OREANDA-NEWS. Hitachi, Ltd. announced that it plans to expand its infrastructure systems business in Southeast Asia by building a business structure that can respond quickly to the increasingly diverse needs and changes in the region. Specifically, by effectively utilizing Hitachi Infrastructure Systems (Asia) Pte. Ltd. ("Hitachi Infrastructure Systems (Asia)"), which was started in Singapore on April 1, 2014, as the Southeast Asian regional supervisory company for its Infrastructure Systems Business. Hitachi will roll out business activities with close ties to the region and its customers to maximize the value provided to those customers, and increase competitiveness on a global scale.

These were revealed during the company briefing for local consulting companies held on May 29 at the Fullerton Hotel in Singapore.

Against the backdrop of economic growth and a growing population, Southeast Asia has demonstrated rapidly increasing demand not only for large-scale urban development and social infrastructures in energy, transport, and water sectors, but also for industrial infrastructures, including industrial parks and resource development. MNC's are also increasing the pace of activities aimed at establishing and enhancing various functions including engineering in Southeast Asia. Hitachi has strengthened its business structure here as part of its efforts to build an organization that can respond quickly to these increasingly diverse needs and dynamic changes in the Infrastructure Systems market in the region.

Hitachi Infrastructure Systems (Asia) is the new name of Hitachi Plant Technologies (Asia) Pte. Ltd., which was established in Singapore in 2011 and which up to now, has been involved in the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) business for air conditioning facilities. From now on, Hitachi Infrastructure Systems (Asia) will manage business with localized leadership which would create and execute business and sales strategies for the entire Southeast Asian region. At the same time, it will dramatically expand the scope of its business offerings to encompass Urban and Energy Solutions, which will primarily provide information and control solutions for the power, transportation and urban infrastructure fields and energy management systems; Water and Environment Solutions, which will primarily provide water treatment systems, monitoring and control systems and other solutions; Industrial Plants Solutions, which will primarily provide industrial plants, information and control solutions for industrial fields, and security systems; and Components, which will provide uninterrupted power supplies (UPS), inverters, and compressors.

In order to respond timely to the needs of local customers and in keeping with the further expansion of the business, the company is expected to hire more local staff. Currently, the company has approximately 250 employees, and 4 local directors on its board. As part of its knowledge and skills enhancement program, Hitachi invites local engineers to participate in its annual training program in Japan for them to know more about the latest technologies and its applications.

Hitachi will expand its training programs to educate more talented engineers. In its aggressive drive to grow its infrastructure business, Hitachi Infrastructure Systems (Asia) recognizes the importance of developing a project management and engineering talent pipeline, and is working closely with the Singapore's Economic Development Board (EDB) on its talent development plans.