VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY AND HIGH TECHNOLOGY SECTOR
What are some of your most recent expansions?
Jotun formerly operated separate companies in Malaysia and Singapore until we merged operations under one umbrella in 2016. Prior to that, in 2011, we closed our factories in Singapore that were built in the 1980s and built a large new facility in Malaysia, which took over the capacity formerly in Singapore. Since then, we have consolidated our manufacturing base in Malaysia and made it into a hub for special projects throughout Southeast Asia. The most recent expansion was in 2017, when we built a new powder factory next to our paint facility in Nilai. This expansion was designed to handle domestic demand as well as to produce for other markets, such as Australia. We will also install additional equipment at our powder factory to create greater production flexibility there as well.
Which of your segments have shown the greatest strength recently?
In Malaysia, traditionally, the strongest growth has come from the decorative business, although we also see growth in the construction segment. Jotun Malaysia has grown its market share over the years by having the best premium products available at retail outlets. We expect this growth to continue with a double-digit performance for the decorative business in 2019.
Could you tell us more about the Apprenticeship Program in which you participate?
We were fortunate to be approached for the Apprenticeship Program as we really believe in its potential. We are one of the five companies that participated in the pilot project, kickstarting it with MIDA, the FMM, and the Ministry of Education. At first people were skeptical of the program because we have to deal with 16- and 17-year-old students. The students have to be tied to an advisor who trains and works with them. This was difficult at the beginning but I believed this program would work and create human capital for the future. I assured my staff there was nothing to worry about and explained that if the apprentices were interested in working in the organization we would be able to mold them into suitable employees. The first batch graduated in 2019 and we have offered jobs to three out of six students who attended the program. We have placed them into the technical team for customer equipment maintenance.
How have operations evolved since you founded the company in 1996?
We started off on a small scale with 20-30 containers per month. At that time, the market still had a lot of potential, and we were selling our products through a middleman to ship them onward to other countries. We soon realized there were a number of issues in terms of quality, customer requirements, pricing, and efficiency, so we needed to move a level ahead instead of working with the trading house. We then challenged ourselves in terms of market penetration, advertising, and uploading our company profile and products to a website so end users could reach us more quickly.
What are the unique strengths and characteristics of Wellcall Holdings?
Wellcall offers product customization to meet customers' needs. We do our own R&D to customize applications for customers. The most important thing is our production facility. Some of our customers are small- or medium-sized distributors, so we extend our support to them to allow them to order below our minimum order quantity. We want to facilitate them to have better inventory control and reduce storage costs. We also manufacture all brands.
VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY AND HIGH TECHNOLOGY SECTOR
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Interview
Dato’ Khairussaleh Ramli, Group Managing Director & CEO, RHB Banking Group
RHB has exposure to all of the key sectors in Malaysia and a presence in nine ASEAN countries. The bank's latest five-year roadmap aims to build on that and propel it to become a leading financial services player.
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