Garmin kicks off second GPS production line in Taiwan

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Garmin Corporation, the Taiwan subsidiary of US-based Garmin International, began operation of its second GPS (global positioning system) device production line in northern Taiwan last month with trial production occurring this month, according to company chairman Min Kao.
Garmin purchased a vacant factory for US$40 million last quarter to house the production line, said Kao. The company has extended its products from hand-held GPS devices to car-used models and expects the 2006 sales revenue for the latter to grow by 75% from 2005, much higher than the 10-25% growth in revenues for its GPS devices used in aviation, marine navigation and outdoor sports, according to company CFO Kevin Rauckman.
Garmin International, which acquired Sequoia Instruments in 2001, UPS Aviation Technologies in 2003 and MotionBased Technologies in 2005, will continue merging with companies to expand its GPS business operations, Kao pointed out.