Japan's Ricoh to build $92 million Thai copier plant

Japanese office equipment maker Ricoh Co Ltd said on Thursday it would spend 10 billion yen ($92 million) to build a copier and printer factory in Thailand to face growing demand for low- and mid-range machines.
The new plant, to be placed in the country's eastern province of Rayong, is scheduled to begin production by late 2009 with an initial capacity of 20,000 units per month.
Monthly production will eventually rise to 140,000 units, which would raise Ricoh's overall capacity by about 70 percent.
Ricoh, which competes with Canon Inc and Xerox Corp in the global office equipment market, said the Thai plant was part of plans to spread production geographically.
Ricoh produces more than 70 percent of its copiers and printers in China.
"We hope the Thai plant will grow and become our major production base in the future," Ricoh Executive Vice President Takashi Nakamura told a news conference in Bangkok.
"We concentrate more on Asia and the Thai plant will help add onto our production in China."