MANILA, Philippines--The consortium which won the bid to supply the vote counting machines for the May 2010 elections said the transfer of the machines? production site from Taiwan to China would ensure their early completion and delivery.

Smartmatic International Corp. and Total Information Management Technology Inc. said the Shanghai-based factory, which would manufacture the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines is located nearer the supply of raw materials.

Cesar Flores, Smartmatic Asia Pacific president, said almost all of the more than 100 components needed to produce the PCOS machines were being sourced from China.

With manufacturing now transferred to Shanghai, he said it would be easier for the consortium to ensure that the machines would be completed at the soonest possible time.

The transfer, approved by the Commission on Elections? Project Management Office, would not cause any delays in the delivery of the machines, Flores said.

?After (Tropical Storm Ketsana) hit Taiwan, we started getting concerned. A lot of its road networks were down for quite some time, and that could cause delays if it happens again,? Flores explained.

?We chose the Shanghai facility because it?s even bigger than the one in Taiwan. Also, majority of the suppliers of the components are in China, so we?re closer to the supply chain than we were before.?

?We?ve started conditioning the assembly lines to start production. We will start deliveries in December and will finish by January. All of the more than 80,000 machines will be here by then,? he said. Abigail L. Ho