Danish jewellery firm Pandora has inaugurated its Triple-A Bangkok crafting facility as it invests in agile manufacturing capabilities to support the company's growth plans in Asia.
The jeweller's long-term growth strategy is to deliver a "personal jewellery experience" to Asians by 2022.
The new crafting facility includes state-of-the-art technology and sets global standards in terms of scale, speed and lead time. The facility will enable Pandora to craft new kinds of jewellery and incorporate hand-finished craftsmanship.
"The facility, combined with our new crafting facilities in Lamphun, will play an important role in Pandora's future plans of strengthening our capabilities and make it more agile," said chief executive Anders Colding Friis. "The investment underlines our long-term and strong partnership with Thailand."
Pandora wants to continue producing jewellery at affordable prices while reducing lead time in an environmentally friendly way. The company's lean manufacturing and flow line (cellular manufacturing), embodied in the new facility, is a new approach in jewellery crafting. In this scheme, operators with different skills are seated together to smooth the process while improving productivity and quality through real-time monitoring and scheduling.
With more than 117 million pieces of jewellery shipped out of Thailand last year, Pandora is the largest jewellery company by output, the company said.
"The Triple-A facility is prepared to facilitate a more complex production set-up, enabling Pandora to expand its product range and improve speed and lead time, from design stage to shop," said Nils Helander, senior vice-president for manufacturing in Thailand.
The investment will create jobs for 13,000 Thai craftspeople, who will gain new skills in line with the government's policy to move the country forward with innovation and investment in value creation and human resources.