Thailand Industrial Intelligence. Facts first, then conclusions.

Thailand imported machinery and automation equipment worth USD 27.2 billion in 2025, up from USD 19.8 billion in 2019, an increase of 37%. This covers 33 machinery product groups (UN Comtrade, CIF values).

China grew its import share from 29.6% in 2019 to 49.7% in 2025. Japan fell from 27.1% to 15.5%. Imports from Germany dropped from USD 1.33 billion to USD 1.13 billion while the total market grew. What this means for your machine category is what the Market Intelligence Briefing answers.

In the installed base. Germany's share of Thailand's spare-parts imports (8.1%) is higher than its share of new machines (7.1%), and in food and beverage, plastics and packaging and auto parts, 59% to 70% of factories were licensed in 2015 or earlier. The Installed Base Mapping shows what your machines could earn.

By factory count, food and beverage (5,706 factories), plastics and packaging (5,283) and auto parts and vehicles (1,970). Between 2021 and 2025, 950, 911 and 229 new factories were licensed in these sectors (DIW, outside industrial estates).

For most mid-sized OEMs, a good distributor is the faster and cheaper start: customer access, language and local presence from day one. Going alone makes sense when you need control over service, pricing and customer data, or when volumes justify it.

Typical signals: your installed base grows faster than the distributor's service capacity, key customers want to deal with you directly, or you lose margin and market insight. The switch works best step by step, often service first and sales later, ideally together with the partner.

Look beyond the brochure: which brands they already represent, whether they have their own technicians, which sectors and customers they cover and how solid they are financially. The Market Intelligence Briefing maps partners and distributors in your segment.

With facts about your market: who buys your type of machine, where those factories are, who your competitors are and at what price. On that basis you decide between partner, own entity or both. The Market Intelligence Briefing is built for exactly this first step.

Many subsidiaries were set up to sell machines. When new orders slow down, the installed base becomes the business. The first step is an honest look at what your entity does today, what it earns and what the market needs. That is the Local Business Upgrade.

Start with the installed base: which machines run where, how old they are and who services them today. Then build service step by step, from spare parts and a small technician team to service contracts. The Installed Base Mapping gives you that starting point.

Serving customers in the region from capacities in the region: sales, service, spare parts, engineering and sometimes assembly, close to the customer instead of everything from headquarters. Customers expect speed and local support, and competitors from China and the region are already on site.

Thai customers often compare European machines with Chinese and regional ones on price, delivery time and local support. A leaner local variant, local assembly or local engineering can close that gap; a fully local development rarely pays off at the start. The Local Business Upgrade works out where your sweet spot is.

Thailand is an established production base for the region, with industrial estates and investment incentives from the Board of Investment (BOI). Whether it pays off for you depends on volumes, supply chain and customer demand in the region.

Fewer generalists in sales, more technical people close to the customer: service engineers, application engineers, a parts manager. Clear responsibilities and decision rights matter just as much, so that not every question has to go to headquarters.

Start with the data service needs: machine and customer master data, spare parts and service history. Often ERP, CRM and service tools at headquarters and in Thailand do not talk to each other. The Digital Connectivity Check maps the data flows and shows where to start.

Common reasons are missing local hosting, language, payment or support, or simply no rollout plan for Asia. Check which services can be enabled quickly, which need a local partner and which are not worth it. The Digital Connectivity Check turns this into a clear roadmap.

With clean spare-parts and machine data for each installed machine. Then a customer portal or e-shop in English, ideally also in Thai, with local prices, stock and delivery times. Without local parts logistics behind it, a portal stays a showroom.

Thailand's Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) has been fully in force since June 2022. Pure machine data is usually not personal data, but operator logins, service contacts and CRM data are. Clarify consent, data transfers to headquarters and contracts early.

Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 applies from 20 January 2027 to machines placed on the EU market, with new rules on digital documentation and cybersecurity. For machines sold in Thailand it is not binding, but it matters as soon as you build or source machines in Thailand for Europe.