Hong Kong's Hayco Group breaks ground for manufacturing facility in Dominican Republic

The Hayco Group, a plastic components manufacturing company based in China, reports that it is constructing a new manufacturing facility in the Dominican Republic.

The company says the Dominican Republic site will be its first factory outside of China and will serve Procter & Gamble as an initial startup customer. The companies have been partners for more than 15 years, Hayco says. The Dominican Republic factory will produce plastic injection-molded components and finished consumer goods, Hayco says.

The company says the $50 million investment involves a 527,000-square-foot site in Santo Domingo that will include two facilities eventually employing as many as 2,000 people. The two facilities will open in 2017 and 2021, the company reports.

The factory was launched with a groundbreaking ceremony at the Las Americas Industrial Free Trade Zone Park, where it will be located.

“This investment makes us by far, one of the largest Hong Kong-based manufacturing companies to open a factory in the Dominican Republic,” says Executive Chairman Donald Hay.

Hayco considered several other countries but eventually chose the Dominican Republic because it was close to the U.S., and its free trade zone status means the company is exempt from import and export duties, Hayco says. Furthermore, shipping to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic takes between three and six days compared with 18 days from China, Hay says.

“While P&G will be the initial customer for the new Hayco facility, we are confident that, over time, the Dominican Republic location will prove attractive to other Hayco customers as well,” Hay says.