Subsidiary of Tokyo Firm : SMK Electronics Will Set Up Shop in Tijuana

SAN DIEGO —  SMK Electronics, a Placentia-based U. S. subsidiary of a Japanese electronics component manufacturer, is building a plant in Tijuana to be close to several of its consumer electronics customers that have recently set up or expanded plants there.

The company, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based SMK Corp., early next month will occupy a 40,000-square-foot plant it is building in the La Mesa area of Tijuana, SMK spokeswoman Kay Kaylor said Thursday.

Up to 250 workers will staff the plant to make components for Matsushita and other customers, sources said.

Since last year, SMK has had some of its manufacturing done in Tijuana through contract labor firms, but it recently decided to build its own plant and hire its own workers, Kaylor said. The move will cause no layoffs at SMK’s Placentia plant, where about 85 people are employed.

Better Cost Savings

“The move is another example of how suppliers are entering Tijuana to be close to larger customers. They can attain better cost savings there than, for example, in Pacific Rim countries,” said Sean Doyle, an agent with Coldwell Banker International, a San Diego-based commercial real estate firm that follows the Tijuana market for multinational manufacturing clients.

Several Japanese consumer electronics giants have decided to locate or expand in Baja California in the past two years to take advantage of low labor costs. The companies include Sony, Hitachi, Sanyo, Matsushita, Canon and Pioneer.

SMK Electronics first opened a plant and sales office in Placentia in 1973. Workers there make mechanical and membrane keyboards, remote control units, converters and antenna terminal boards. The company also makes electrical harnesses, or wiring systems used in televisions and computers.

SMK’s products are used in televisions, personal computers, point-of-sale computer systems and microwave ovens. The parent company will post worldwide sales of about $381 million for the fiscal year ending next March, based on current yen exchange rates, according to forecasts.

The seller of the 1.5-acre parcel of land in Tijuana was ATISA and Associates of Tijuana.