STGT expects its new Surat Thani plant to return to full operation in May, with state-of-the-art machinery to churn out latex gloves at high speed

Ms. Jarinya Jirojkul, Chief Executive Officer of Sri Trang Gloves (Thailand) Pcl. or STGT, a global producer of latex and nitrile gloves, reports that the new latex glove plant, which is an extension of the existing plant in Surat Thani, will be ready to start production once again in May following a fire incident in February. The plant will boost the company's production capability to respond to global demand for latex gloves. The company has been receiving a constant stream of orders from overseas.

The new plant in Surat Thani is among the most advanced of all STGT plants and one of the most advanced manufacturing plants in the world. It is equipped with high-speed and high-efficiency machinery, which at full capacity could turn out over 2.2 billion gloves a year. This added capacity would provide a boost to the company's operations and help the company to maintain its position as a global producer of latex gloves.
STGT plans to increase its production capacity by 3 billion gloves in 2021, to a total of 36 billion gloves per year. In addition to the new plant in Surat Thani, the company will be commissioning a new plant in each quarter of this year, starting with another plant in Surat Thani in the second quarter, one in the Sadao District of Songkhla Province in the third quarter, and another in Trang Province in the fourth quarter. In the long run, the company expects to increase its production capacity to 80 billion pieces per year by 2024 and 100 billion pieces per year by 2026.

"We aim to improve our machinery to be more efficient as well as environmentally friendly by using biomass as energy and deploying a modern waste management system in our production process," says Ms. Jarinya.

"We are confident that we will not face any labor shortage because we plan to recruit Thai workers to replace a portion of our foreign labor. This is in accordance with the company's policy to help Thailand's workforce, which is currently facing an unemployment problem. We are committed to taking good care of our employees and adhering to the human rights principles with regard to safe and healthy work conditions."

Ms. Jarinya also adds: "We are the only latex glove manufacturer to be awarded the A rating, which is the highest in all categories for employee treatment, from the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI).

"This accords with our business philosophy in that we want to be regarded as the manufacturer of the 'gloves of life' dedicated to protecting all lives with care."