AMID the worldwide financial crisis that is threatening developed countries, the international construction arm of the Aboitiz Group of Companies is bent on competing in the global market as a major fabrication, engineering and design center and making the municipality of Balamban its growth area in the coming decades.

Metaphil International Inc. added to its list of competitive attributes a modular fabrication yard and outloading facility that was inaugurated last Saturday at the Balamban Special Economic Zone.

The P540-million facility, built from July 2007 to October 2008, features a fabrication shop, an assembly area and an outloading area where the modules will be transported from the fabrication and assembly area to the shipping vessel.

“There is no question that our business has been impacted by the global economic problems. But we take a long-term view.

While we maintain our office in Mandaue City, we’ll move here as dictated by our passion to grow and in our attempt to be a low-cost quality and reliable producer and supplier,” said Metaphil chairman and chief executive officer Roberto Aboitiz.
The new facility is also expected to generate 800 to 1,000 jobs and increase revenues for the company.

Metaphil vice president for marketing Felma Yap said the company, which has always been experiencing five to seven percent growth every year, is looking at a potential revenue of P2 billion annually.

“We are closely negotiating with companies in the United Kingdom and Japan. They already indicated an award for us, so if the deal will be closed, we can start work by November,” she said.

She noted, though, that prospective orders that would have been awarded to Metaphil in the third and fourth quarter this year have been moved to 2009 due to the global financial crisis.

The new facility, which is five times bigger in scale than Metaphil’s plant in Mandaue City, also features a 20,000-square-meter covered area as well as areas for storage, blasting and cutting machines.

“We (now) have a flow of work that gives us better productivity,” said Metaphil vice president for operation Enerio Yangco.

Output

Metaphil president and chief operating officer Napoleon Pe Jr. said that the new site can generate 3,000 tons of fabrication work in a month. The output is larger than what is produced in Mandaue City, where only about 500 tons are generated.

Metaphil assistant vice president for marketing-international Anton Mari Perdices said that international companies are aware that they can save more with modular fabrication while Metaphil saw the need to build the “world-class” facility to cater to client demands.

“This will give the company an advantage, as far as competition is concerned, because potential international and local clients will look at it as a sign of capability to do work,” said Pe.

The company also eyes millions of dollars in exports to Australia, New Caledonia and US through mining companies such as Outotec Pty. Ltd., Metso Minerals (Australia), Ltd., Delkor Pty. Ltd. and Clyde Bergemann Materials Handling.

The 30-year-old Metaphil International Inc. specializes in modular fabrication works, design, installation or turnkey basis, electro-mechanical and civil projects, hull fabrication, and engineering design services.

It is registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority. - Sun.Star Cebu