Maguire Products Inc. has formed its first wholly owned Asian subsidiary - Maguire Products Asia Pte. Ltd. - housed in a new, 5,000-square-foot headquarters in Singapore.
The auxiliary equipment maker also plans to open an office in Shanghai, China, later this spring.
The Aston-based company is beefing up its direct staff in Asia to cut lead times and maintain a larger inventory of machinery and spare parts.
Each location will have facilities for demonstrations, trial runs of customers' materials and training.
Maguire started doing business in Singapore in 1998, operating a joint venture with its agent there, C. Melchers GmbH & Co. Maguire also had an agent in China.
Now Maguire is sole owner of the Singapore and China facilities.
The company hired Hubert Nerlich, who headed the earlier Maquire Asia operation and now is managing director of the wholly owned firm. Nerlich, a native of Germany, has lived in Asia since 1987.
``While the first Maguire Asia venture enabled Maguire Products to systematically build a presence in East and Southeast Asia, our new company is structured to keep pace with long-term rapid growth.'' Nerlich said. ``As demand requires, we are prepared to open still more new facilities in China and elsewhere in the region.''
Maguire supplies equipment in China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
B. Patrick Smith, vice president of sales and marketing, said Maguire's sales will quintuple in Asia during the next two to three years, although current sales were not available.
