OREANDA-NEWS. October 21, 2011. Toshiba Home Appliances Corporation, a subsidiary of Japan's Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO: 6502), announced today that it will establish a manufacturing plant for washing machines in the East Jakarta Industrial Park, Indonesia.

Construction of a two-story building with a total floor area of 18,000 square meters will start in November this year. It is scheduled for completion in summer 2012 and will begin to supply products before the end of the year. Capital investment in the plant over the next year is expected to reach some 3 billion yen (350 billion rupiah) and the plant will have some 350 employees.

The company will quickly build up capacity and product supply for the Indonesian market by utilizing Toshiba Group's current resources in Indonesia and construct the new plant on the site of P.T. Toshiba Consumer Products Indonesia's LCD TV production facility.

Toshiba Group is promoting a rapid globalization of its home appliances business. Today the business is largely domestic, with Japan accounting for over 70% of global sales, and Toshiba is now executing an expansion in high-growth markets, including Southeast Asia, with the aim of raising sales outside Japan to 50% of total sales by FY2015.

Toshiba expects the Southeast Asian market for washing machines to see annual compound growth of more than 10% from FY2010 to FY2015, from 5.5 million units to 9.2 million units. Indonesia is the largest market in the region: it accounts for 30% of demand and that is forecast to climb to nearly 50% by FY2015. The Indonesian market for twin-tub washing machines is estimated at 1.77 million units in FY2010 and in this fiscal year that is expected to expand by 23%, positioning Indonesia as one of the fastest growing markets. Twin-tub models now accounts for more than 60% of washing machines sold in Indonesia.

The new Indonesian production base in Indonesia will raise Toshiba's global annual supply capacity of twin-tub washing machines to 1 million units by FY2015, double the company's capacity in FY2010.

Toshiba has a strong presence in the Indonesian market for digital consumer products, including LCD TVs and notebook PCs. Toshiba Group is promoting synergies through collaboration between its digital consumer products and home appliances business teams.

Going forward, Toshiba will increase local manufacture and supply of highly-competitive "local-fit" products designed to meet the specific requirements of the Indonesian market. It will also use the plant as a manufacturing base for products to be exported to other Southeast Asian countries, Japan and Middle East.