ARMSTRONG INDUSTRIAL was named Singapore’s Automotive Component Manufacturer of the Year at Frost & Sullivan’s 2007 ASEAN Automotive Awards ceremony held on 28 June 2007.
Winners showed outstanding leadership, technological innovation, customer service and strategic product development.
The honor roll also recognized companies with outstanding achievement in creating passenger car models, commercial vehicles, and safety & navigation systems, and in auto distribution and financing.
"The recipients of the Frost & Sullivan awards clearly demonstrated outstanding leadership in their own market segments. A common factor among these companies was an unwavering focus on a 'customer-centric growth strategy' in an extremely challenging environment in 2006", said Mr Kavan Mukhtyar, Frost & Sullivan’s Asia Pacific head of automotive & transportation practice.
Armstrong was spotted after in-depth research, said a spokesman for the global consultancy specializing in market research and growth strategies. Evaluation criteria include:
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revenue growth
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market share; and
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growth in market share
Strong growth in Armstrong's auto components segment impressed Frost & Sullivan. Segment sales grew 47% annually to reach $32.3 million in 2006 from a base of $1.5 million in 1998. Segment contribution to group turnover also leaped from 3% to 23% over the same period.
Armstrong’s expanding overseas sales, healthy margins, customer diversity and product presence were also impressive.
The criteria used in picking recipients of the ASEAN Automotive Awards also included:
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leadership in product innovation
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marketing strategy; and
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business development strategy
Armstrong scored in product innovation, branding power and market reach through its strategic technology and business tie-ups with Japan’s Bridgestone Corp and Germany’s Odenwald Chemie.
It is not resting on its laurels. To better serve the growing group of global automakers outsourcing production to Asia, Armstrong will produce out of Hanoi in Vietnam from the second half of 2007. Customers include Audi, Volkswagen, Peugeot and Honda as well as first-tier system suppliers such as Denso, Bosch, Delphi, Hella and Schefenacker.
Armstrong’s new Vietnam plant will be its 20th. The company already manufactures out of Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and China.
It is now eyeing India, which will be the world's fastest growing automobile manufacturer over the next five years, according to Price Waterhouse Coopers. Only seven out of 1,000 people now own a car in the rapidly industrializing country, compared with 450 for every 1,000 in US and 500 for every 1,000 in Western Europe.
