INDUSTRIAL investors are looking beyond available land when choosing where to locate, with infrastructure, skilled workers and established supplier networks increasingly shaping decisions on where to put up manufacturing operations, First Philippine Industrial Park (FPIP) said.
Ramon A. Carandang, FPIP vice president and head of marketing, external relations and communications, said investors need an industrial environment that is already capable of supporting their operations rather than simply a vacant site.
‘We keep strengthening that environment, not just adding space, so it stays ready for whoever comes next,’ Carandang said during a visit by international investors to the industrial estate in Batangas earlier this month.
The delegation was part of a program organized by the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) to promote the Luzon Economic Corridor (LEC) initiative.
The estate’s supplier network links manufacturers with supporting industries and service providers, allowing companies to source some of their requirements within the surrounding industrial ecosystem.
FPIP is a 600-hectare industrial estate in Sto. Tomas, Batangas, with more than 80,000 employees working across aerospace, electronics, motor vehicles, food and other advanced manufacturing sectors.
Collins Aerospace, one of FPIP’s aerospace locators, operates one of its largest international facilities at the estate, where it manufactures aircraft interior products such as seats, galleys and galley inserts for the global aerospace market.
FPIP’s location in Batangas also places the estate within the LEC, a government-backed economic corridor linking Subic, Clark, Metro Manila and Batangas.
The corridor is intended to strengthen industrial and logistics connections among the four areas and attract investments in manufacturing and other industries.