: What challenges do you encounter that impact your operations?
Jacky Tan: I think there are many challenges in Asia. One in particular for Weiss is the competition from Asian manufactures. Although the quality of Weiss products is very good, customers can find products for less money in Asia, but they may sacrifice on quality. A trend we are seeing is that the Asian market is very sensitive to price points. We have to educate the consumer about the quality of our product and let them know that this is an investment that pays off in the long run. When you purchase quality products you spend less servicing them, and they are going to last much longer, this has a positive effect on a company over time.

IMNA: How do you view the Asian region both as a market and as an investment site?
Jacky Tan: Weiss sees a lot of growth potential in the Asian markets, especially over the next 10 years. In order to be able to compete and be responsive to our customers, it is natural that we would expand and open new markets in Asia. And to stay relevant as well as competitive, it is imperative that Weiss has a presence in Asia. We are always looking for new opportunities and ways to customise our operations in the region. 

IMNA: Do you have any plans to expand your operations or market reach? Where and when?
Jacky Tan: As you know, we just opened up our new China location. At this time wNike