This report summarizes activities of Japanese automotive parts supplier in Vietnam, Malaysia, Laos, and Myanmar in the seven months to late May 2014. Please refer to the separate report for activities of Japanese suppliers in Indonesia.

 In Vietnam, several suppliers are expanding their production capacities to increase exports. Among them, TPR is enhancing its valve seat production capacity to meet increasing demand for fuel-efficient vehicles in ASEAN countries. Fujikura Rubber is constructing a second plant for diaphragms and sealing products. Nichirin is constructing a new plant to produce hoses for GM, while Yazaki Corporation plans to construct its sixth and seventh wire harness plants. Mabuchi Motor is enhancing its capacity to produce motors for electric equipment and is introducing laborsaving equipment. Yamashita Rubber is transferring its headquarters functions gradually to Vietnam and its R&D center for automotive anti-vibration components will be established in July 2014.

 In Malaysia, Elna introduced an additional production line to cope with an increase of hybrid vehicles (HVs) and vehicles equipped with multiple airbags. The new line will improve the quality of printed circuit boards (PCBs) for on-board devices and expand the company's production capacity. Keihin plans to start producing air conditioning units, which were newly developed in Japan.

 In Laos, Toyota Boshoku set up a satellite plant of its seat plant in Thailand and started producing seat covers. Moreover, in Myanmar, Toyoda Gosei is seeking a local sewing plant partner to reduce costs in preparing for increasing production of airbags in the ASEAN region. Activities of Japanese suppliers in Thailand will be provided in a different report.

Related Japanese Supplier Reports:
* Indonesia (Jun. 2014), the U.S. (Apr. 2014)
* China (Part 2): Northern, Northeastern & Southern regions (Mar. 2014),
  China (Part 1): Eastern and Central China (Mar. 2014)
* Latin America (Part 2) (Mar. 2014), Latin America(Part 1) (Mar. 2014)
* Thailand(Part 1) (Jan. 2014), Thailand(Part 2) (Jan. 2014), ASEAN (Nov. 2013)
* Europe (Oct. 2013), India (Sep. 2013)