The Bangladeshi multinational electronics brand Walton has started export of ‘Made in Bangladesh’ labelled LED televisions to Germany, a nation of the largest economy in Europe.
Walton officials said, the inception of television export to Germany would further increase the positive image of Bangladesh in the global arena, ease the market expansion of Walton-made appliances to the European Union and raise country’s foreign exchange reserves.
Walton arranged a programme titled “Inauguration ceremony of first TV export to the Federal Republic of Germany” at its TV manufacturing unit at Chandra in Gazipur district on Saturday.
Michael Schultheiss, deputy head of mission for Counselor, Political and Economic Affairs of German Embassy in Dhaka, SM Ashraful Alam, managing director of Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited (WHIL) and Raisa Sigma Hima, director of WHIL, inaugurated the country’s first-ever television export to Germany by cutting ribbon.
Michael’s spouse Charlotte Clemensen, Walton International Business Unit’s (IBU) President Edward Kim, company’s Executive Directors Humayun Kabir, Alamgir Alam Sarker, Yusuf Ali, Uday Hakim, Golam Murshed and Amin Khan, Deputy Executive Directors Firoj Alam and Shahjada Salim, Media Adviser Enayet Ferdous and other senior officials of the company attended the function.
Attending the function as the chief guest, Michael Schultheiss said, “I am impressed by witnessing the manufacturing of electronics and electrical appliances with the world’s cutting edge machineries. Walton is moving forward with a big aim. They are greatly contributing to the national economy of Bangladesh.”
Michael also said, Germany is the second largest export destinations of Bangladesh. Till now, this export market of Bangladesh is highly dependent on readymade garments. Today, a new and promising export sector of Bangladesh has been emerged with the export of television to Germany, he opined adding that the bilateral business relationship between Germany and Bangladesh will strengthen further.
Engineer Tauseef Al Mahmud, head of country of Walton IBU in Germany, the annual global market of TV is nearly 230 million sets, of which the annual size of television in Europe is 40 million sets. Most of the European countries follow the German’s market trend as the country maintains highest standards for consumer electronics, he said.
To expand its business in the European markets, Walton greatly focused on Germany as the successful journey in that country will set a benchmark for other European markets, he noted.
In this Christmas, Walton products will be available in the world’s largest online marketplaces ‘amazon,’ Tauseef said informing that all of the European customers will be able to buy Bangladeshi made world-class Walton products.
Abdur Rouf, in-charge for Australia, Europe, South and North America regions of Walton IBU, said, “Initially, the first export consignment is consisted of three containers with 3,600 sets of television, which are sending to a renowned German brand under the ‘OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) basis. That means, Walton manufactured the exporting televisions as per the designs, quality and other standards, given by the German brand. Nearly 3 lakh US dollars will be added to foreign exchange reserves of Bangladesh through this consignment.
Rouf noted that the consignee has already given a forecast of importing total of one lakh sets of television from Walton. Engineer Mostafa Nahid Hossain, chief executive officer of Walton TV said, they are manufacturing environment and user friendly energy efficient televisions maintaining international standards.
No sorts of hazardous substance and chemical is used in Walton TV, he said mentioning that Walton TV easily got several standard certificates including Consumer Electronics Certification (CE); Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) and Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) which are required for exporting to Germany.
Edward Kim said, Walton set a target of taking place in the world’s five top electronics brand by 2030. We are conducting our overall activities in the international markets with a target of exporting US$10 million worth appliances in 2019 and US$ 100 million in 2021.
Mentionable, Walton is manufacturing panels using HADS (High Advance Super Dimension Switch) and IPS (In Plan Switching) technologies at an ISO class 7 dust-free clean room. Separate production lines for manufacturing motherboard, display, remote, speaker, casing and housing and other sorts of essential parts or components have been set up with installation of world’s advanced machineries like Surface Mounting Technology (SMT) of German.
The Deputy Head of Mission of the German Embassy in Dhaka enjoyed a corporate document on Walton and then visited the product display center and the production units of refrigerators, compressors, air conditioners, foundry and other