Teknos establishes Vietnam office in Nhon Trach's industrial cluster

Decked out in the brand's blue and green colour scheme, the new commercial and competence centre consists of an office space, meeting rooms, a technical application laboratory, and a warehouse.

Teknos Group Oy, a sustainable coating solutions provider, has opened a new commercial and competence Centre in Dong Nai Province, Vietnam, which comes packed with a technical application laboratory, as well as training and warehouse facilities. The office (pictured above) has officially opened on 13 September 2022.

In a statement, Teknos shared: "In order to improve the way we serve our local customers in Vietnam with the best commercial and technical service as well as warehousing and logistical support, we will now be able, with our local staff, to provide local services, from sampling and pre-line trial testing, to training, colour matching and optmised logistical services, significantly reducing lead times and ability to provide fit-for-purpose logistical support."

Teknos is one of Finland’s largest family-owned businesses, and its expansion in the Asia Pacific region is focused on building long-term collaboration with customers locally. It has another Asia facility in Malaysia, which is the nearest production side for the Vietnam office.

As such, customers in Vietnam will have access to more products from the Teknos portfolio. The waterborne and UV products will be imported from Malaysia, as well as additional products can be made available for local customers from its factories in Finland, Germany, Denmark or China.

Paula Salastie, CEO and Owner of Teknos Group, explained more on the decision: "Vietnam was a logical choice for us as our Vietnamese export business has grown steadily over the past years. We want to meet customers where they are located to be able to enhance our collaboration and support them with faster response time and tailored solutions and services.

"This will also enhance our sustainability as it reduces the emissions from logistics."

The office is located at Nhon Trach Industrial Zone III - Phase 2, Hiep Phuoc Town, Nhon Trach District, Dong Nai Province. With a total area of about 650m², it has been decked out in the company's blue and green colour scheme, and includes an office space, meeting rooms, a technical application laboratory, and a warehouse.

Wanda Smith, Managing Director of Teknos (M) Sdn. Bhd., who also takes care of the Southeast Asia region, has been appointed to lead the new Teknos Vietnam set-up. In this role, she will be looking after the sales, customer support, technical service, and warehouse functions. Smith shared: "It is an exciting time to mark this milestone and starting a new chapter in this region to be closer to our Vietnamese customers."

The Teknos team explained that employee health and wellbeing as well as environmental considerations were guiding principles in choosing and designing the new premise.

With this in mind  the Industrial Park is equipped with infrastructure systems including a central wastewater treatment infrastructure, restaurants with various types of cuisines, and convenience stores, as well as shuttle service from Ho Chi Minh city. Further, the Park's team organises periodic health check-ups for employees.

Teknos explained: "Factors contributing to health, such as indoor air quality and access to daylight were taken into consideration as well, as the building also comes with built-in air ventilation. With more efficient natural ventilation systems, the new office promotes maximum solar gain and reduces the need for artificial lighting; the interior design uses glass materials as glazed partitions, thus allowing natural lighting to disperse throughout the space to achieve privacy while maintaining the overall lightness and airiness of the space."

Smith added: "The office furniture, equipment and other accessories have been carefully selected to meet the ergonomic principles. For us, being sustainable is more than emissions. It is also about creating a great place to work and building long-term relationships with all our stakeholders."

Going into the future, Teknos will continue to invest in Vietnam, with a mid-term of three to five years' expansion plan to become a secondary production site, gain better control over lead time, and reduce dependence on imports to meet the local demand. As such, the Vietnamese expansion is expected to be able to support exports to other Southeast Asian or Asia Pacific countries complementary to the Teknos Malaysia plant.

Image / Shutterstock

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