History

The Italthai Group

     From the personal friendship between the Thai Dr. Chaijudh Karnasuta and the Italian Georgio Berlingieri arose the foundations of the Italthai Group, a major Thai construction, trade and manufacturing conglomerate. It all began in January 1954 when Mariners Co., Ltd., a company belonging to Dr. Chaijudh’s brother-in-law, signed a contract with the Harbour Department to salvage five ships that lay sunking beneath the waters of the Chao Phraya River. Assisting his brother-in-law was Dr. Chaijudh, who counter-guaranteed the bonds and guarantees required by the initial contract. Although it relied heavily upon the technical support of a Japanese salvage company throughout the operation, the Mariners Co., Ltd., failed in its task, prompting the Harbour Department to threaten to cancel the contract.

      In stepped Mr. Berlingieri, an employee of the Italian salvage company Archimede Salvage Co., Ltd. whose technical expertise had proven instrumental in various successful salvage operations in Vietnam. He accepted a sub-contract from Mariners Co., Ltd. to salvage the five ships, and under his watch the operation was carried out swiftly and professionally, thus releasing Dr. Chaijudh from his contractual obligations.

      The blossoming friendship continued with the setting up of a small oxygen plant by the two, who’d intended to fill a gap in the field by supplying oxygen to the salvage industry. The company they created was named Italthai Industrial Co., Ltd. (ITI), and is today one of the cornerstones of the Italthai Group.

      By 1958 the bonds of friendship and trust between the two men grew to the point where Dr. Chaijudh unreservedly asked Mr. Berlingieri to combine their resources to form their own construction company. Coincidentally at this point the Rome-based Archimede Salvage Co., Ltd. underwent a change in management and the cessation of its investment efforts in Thailand. Because he was reluctant to leave what had by then become his second home, Mr. Berlingieri readily accepted his friend’s proposal to form a joint company.
     
     On August 15th, 1958, Dr. Chaijudh and Mr. Berlingieri founded the Italian-Thai Development Co., Ltd. (ITD). With an initial capital base of 2 million baht, the company rapidly grew to become the largest Thai construction company to be listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, or the SET, reaching a registered capital of 2.5 billion baht in 1994.

Italthai Engineering Co.,Ltd. established since 1967     

     Having established the Italian-Thai Development Co., Ltd. (ITD) in 1958, Dr. Chaijudh and Mr. Berlingieri thereafter drew up a new business plan to help serve the still nascent Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) trading and service market. This led to the founding of the Italthai Gas Service, Co., Ltd. on May 25, 1967, beginning with an initial registration capital of 500,000 baht. The company assumed many small projects on behalf of ITD, and on September 14, 1974, its name was changed to Italthai Engineering Co., Ltd. to better reflect its actual role.

Continued Growth and Expansion

     The period between the years 1989 and 1994 saw the unprecedented expansion of Italthai Industrial Co., Ltd. (ITI). In additions to its already diversified operations it assumed the roles and functions of an utility engineering contractor for power plant and high voltage electrical power substation projects; this led to the creation of two new business units, namely the Engineering and Power Transmission and Distribution Divisions. Both divisions achieved remarkable successes, and ITI became the first Thai engineering contractor to be awarded a number of internationally acclaimed hi-tech engineering projects by EGAT, PEA, and MEA. Included among the wide array of projects are the Rayong Combined Cycle Power Plant; the South Bangkok Combined Cycle Power Plant; the Nam Pang and Bang Pakong Cooling Towers, the Substations in South Rangsit and South Pattaya; the first High Voltage Gas Insulated Substations (GIS) of the PEA; as well as a number of other Conventional and High Voltage Gas Insulated Substations of the MEA and the PEA.

      In order to better serve the needs of the continually growing utility market, on January 1, 1995, the Engineering and Power Transmission and Distribution Divisions of ITI was transferred to ITE with an additional registration capital of up to 100 million baths. This allowed the company’s profile and competency to be greatly enhanced, and very quickly it became an experienced engineering contractor specialising in Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing and Sanitary Systems (the so-called MEP System) for industrial plants, high-rise buildings, and large power utilities, such as power plants and substations.

Innovation and Continual Improvement with ISO9001:2000 Quality Management System

      At present ITE has performed as the utility engineering specialist in the Italthai Group, included not only working closely with ITD for North Bangkok Combined Cycle Power Plant Block 1 (1x700 MW) Project for scope of EPC for the balance of plant and for a number of High-rise buildings and industry plants for the scope of  Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbling, Sanitary and Instrumentation Systems but also directly contact to our own customers such as PEA, MEA, EGAT, Ausenco, Amari Hotel Group etc.

      In addition, ITE expanded it business to inspection and maintenance of industry and building utilities to become the One Stop Service for Utility System included yearly maintenance contract of over 400 fuel retailed stations (Shell and Chevron), over 100 micro branch service stations (Bangkok Bank Co.,Ltd.) and a number of high-rise buildings and industry plants and in 2007, ITE raised capital up to 306 million Baht to cover its revenue growth.