IMI Strategy in Israel: Competing the Chinese

3 June, 2018

“When we saw the Israeli production in China, we understood there is a big opportunity here," said Carla Buencamino of Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. following the agreement with Beckermus

After entering the Israeli market and signing a partnership agreement with Beckermus Technologies Ltd, the Caesaria-based manufacturer of micro-electronics, the Philippine production contractor Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc., is planning to increase its activities in Israel.

In an interview with Techtimes, Carla Buencamino, manager of sales and business development for Asia (not including China and Japan) of the Philippines’ Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc., explained the strategy behind the entry into the Israeli market and how the company came to the conclusion that such a small and remote market is important for its long term strategy.

Why did you decide to work with Israel?

Buencamino: “We have already had some costumers in Israel, but the business volumes remained constant an unchanged, while the local industry grew impressively. The Israeli technology industry precisely represent the type of markets we are looking for: growing and innovative. We started to check how we can play a greater role in the market, and when we realized that a huge amount of Israeli production is going outsourced to China, we understood there is a good opportunity for us in Israel.

” We can supply the Israeli market with production services that will compete the Chinese services. Our proposition is clear: we do not intend to remove production from Israel, but to provide additional alternatives to the same production agreements that are outsourced from Israel.”

What is your added value over Chinese competitors?

“We are a global company and we operate in many regions besides Asia, including in Europe. In addition, we enjoy a very significant government support by means of free-trade zones, which provide us with incentives and tax breaks, very efficient logistic services and workforce costs that are lower than these costs in China. Furthermore, we get very strong financial backing from the Ayala Group, the owner of Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc.”

European production facility operated by Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc.
European production facility operated by Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc.

Why have you signed a partnership agreement with Beckermus?

“We came to the conclusion that Israel has many tech companies that are suitable for us, but they are vary fast moving companies. So we looked for a local partner that will help us provide very agile NPI services. Beckermus provides this service as well as customer support with the transferring of the mass production to Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. Today we are developing special expertise in growing markets such as optics, vehicle parts, IoT and cameras. Beckermus provides us with micro-electronics capabilities. Perhaps the next center will be in RF. We are interested in synergy with Israel with regard to our main investment areas. And the opportunity is great.”

Targeting the Aerospace Industry

Carla believes there is a match between the company and the Israeli market: “Our future is in cars and autonomous driving. Israel has many technologies for driverless cars and advanced photography. The local companies fulfill key functions in the markets we want to lead. During 2016 we bought a controlling share in the German’s VIA Optronics, which provides complex optic systems production and fabrication and in mid 2017 we purchased the British STI Enterprises, which supplies EMS services to the security industry. These deals make us more attractive to Israeli costumers, specially in the Aerospace markets.”

Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. is a production powerhouse that competes with Chinese manufacturing contractors. During 2017 it was ranked 18th in the world in terms of sales. It is owned 50% by the Philippines’ Ayala Group and currently employs 15,000 people in 20 production plants in China, the Philippines, United States, Mexico, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany and the United Kingdom. During the first quarter of 2018, sales rose by 38% to $326 million. Within this, sales at VIA doubled to $52 million and sales at STI totaled $26.6 million.

Company website: www.global-imi.com

Beckermus Technologies website: www.beckermus.com

Share via Whatsapp

Posted in: Electronics Industry , News