Best Luck Jewelry Co, a leading manufacturer of silver jewelry set with marcasite in Thailand, recently acquired stamping equipment from Italy and Germany and is expanding its line to include gold jewelry.

            “Everyone can do stamping with a simple machine that presses a shape,” commented Siriphan Angsupat, marketing manager for Best Luck. “But it is a new era for stamping in Thailand. This is high-tech stamping.”

            Best Luck spent more than B30 million (US$1.2 million) on machinery from different companies in Italy and Germany, imports duties for Thailand and training of the Thai staff by foreign specialists to use the new equipment.

            “We’re producing stamped links in combination with cast links so you get volume without much weights,” Ms. Siriphan said. “The pieces are sandwiched and soldered by machine so you cannot see the seams, then vacuumed dried for the best finish. We also have a special machine for making findings. Everything is computer controlled for the highest precision.”

            After purchasing the equipment last year it took six months of training and experimenting before production could begin. “We modified some of the equipment to suit our needs,” Ms Siriphan said. “Once we set it up we realized that because the weather and atmosphere is different in Bangkok we had to adjust temperature and timing for each machine. Also, our Thai staff had to make adjustments in their thinking. Thai people are used to working by intuition and experience only. They never use a timer.”

            The biggest hurdle Best Luck now faces is making the molds for new designs. “Some of them have to be made in Italy now,” Mr. Siriphan said. “When we order a new one it takes one or two months. Now we’re trying to create the molds ourselves so we don’t have to wait. Most molds we can do already, but not all of them. In Italy they produce molds with computer control. Now we’re developing a computer program to use ourselves.”

            The company is now producing about 6,000-7,000 pieces of stamped gold and silver jewelry per day, and is working at only half its capacity.

            Best Luck can produce stamped jewelry 20-30 percent cheaper than factories in Italy, Ms Siriphan said. Her prices range from about US$11-$20 for plain silver bracelets and necklaces and $20-$30 for silver pieces set with semiprecious gemstones.

            She would not reveal the prices for her gold stamped jewelry. “It changes because you have to fix the gold price every day,” she explained, adding that she prefers orders in gold jewelry because the metal is easier to work with and has a higher profit margin.

            “We have an advantage over Italy because we can combine gemstones with the stamping technology,” Ms Siriphan said. “I visited a factory in Italy and I was surprised to see them setting CZ in stamped jewelry with glue. Maybe setting stones is too labor intensive.”

            Currently Best Luck is limiting its stamping production to necklaces and bracelets. “Our machinery can produce tube earrings but we’re concentrating on bracelets and necklaces,” Ms Siriphan said. “For earrings I think electroforming is the way to go. I hear they are developing improvements in electroforming technology in Germany and we’re waiting for that.”

            Best Luck is also working on computerizing its ordering system to speed service to buyers. “At the beginning stage we have to spend more money but in the long run our ordering system will be streamlined and we will get more profit,” Ms Siriphan said.

            The company recently signed a contract for more than B50 million (US$2 million) for factory space at Gemopolis, the jewelry manufacturing and free-trade zone set to open in mid 1993. The additional space will double Best Luck’s production capacity and the company plans to enlarge its export market from its traditional targets of Europe, the US and Japan to the Middle East, Latin America and Asia.