IBM Japan Ltd is also moving manufacturing off-shore: it has signed Saha Union Corp of Thailand, produce almost all its small form factor Winchester drives. Saha Union, which pays lower wages than its Japanese counterparts, will produce both 3.5 and 2.5 drives, IBM Japan said, but declined to specify planned production figures. IBM Japan produced 3m of the drives in 1993, of which 1.2m were produced at Saha Union’s Bangkok plant. The move will cut employment at IBM’s Fujisawa plant, which made 1.8m disk drives in 1993, by 400 people, to 1,100. The Fujisawa plant will be used for developing mass production technology and initial production runs of new products.
