Japan-based Bridgestone Corporation, the world's largest tyre maker, remains confident about its Thai business becoming the regional hub of Asia-Pacific in the long run.
Mr Tsuya is wary of fierce competition. Pawat Laopaisarntaksin
Masaaki Tsuya, chief executive of the Tokyo-based parent firm, recently visited Thailand to celebrate half a century in the country.
Mr Tsuya told the Bangkok Post that Thailand has the capability to be the centre of its Asia-Pacific operations.
"Each country in this region has its own dominant feature. For Thailand, it is business and manufacturing centres. Singapore is the regional headquarters for financial companies," he said.
"Bridgestone came to Thailand 50 years ago and we have seen many positive developments, such as improved human resources."
Mr Tsuya said although Thailand's neighbours may have faster economic growth, Bridgestone is still happy with the stable GDP gains here.
But Bridgestone expected more competitiveness in term of Thailand's industrial sector, especially an upgraded workforce ready to use new technology.
Established in Thailand in 1967, Bridgestone has been producing several types of tyres, ranging from upstream to downstream, with 16 subsidiaries located in Bangkok, Pathum Thani, Saraburi, Chon Buri, Rayong and Songkhla.
The company has 10,439 employees locally, who covering tyre production and sales both for the domestic and export markets.
At present, its manufacturing capacity in Thailand accounts for 10% of the total, with production of Bridgestone rubber tyres worldwide totalling 1.8 million tonnes. Of the total, some 83% of the output is automotive tyres, he said.
Mr Tsuya said production in Thailand mainly serves the overseas market, but Bridgestone also controls the largest market share locally, on par with its global market share of 15% as of 2015.
Michelin from France was ranked second at 13.8%, and Goodyear from the US was third at 9.2%. Both brands also run manufacturing facilities in Thailand.
He said competition in the global automotive tyre market has become more fierce, as new multinational players enter the market.
The global market share of Bridgestone declined by 3.2 percentage points during 2005-2015.
The Thai market itself has many new competitors from several countries such as South Korea, China and India, thanks to changes in the overall automotive industry, which has dramatically improved in recent years.
Moreover, the fourth-largest tyre maker, Continental from Germany, will start producing automotive tyres in Rayong very soon.
According to the Board of Investment (BoI), Thailand is the top natural rubber producer globally, representing 36% of global production, while Indonesia and Vietnam are second and third, respectively.
The International Rubber Study Group reported global natural rubber production in 2016 rose slightly by 1.06% to 12.4 million tonnes.
Global synthetic rubber production increased by 2.2% to 14.8 million tonnes.
Mr Tsuya said both natural and synthetic rubbers are used in the tyres for passenger cars, pickups and motorcycles.
Tyres for trucks, buses, tractors and airplanes are all from natural rubber because of the durability requirements.
"At this time we still use both raw materials, but we don't yet know what the future trend for these raw materials will be," he said.
Mr Tsuya said the global automotive sector is moving very fast and now most carmakers are developing next-generation vehicles powered by electricity because of concerns over emissions and the environment.
Bridgestone is improving its tyre products to serve new disruptive technologies, such air-free tyres and run-flat tyres, aiming the sell them commercially for a wide range of vehicles as soon as possible.
At its Thai operations, Bridgestone has upgraded its R&D centre in Pathum Thani to support its next milestone -- localising the production of aircraft tyres.
"Our R&D unit in Thailand is in its infancy, needing more technology transfer from Japan and other countries such as the US and Italy," he said.
The parent firm will construct two new manufacturing plants in Thailand with an investment of ¥15 billion (4.61 billion baht). Operations are due to start in December 2019.
Bridgestone's two new projects were also awarded investment incentives from the BoI in March 2017. The BoI revealed the combined expansion amounted to 109,000 tyres a year.
Both plants are located in Thailand's Eastern Economic Corridor, in Rayong and Chon Buri provinces.
Mr Tsuya said Bridgestone seeks to further expand as its aircraft tyre plan gets off the ground.
The company is aiming for US$3billion (99.5 billion baht) in investment in Thailand by 2020.
In 2017, Bridgestone expects its global net sales to reach $36.5 billion, $2 billion of which will stem from Thailand.