ENERGIZER PHILIPPINES INC., MAKER OF the Eveready and Energizer batteries, is considering putting up its own business process outsourcing facility in the Philippines.

In an interview Wednesday, Energizer Philippines president and managing director Esteban Vorbeck said support for Energizer?s United States customers were currently being performed out of Manila, through third-party service providers.

With more and more locals performing regional roles for the company, he said it made sense for Energizer to put up its own BPO facility, the first ever for the multinational firm.

?We?re looking at the Philippine BPO sector. We?re thinking of possibly setting up our own facility,? he said. ?We have a number of roles here that are being performed for the region. We?re looking at the Philippines as a support or back-office organization. We hope to align the growth of our business with something that?s already been proven.?

Since the company had its local headquarters in Metro Manila, he said it was highly probable that should the BPO plan push through, the facility would be located in the Metro.

However, Cebu could also be a location, he said, since the company?s manufacturing facility was located in Cebu.

?The Philippines is a great learning center. You have ease of facility because of the language. It?s easy to communicate here,? he said.

Apart from possibly putting up a BPO facility, he said Energizer was also in the process of conducting research and development on new battery-powered devices that could be introduced in the market to boost battery consumption in the country.

He said that over the past years, the battery industry had been seeing declining sales, due mainly to higher levels of electrification, the onslaught of multi-function or converged devices, improved battery performance, and the introduction of energy-efficient gadgets.

?But these are some things that we have to adjust to. We have to have a more proactive role to introduce devices that are battery-powered, to allow the industry to grow,? he said.

?There?s still a wide segment of the population that aspire to own devices that are battery-powered. That?s where we plan to play a role in the future. We want to bring (into the market) some new battery-powered devices at more affordable price points,? he added.

He declined to specify what kind of devices Energizer was looking at, saying only that these would be launched in the market soon.
Energizer Philippines holds an 80-percent share of the market with its Eveready and Energizer brands. The Eveready brand alone accounts for about 80 percent of Energizer Philippines? total business.