Senai Airport City gets bus body manufacturing, assembly plant
30 Nov 2022
SENAI Airport City will soon be home to a bus body manufacturing and assembly facility. Bus manufacturing company, Sun Bus Tech Sdn Bhd, has planned to invest RM80 million to build the facility in Johor.
Sun Bus Tech, owned by the Sun Wah Group, has officially established its headquarters in Johor in a groundbreaking ceremony on Nov 23.
The project is aimed to provide high technology, quality economical services and products in the public transportation industry in stepping up its efforts to manufacture sustainable and fuel-efficient vehicles.
The factory is expected to be able to produce nearly 300 units of electric buses (EV) every year for the domestic and regional markets, said Johor State Investment, Trade and Consumer Affairs Committee chairman Lee Ting Han.
He said the factory is expected to start its construction this month, is projected to be completed as early as the third quarter of next year or at the latest in 2024, creating more than 200 job opportunities, ranging from manufacturing front liners to managerial positions, in the state.
“This company is from Johor and has more or less the same factory, but this time they made a change which is to manufacture the chassis of electric buses. The battery and engine are still imported, so the company will produce the chassis, and then attached other components to the chassis to be sold as a working bus.
“The state government will continue to help ensure that this project expands because its products will be exported to Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.
“Hence, we are proud that Malaysian brand products are also used in other countries,” he said, as reported by Bernama.
In welcoming Sun Bus Tech to be part of Malaysia’s development in the automotive industry, Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) CEO Datuk Arham Abdul Rahman said: “The investment by Sun Bus Tech is the kind of investment that Malaysia aims to attract and anchor.
“Malaysia is a strategic and ideal sustainable investment destination for investors of EV-related industries to enter the South-East Asia market,” he said in a statement.
Besides the Malaysian government’s EV policies, he said the continuation of new model launches of EVs will contribute to the EV market growth in the country, in line with the government’s strategic policy such as the National Investment Aspirations (NIA).
In line with the company’s vision of building sustainable and environmentally friendly products, Sun Bus Tech will be setting up automation features in both its production and warehouse. The office and factory buildings will be installing solar panels, solar reflective glass to reduce energy consumption and adopting rainwater recycling in effort to protect the environment.
Focusing on bus body manufacturing, Sun Bus Tech is the new name that was carried out by the industry pioneer Sun Bus Tech founder/chairman Phang Sun Wah, who has more than 50 years of experience.
Sun Bus Tech has collaborated with a Swiss partner, Carrosserie Hess AG, an aluminium bus body solution provider and supplier. Through this joint venture, its main objective is to enhance the manufacturing processes even further by adopting the technology from Europe which will be more durable and easier to maintain.
“We strive to provide the best quality, through proper product concept research, product planning, development, testing and its aftersales maintenance services,” said Sun Bus Tech CEO Shyan Phang.
Malaysia is the third-largest automotive market in Asean, making the automotive industry a strategic perk to the country’s manufacturing sector.
There are currently more than 30 manufacturing and assembly plants in Malaysia for motor vehicles which consist of passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, motorcycles and scooters; as well as a huge pool of automotive parts and components manufacturers.
Source: The Malaysian Reserve
