U.S-backed firm builds helmet factory in Vietnam
HANOI - A wholly US-owned enterprise began construction work on a
US dollars 1.9 million factory on Oct. 4 to produce motorcycle
helmets adapted to a tropical climate.
The Vietnam Safety Products & Equipment Company (VSPEC), a
subsidiary of the eponymous US firm, won a license earlier this
year to manufacture a variety of safety products, mostly aimed at
children.
The factory, expected to employee 90 workers initially, will be
located on the outskirts of Hanoi in the Noi Bai Industrial Zone.
Future factories are envisioned for Da Nang and HCM City.
The tropical helmets have been designed in Vietnamese head sizes
and will be launched by the traditional Tet festival.
Vietnamese consumers were first introduced to tropical helmets
last year, during the Asian Injury Prevention Foundation (AIPF)'s
Helmets for Kids campaign.
Because of the phenomenal growth of motorcycle usage in Vietnam
over the past 10 years, young Vietnamese are dying at a rate of
more than 25 per day, mostly as a result of head trauma.
Only a small percentage of motorbike riders wear helmets, with
most people complaining that helmets are hot, uncomfortable or
impair
hearing.
The tropical helmet is lighter and more aerated -- rather like a
bicycle helmet in the West -- and should hopefully overcoming some
of these
concerns.
VSPEC's production has won financial support from AIA
Vietnam,
APL, the Atlantic Philanthropies, BP, Kraft Corporation, the
Freeman
Foundation and the Starr
Foundation.
The company will operate as a profitable, tax-paying business,
but
will not pay dividends to private
shareholders.
Instead, profit will be invested in other humanitarian works
in
Vietnam, and later on the development of other safety-related
products
targeting
children.
The project is the vision of founder Greig Craft, a
retired
American businessman living in
Hanoi.
His goal is to have helmets on 1.5 million Vietnamese
children
within five
years.
In the first year of production, plant capacity is estimated
at
750,000 helmets.
IRNA( Islamic Republic News Agency ) - October 8, 2001.
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