A few weeks ago, Shimano had to close its Malaysian plant, forced by the Malaysian government’s Covid lockdown. The Japanese company now announced that it would invest in a new factory in Singapore and new machinery at two factories in Japan, with an eye on increasing production capacity for bike components, particularly for the high end of the market.
Shimano plans to invest around 20 billion yen (€153.0m-$181.8m) in the new factory in Singaporew, which will replace an existing, aging production facilitybuilt in 1973 in the western part of Singapore. Much of the investment will go toward what Shimano calls a “factory of the future with a focus on digitalization.” It will produce bicycle components for high-end bikes. The new facility was scheduled to be operational in early 2022, but the schedule has been pushed back to late 2022 due to the pandemic.
Speaking to Nikkei Asia, the newly appointed president of Shimano, Taizo Shimano, said that investments of 13 billion yen (€99.4m-$118.1m) would go toward expanding production at its two domestic factories in the Sakai City/Osaka Prefecture (also Shimano’s headquarters) and the Shimonoseki/Yamaguchi Prefecture. To improve efficiency at the two factories, the cash injection will be used to purchase “state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment and software.”
With these investments in Japan, Shimano plans to increase its total annual production capacity for bike components by 1.5 times as compared to 2019.
