Thai Toray Synthetics Co., Ltd. Ayutthaya Factory

Building Nylon-66 12,000-Ton/Year Production System

A reporter for Asian Textile Business visited the Ayutthaya Factory of Thai Toray Synthetics Co., Ltd. (TTS) This factory is carrying out the plant expansion of nylon-66 filaments for automotive airbags. TTS was born in 2003 through an integration of the three Toray Group yarn- and plastics-related firms. TTS consists of three factories, namely, Bangkok, Ayutthaya and Nakhon Fathom. Ayutthaya Factory for this plant tour is the most advanced factory among the three factories.

Its address is 99 Moo 1 Hi-Tech Industrial Estate, Banpo, Bangpa-In, Ayutthaya 13160.

The factory's monthly production capacity is 2,000 tons of polyester filament for apparel applications and 260 tons of nylon-66 filament for industrial applications. The factory site is 245,000 sq. meters and the number of employees is 216. The nature of the locality of this industrial estate has a rich historic background with old temples in the days of the Ayutthaya dynasty. The Thai government has invited hi-tech factories to this industrial estate.

Many electronic equipment producers are operating in the properly divided sections of this high-tech industrial estate. Toray is the only textile firm operating there.

According to Kazuhiko Miyaishi, Director, Manufacturing Division, this factory started the production of nylon-66 filament for airbags in September 2004, which developed the highest interest among industrial applications, while carrying out the sophistication of polyester for apparel applications.

Product categories produced by TTS's Ayutthaya Factory include 15 categories of polyester filament for apparel applications and 5 categories of nylon-66 filament for industrial applications. The factory produces mainly comparatively fine-denier 44 dtex-110 dtex polyester. The cross section is round and triangular.

Increasing Capital by 700 million baht.

A major change has been visible in the production of nylon since last year. Generally, the manufacturing and marketing business in Thailand suffers from worsened profitability because of the completion with China and Indonesia for apparel applications and the similar completion in fishing net as well. Under this situation, The Thai Toray Group in Thailand is carrying out the expansion of industrial material applications. In July, TTS increased its capital by 700 million baht. In response, the Ayutthaya Factory is in the process of expanding nylon-66 production. With three machines, the annual production capacity of nylon-66 is 3,000 tons at this time. The company plans to increase the number of machines to six by adding three machines. The annual production capacity at this point will be 6,000 tons. By further adding six machines by April 2006, the company will complete a 12,000-ton production system with 12 units of machines. In Thailand, Japanese automobile makers

hold the greater part of the share in the automotive market. As for the purchase of automotive materials, it is an established business practice to purchase automotive materials from Japanese-affiliated material manufacturers and Toray will certainly utilize the merit of this system. Furthermore, Toray has a policy to meet the demand for nylon airbags from ASEAN countries, Europe, the U.S. and China as well.