Quality Investments Spur Industrial Growth

THE principal investment promotion agency of Malaysia, Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), has played a pivotal role in the industrial development of the country from the start since it was established 51 years ago.

It continues to undertake concerted efforts to ensure a conducive business environment for investments to prosper.

Throughout the years, MIDA has sought to attract quality investments with spillover effects towards greater prosperity for Malaysians.

The nation is riding on an ecosystem approach to attract investments, not just within the country, but also leveraging on the competitive advantages of other Asean members to create more accessible investment opportunities for investors.

In 2017, Malaysia attracted RM197.1bil worth of approved investments in the manufacturing, services and primary sectors. The bulk of it, RM142.4bil or 72.2%, came from domestic direct investments (DDI). Foreign direct investments (FDI) brought in RM54.7bil or 27.8% of the total investments. The 5,466 approved projects will generate an additional 139,520 job opportunities in the country.

Moving forward, the Government is aggressively undertaking various efforts to help industry players embrace Industry 4.0 through the adoption of automation and smart manufacturing.

The adoption of these technologies will open up bigger scale of opportunities for completely new and more efficient business models, resulting in greater productivity and growth.

The time has come for industries in Malaysia to act quickly and steer towards this direction.

MIDA has approved numerous high value-added projects in 2017, among them are B.Braun Medical Industries Sdn Bhd, Altech Chemicals Sdn Bhd, TF AMD Microelectronics Sdn Bhd, Ikea Supply (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Petronas Floating LNG 1 Ltd and T7 Kilgour Sdn Bhd.

B. Braun Medical Industries Sdn Bhd

A global healthcare company in Malaysia since 1972, B. Braun Medical Industries is a pioneer in the medical device and pharmaceutical industry based in Penang.

The plant, located at Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone, is the second largest worldwide after Germany, specialising in products such as IV catheters (IVC), hypodermic needles, surgical instruments and sterile infusion solutions.

The company is expanding to produce even more medical devices, and these next generation products will be manufactured using automated and state-of-theart processes which will, in turn, create an additional 809 job opportunities.

It is a key partner in the Malaysian healthcare system and a strong contributor of Malaysian exports to the world.

Altech Chemicals Sdn Bhd

A wholly foreign-owned company, Altech Chemicals is aiming to become one of the world’s leading producers of 99.99% (4N) high purity alumina (HPA) through the construction and operation of a 4,500 tonnes per annum HPA plant at Tanjung Langsat Industrial Complex, Johor.

This project will be the first of its kind in Malaysia.

The company is a high-value project due to its high margins and highly demanded product, which is the critical ingredient equired for the production of synthetic sapphire.

Synthetic sapphire is used in the manufacture of substrates for LED lights, semiconductor wafers used in the electronics industry, and scratch-resistant sapphire glass used for wristwatch faces, optical windows and smartphone components.

There is no substitute for HPA in the manufacture of synthetic sapphire.

It is an essential high-value material used in lighting, electronics, aerospace, defence and medical industries.

According to Persistence Market Research (PMR), the global HPA market is forecast to grow two-fold, reaching approximately US$2.2bil (RM8.63bil) by 2024.

TF AMD Microelectronics Sdn Bhd

The company is a joint venture between Advanced Micro Devices (AMD USA) and Nantong Fujitsu Microelectronics Co Ltd (Nantong Fujitsu), established since 2015.

Previously, it was known as AMD and has been in Malaysia since 1972. Over the years, the company has expanded and has since moved up the value chain.

Today, it not only offers Outsource Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) services, but is also capable of servicing front-end semiconductor manufacturing, namely Wafer Level Chip Scale Packaging, and is planning for Wafer Bumping capabilities in the near future.

This project is in line with the Government’s aspirations for companies in Malaysia to undertake high tech activities that will help sustain the country’s long term competitiveness.

Ikea Supply (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd

Ikea, the world’s largest furniture brand headquartered in the Netherlands, has made a strategic decision to establish its Regional Distribution and Supply Chain Centre for Asean in Malaysia.

The Centre, which will adopt the structure and technology of Ikea’s biggest Regional Distribution Centre in Germany, will be among the top 10 largest regional distribution centres of Ikea globally.

This new 100,000 sq m specialised warehouse will utilise integrated ICT systems and automation, and significantly increase the efficiency and accuracy of its inventory management processes.

With this, Malaysia will strengthen Ikea’s growth in Asean as the Centre will serve 12 retail stores in the region, which will increase to 20 stores by 2026.

This project will not only entice more renowned global furniture brands to expand in the country, but also contribute to the growth of Malaysia’s logistics sector, as Ikea is expected to spend RM16mil annually on local logistic services to distribute its products.

Petronas Floating LNG 1 Ltd

This is a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility custom-built as a vessel to liquefy, produce, store and offload LNG.

This project demonstrates Malaysia’s innovative capability to meet the challenges of today’s oil and gas industry by adapting a conventionally land based installation to a floating LNG facility.

The facility plays a significant role in unlocking the gas reserves in Malaysia’s remote and stranded fields deemed uneconomical to develop and evacuate.

Touted as a game-changer in today’s LNG business landscape, the company has achieved a world’s first, successfully producing the first LNG drop from the PFLNG Satu and delivering its first cargo in April 2017.

T7 Kilgour Sdn Bhd

Established in 2017, the company is a joint venture between T7 Aero Sdn Bhd, a wholly owned subsidiary of T7 Global Bhd and Kilgour Aerospace Group, a Britishbased aerospace company.

It plans to set up a specialised metal surface treatment plant for the aerospace industry.

This first of its kind facility in the South-East Asia will be built within the UMW High Value Industrial Estate Park in Serendah, Selangor.

The metal treatment plant, once fully operational, will create 200 job opportunities and 95% of its employees will be Malaysians.

The company will provide various metal treatment services to clients including non-destructive testing, painting and marking, chemical processing, surface treatment, assembly and heat treatment.

These services mainly cater to the aerospace industry and can also serve various industries such as oil and gas, automotive and biomedical.

The company’s main target customers include Honeywell, Spirit Aerosystems, CTRM, Safran, Triumph Group Inc, GKN Aerospace, UTC, Bombardier Aerospace and other OEMs in the SEA region.

Source: The Star