Site location for Factory – Is a site introduction enough?
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) pouring into manufacturing and processing in Vietnam in the first 7 months of 2023 remains ranked Top #1 in terms of the number of projects and the investment capital. This demonstrates Vietnam is one of the destinations to lure manufacturing FDI. In the entire process of a manufacturing project, identifying the best-fit site (*) is the most critical decision that the investor has to make.
As a site selection consulting firm, we sometimes receive the inquiry from clients asking for our introduction to the locations for their new factories. Although the inquiry comes with certain conditions, is the “introduction” request proper for the case? We don’t think it is enough. We always recommend our clients to use the site location advisory services.
Why is the site location decision the most important for a project?
The reason simply is this decision will directly impact not only the initial project investment costs of the project but also the future operation costs as well as many other expenditures over the project lifetime following the remained time of the industrial park where the site is located. It can be said that the decision on the site location for the factory leads to the success level of the project.
The initial project investment consists of costs of the project’s land sub-lease, land-use right, design, engineering, construction, equipment imports and procurement, and many others. There seem to be so many; however, they are visible and countable. More difficulties in cost analysis and comparison come from the operation costs, projectable costs, and hidden costs in the project lifetime in the future.
Moreover, there are new requirements for manufacturers to participate in the industry’s value chain nowadays such as sustainable development and green energy application. These requirements should be considered in the site location decisions.
Is the site location decision a challenge for the investors?
Definitely, it is. There could be a dozen requirements and conditions for a suitable site location for the factory depending on specific industries and project sizes. The Investors need to conduct a series of surveys and site visits, to collect vast information for the decisions. This won’t be an easy task indeed. Imagine that in Vietnam, there are some 395 industrial parks; how the investors can screen all to check the suitable possibility for the projects? How much resources and time do the investors need to spend on those paths?
It is not that comparing two sites is thought easy. Like, how to weigh the advantages of site A which is cheaper in land sub-lease cost to site B in which the land cost will be higher but closer to big cities under a series of different sectors like sub-lease terms, investment incentives on taxes, land-use fees payment schemes, industrial parks’ infrastructure and connections, surroundings’ environment, and so on.
That’s yet to mention the future operation costs of the factory in those sites that the investors ought to put into an analysis. In the case, if several sites match the requirements, the challenge level is much higher.
Thus, a trusted site location consultancy should be engaged in this challenging journey.
How does C+ Consult. cope with this challenge?
Our “site location advisory” services are designed based on general criteria that the site selection needs to consider while flexibly customized based on our client’s specific needs, strategies, and priorities. We combine data, expertise, experience, and technologies to make this service excel to others.
We have in hands a sound database of industrial parks nationwide and update it from time to time. In the planning stage, our experienced team with diversified backgrounds in manufacturing and consulting will work closely with the client to not only determine all the requirements for the site but also the different weights of each criterion.
In addition, after we conduct the deep-dive research and carefully review, we use technology to quantify the research results. The data-driven report with the findings could provide the clients with the site proposal that is best fixed to the set criteria. With that, our clients are genuinely confident to move forward and make the right decisions.
If you plan to set up manufacturing facilities in Vietnam or you have a plan for your production expansion to another location, please feel free to talk to us. We are pleased to serve you with the highest spirit of service.
C+ Consulting And Investment Corporation
(*) Site means industrial land typically in industrial parks for manufacturing bases. In particular cases, Its meaning could extend to a ready-built factory to locate the production facilities.
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