Telecompaper (Netherlands) reports that, by 2016, Japanese fiber-optic products manufacturer Furukawa will invest approximately $5 million to construct a fiber-optic cable manufacturing plant in Colombia.
The new facility will be located in the municipality of Palmira, in the department of Valle del Cauca. Pre-operational activities are expected to start in mid-August of this year, with first production to be out by February 2014. The facility will be Furukawa’s third telecommunications plant in South America.
The company says the new plant will spawn 25 new direct jobs that will initially be created per production shift, and another 200 indirect jobs that will result from the project's entire supply chain, including civil works construction, logistics, transport, meals, supplies etc.
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Furukawa has been selling structured cabling in Colombia for the past five years through its distributors. The company says the decision to settle in Valle del Cauca complies with the department’s strategic location, which will allow importation of raw materials and exportation of finished products to countries located in the Pacific Ocean.
The new plant will be the production and distribution hub for Furukawa's Andean and Central American regions.
Source:Telecompaper