Govt aims to position M'sia as sales and marketing hub for M & E

JOHOR BAHARU, 1 Ogos -- Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif Lembaga Pembangunan Pelaburan Malaysia Datuk Azman Mahmud (tiga,kiri) bersama Pengarah WB Land Wong Yen Yap (kanan) dan Pengurus Wilayah SEW Eurodrive Asia Tenggara dan Asia Timur Andreas Appel (dua,kiri) menanam pokok sebagai simbolik upacara Pecah Tanah Pusat Teknologi SEW Eurodrive Malaysia dan Pembukaan Fasa kedua Taman Perindustrian Frontier, Desa Cemerlang, Ulu Tiram hari ini. --fotoBERNAMA (2016) HAK CIPTA TERPELIHARA

JOHOR BARU: The Government aims to turn Malaysia into a sales and marketing hub for machinery and equipment (M & E), as well as a technology refurbishment centre for machine tools and packaging machineries, said Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) chief executive officer Datuk Azman Mahmud.

He said the target had been set due to the industry’s promising prospects whereby it had grown robustly in the last seven years with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28.5%.

He said industry exports had also performed well with a CAGR of 10% in the last three years and was projected to reach RM43bil in 2020.

“As it is seen to play a crucial role in transforming Malaysia into a high technology nation, the Government is therefore focusing on targeted niche market segment of specialised M & E
processes such as robotics and automation equipment, material handling and packaging machineries,” he said at the groundbreaking  ceremony of SEW Eurodrive’s RM30.6mil plant at the Frontier Industrial Park 2 in Ulu Tiram on Monday.

SEW is a German company that has enjoyed a partnership with Malaysia for over three decades, he added.

He said the fact that the company continued to invest in Malaysia amid the  challenging global economic scenario was indeed noteworthy as it proved the country’s competitiveness for businesses.

From January to July this year, Malaysia received RM71.8bil in investments in the manufacturing and services sector, involving 262 new and expansion projects.

The investments will be realised within the next one to two years depending on project size but Azman noted that the projects were more related to life sciences, food processing, health, machinery, transport, chemical, M & E and oil and gas.

On SEW Eurodrive’s plant, its district manager for Southeast and East Asia, Andreas Appel, said it would begin operations in early 2018 and was set to increase the company’s current production capacity by 30%.

“We have facilities in Singapore, Thailand, Japan, China and South Korea but we are excited to take drive automation to a higher level in Malaysia.

“Our drive technology has been deployed in many industries in Malaysia including automotive assembly, food and beverage processing, palm oil milling and ports.

“A testament to this are the roller coasters at Legoland in Iskandar Puteri, which are driven by SEW Gear motors,” he said. - Bernama

* See also Malaysia receives nearly RM72b in investments in January-July