Dahsheng Chemical (DSC) is expanding.
The performance foam manufacturer announced two new vertically integrated manufacturing facilities in Jawa Barat, Indonesia, and Tindivanam, India—a strategic development the company says supports its commitment to the local community and to serve to the “distinctive requirements” of its Tier 1 and brand customers.
“Our new state-of-the-art facilities in Indonesia and India are designed to promptly deliver DSC sustainable innovation, performance and comfort to our local Tier 1 and brand customers,” Johnson Chang, CEO of Dahsheng Chemical, said. “In the development of the new facilities, DSC continues to champion a sustainable, transparent and collaborative closed-loop manufacturing strategy to drive toward a more sustainable future. Local for local manufacturing allows DSC to deliver premium products with agility and speed for our brand customers, all the while driving industry growth and innovation.”
The two new locations will help DSC to produce 24 million more pairs of insoles each month, accelerating the company’s growing market of brand partners in those countries. The approximately 129,100-square-foot Jawa Barat facility has started getting to work but aims to be fully operational by November. Tindivanam, a roughly 215,000-square-foot plant, will break ground in 2024 and targets 2026 for when operations will be in full swing.
“DSC takes pride in creating a sustainable, transparent, and collaborative closed-loop manufacturing environment in our vertically owned factories,” said Jonathan Morris, DSC’s senior operations manager. “Our goal in expanding to these two new facilities in Indonesia and India is not only to enhance capacity but also to deliver the kind of premium local-to-local support that caters to our Tier 1 and brand customers.”
Both vertically integrated, global manufacturing facilities feature fully equipped testing labs that “rigorously test” the material against DSC’s standards—plus the test methods specified by Tier 1 partners and brand customers, such as footwear producers Pou Chen and Hong Fu.
“India is known for their success in the leather footwear industry; this gave confidence to many footwear manufacturers to use their expertise and resources to duplicate the same success in the non-leather footwear segment,” Morris said. “Earlier this year, Pou Chen also announced they will set up a new plant in Tamil Nadu, India. As Tier 2 supplier, DSC’s responsibility is to make sure we stay close with our Tier 1 partner, to provide better service in the footwear supply chain.”
But “central to this development,” the company said, is sustainability. Closed-loop production systems will reincorporate foam waste into the production cycle along with smart manufacturing practices that integrate “intelligent equipment” to streamline tasks, enhance energy efficiency, reduce waste, and boost production volume.
“There has been positive manufacturing growth. Although we’ve seen some ups and down with brand customers, from our side, overall footwear production is growing,” Morris said. “We will support our customers with local-to-local service. With our facility closer to Tier 1 customers, it will greatly reduce the transportation time and cost, and benefit brand customers with a shorter go-to-market lead time.”
There are also plans to implement renewable energy within the next three years; DSC’s Vietnam and China factories use solar energy today, and aim to go even greener in the near term.
“We have been adopting solar energy and currently we are actively exploring green energy options for a more extensive expansion to meet the energy demands of our production,” Morris said. “Currently our Vietnam and China factories are powered by solar energy, with goals to upscale more reusable energy in the next two years. Our goal is to implement renewable energy in the next two to three years at the new locations.”
Both projects are expected to generate over 1,500 jobs—roughly 700 in Indonesia and 900 in India in various roles, including administration, human resources, finance and accounting, procurement, as well as safety technician, developer, operator and management roles, Morris said. DSC will provide “SEED Staff Training” to “create leadership and professional development” with “a focus on production quality and high-performance standards,” he continued.
“We’ve seen growth in various countries in the footwear industry and to best be able to quickly support our Tier 1 and brand customers, the proximity ensures a [lower] footprint paired with some of our premium sustainable and closed-loop manufacturing processes,” Morris said. “SEED Staff Training will include two phases: new staff training at our existing Indonesia factory and secondly, our operation team will be based in the new facility in Barat, Central Java, [to] provide on-site training and on-going support for the new staff.”