Hanesbrands unveils major expansion plans
(VOV) - Apparel maker Hanesbrands (HBI) has announced a major restructuring to relocate plants and jobs to Vietnam.
We are looking to make Vietnam the manufacturing hub of our operations said Javier Chacon, senior vice president of Hanesbrands, adding that HBI is expanding production in Vietnam and consolidating into fewer and larger plants in the country.
Globalizing our supply chain and balancing production between Asia and the Western Hemisphere has been a critical plank in our strategic efforts to reduce costs, improve product flow and increase our competitiveness.
Our factories in Thua Thien Hue and Hung Yen, which were opened in 2008 and have a total designed capacity of over 400 million products per year, have long been the centrepiece of that strategy, said Mr Javier Chacon.
Chacon said in recent years, most of the sewing production from HBI’s former Central American plants has been moved to the company's Vietnam plants and a number of joint ventures with Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) are now in the works for Vietnam.
HBI is not alone, as official documents show that since the beginning of the year, some 20 new-FDI projects have received investment certificates from local authorities throughout the country.
For example, in February 2014, Hong Kong’s Smart Shirts Garment Co, Ltd was granted an investment certificate to build a US$5 million factory which specialises in producing differing types of T-shirts, uniforms and other garment products.
The company is a member of Smart Shirts group which has a number of production bases in Asia including Sri Lanka, the Philippines, China and Vietnam. It is also a provider of many well-known clothing brands in the US, Japan and Europe.
With the increasing orders from the US in recent months, factories in Vietnam are beginning to play a vitally important role in the supply chain for Smart Shirts and its customers.
Another example is China’s Texhong group, which has recently begun construction of a project to build a factory in the Texhong Hai Ha Industrial Park (IP) with total capital investment of VND4.520 billion in the northern province of Quang Ninh.
In the next three to five years, Texhong group plans install a modern industrial production chain in the Texhong Hai Ha IP.