Hoya to invest ‘millions’ in Australia

Hoya Lens Australia has been operating out of its current Sydney-based head office and laboratory since 1994 but in January this year, it sold the building to the Sydney City Council.According to Hoya Lens Australia managing director Mr Craig Chick, the council needed the building due to its location.Mr Chick said the Hoya Corporation had committed to investing millions of dollars into Australian production as well as a new state-of-the-art facility in Sydney, and that Hoya would be relocating its local operation by Decber 2018.{{quote-A:R-W:450-I:2-Q: Australia has always been a key market for Hoya, -WHO:Mr Craig Chick, Managing director of Hoya Lens Australia}}“Australia has always been a key market for Hoya,” he said.Once completed, the new laboratory will be Hoya’s most advanced facility globally. The new prises will offer new coating technology, include two new robotic edgers, and significantly improve Hoya’s local edging and grinding capacity.“We will have the capacity to grind any product that we are currently producing in our Sydney lab and we’ll be able to maintain the volumes that are required,” Mr Chick stated.He added that the move was a risk mitigation strategy that aimed to prevent the events of the 2011 Thailand floods from reoccurring.The Hoya Corporation had previously centralised its manufacturing in a facility in Ayutthaya, Thailand. However, due to flooding in the region, the company’s global operations were suspended for six months from October 2011 to April 2012, causing a severe lens supply shortage.Details of the Hoya Corporation’s local investment plans were communicated to customers during a series of events held in late Septber and early October that celebrated Hoya’s 75th anniversary in Australia. The events took place in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, as well as in Auckland, New Zealand.Attendees were given a brief history of the company’s history and a glimpse into its future plans, with the rainder of the night spent socialising over drinks and canapés.