British ‘armour firm’ to pour $3M on Cebu

A British company based in the Mactan Export Processing Zone is planning to invest around $3 million for the expansion of its facilities in Cebu.

Finn T. Wattenberg, chief executive officer of the British Armour Manufacturing International Inc., said the firm, which specializes in manufacturing armored vehicles to be exported in major conflict areas around the world, was planning to invest the $3 million to construct a building to house its testing, research and development facility.

“The company has been here for over five years now since we set up in 2005. And so far we have been growing the business. Now we are looking at expanding at an adjacent lot here in MEPZ area to bring in our testing and R&D facility,” said Wattenberg in an interview on Wednesday.

He said that the firm would usually send their finished vehicles over to Germany where the testing facility was located to check on the products’ quality before finally delivering them to the customers.

Wattenberg also cited the ready pool of skilled manpower in Cebu and the good business environment in the economic zone as among the reasons for their decision for their planned investment in Cebu.

“Cebu has very excellent skilled manpower. Once we have the new facilities we will also need good calibrators, more engineers and IT professionals that we know are very abundant here in Cebu,” Wattenberg said.

The planned expansion facility will be built on an adjacent lot in the MEPZ where the British firm is situated.

He said the facility if completed would provide an additional 7,880 square-meter area for the operations of the firm and additional jobs for Cebuano skilled workers.

“As of now, our existing facility is about 14,000 square meters and we only do the armoring here. The testing goes to Germany. We are also looking at an area for our Research and Development teams for the development and conceptualization of more products and designs of armored cars,” he said.

Wattenberg also discussed other expansion plans of the company such as the planned showroom facility in Makati City in Manila, which would provide a place for the firm to showcase its products to foreign business tarvelers, who would visit Manila.

At present British Armour is serving countries like Afghanistan, North Pakistan, the Middle East and Africa where the need for their products is high given the current peace and order situation in the area.

“For the local market, we are not so bullish here, although, we are not taking for granted the potential of tapping the local market as well as other Asian countries considered as the next best area for economic growth,” he said.

Cebu’s growing image as a hub for investments from many investors worldwide also provides a good opportunity for the company as some executives from giant global companies will require such security measures when visiting other countries like the Philippines where they also have offices.

“So we’re actually lucky to be where everything will start getting excited in terms of economic activity,” he said.

Wattenberg added that they plan to implement the expansions as soon as possible or within the year.

“We are already talking with PEZA for the available lot. As soon as everything is clear, we’ll push through with the facility.”