HamiltonJet
Led by quality and innovation, we speak to Ben Reed, Managing Director of HamiltonJet, about the company’s varied and high-quality propulsion systems for the international boat market.
GE-Shen Corp
Adaptation, Solution, Growth “Seeking growth - this is our DNA.” We speak to GE-Shen Corporation about the Southeast Asian manufacturing sector and the company’s provision of contract manufacturing to customers worldwide Writer: Marcus Kääpä | Project Manager: Matthew Taylor Our vision is to be a globally recognised engineering and manufacturing solutions provider.” The words of Louis Lau, Executive Director at GE-Shen Corporation, affirms the organisation’s promising attitude within a market full of opportunity. GE-Shen is a contract manufacturing group with core capabilities in the fields of injection moulding, metal fabrication and assembly services. The company helps its customers in the making of their products, with such customers spanning various sectors, from consumer electronics, home and lifestyle brands, medical and life sciences, and beauty products to industrial sector clients. At the centre of industry GE-Shen has a substantial advantage of being based in Malaysia; a multilingual country with strong trade terms and a location that places it between East Asia, India to the west, and the Australasian markets to the south. “It is an exciting time in the sector,” Lau elaborates. “Malaysia has favourable trade terms to most major economies in the world. On top of this, the Malaysian government has always been supportive of the manufacturing sector, which contributes approximately 25 percent of the Malaysian GDP, and a huge majority of Malaysian exports are in in manufactured goods, with a huge portion of it coming from contract manufacturing.” In light of this, it is plain to see why GE-Shen is looking to the future with…
EPIC Group
Designing the Future Executive Chairman of the Epic Group, Ranjan Mahtani, discusses the components of a leading player in the global fashion and apparel industry Writer: Phoebe Harper | Project Manager: Matthew Taylor Hong Kong – the clothing capital of Asia. Headquartered at the very centre of this dynamic hub, you will find the Epic Group. “Epic Group has been dedicated to ever higher standards in value-added, world-class manufacturing of apparel, delivering quality, value, and innovation with unfailing reliability, which is recognised by our customers internationally,” states its Executive Chairman Ranjan Mahtani. For Mahtani, textiles and apparel have been woven into the fabric of his life since childhood, leading to his esteemed position within the industry today. “I would not be exaggerating to say that textiles have been embedded into my genes. The story goes long back to when my father used to make premium shirts for the local market. During my childhood, I was his protégé, following him around and learning from him. “He passed away when I was still a teenager. At the age of 16, I began my professional journey by doing internships in India, Sri Lanka, and Taiwan. Eventually, at age 18, I moved to Hong Kong, which has always been a global apparel sourcing hub,” Mahtani recalls. At the age of 20, Mahtani was transferred to Bangladesh to open a branch office for the company which he grew from scratch to $100 million within a span of four years and gradually evolved into manufacturing while continuing to maintain and enhance…
EOS Defence Systems : Defence in the Land Down Under
Standing at the forefront of the Australian defence industry, we speak to Grant Sanderson, CEO of EOS Defence Systems, and discuss the company’s provision of advanced systems across the globe.
Cookes : Committed to Quality
Matthew Woolley, General Manager NZ at Cookes, discusses his organisation’s customer-centric approach to delivering quality products and services.
Alfagomma Australia : Setting the Standard
As a leading name in the manufacture of hoses and fittings, Rick Sacco, Managing Director at Alfagomma Australia, discusses his firm’s competitive advantage.
Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery
Indian Industry Leaders A key player within the Indian machinery manufacturing industry, we spoke to Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery about the sector in the wake of COVID-19, and what it takes to stay ahead Writer: Marcus Kääpä | Project Manager: Joshua Mann India is synonymous with large-scale industry. The vibrant country provides substantial and various resources across the world, from refined petroleum, cars, machinery parts and metals, to chemicals, cotton and rice. Within the manufacturing sector, construction equipment production is one of India’s key provisions. Despite the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for construction equipment has been gradually recovering over the past six months. The industry witnessed a 20 percent year-over-year (YoY) volume growth in the second quarter of 2020, followed by double digit growth in October and November of the same year. And presently, with the implementation of COVID-19 vaccines across India, business and customer confidence has improved in all sectors allowing for a faster overall revival of the industry. “In the present, the outlook for the construction equipment industry remains positive on the back of robust infrastructure investment by the Indian government,” begins Sandeep Singh, Managing Director of Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery Company Private Limited. “Highway construction and awards for the period of April to December of FY21 have increased by 12 percent and 110 percent respectively. In December of 2020 alone, 1560 kilometres of highways were constructed; an increase of approximately 60 percent YoY. These are exciting times, and it…
Stars Microelectronics
Innovation in ThailandMr. Prompong Chaikul, Chairman of the Executive Committee at Stars Microelectronics, talks tackling new technologies, streamlining supply chain management and making a mark on Thailand’s flourishing electronics manufacturing market Writer: Phoebe Harper | Project Manager: Vivek Valmiki The future looks bright in the Land of Smiles. Since the mid-1980s, electronic products have been at the forefront of Thailand’s manufacturing industries and are a key component in the country’s exports. Bolstered by private investments and the transfer of production from other Asian countries, it is unsurprising that Thailand has become one of Southeast Asia’s largest economies, second only to Indonesia. Using its own healthy economy as an anchor to its neighbouring developing countries, including Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia, Thailand enjoys a well-earned reputation as the hub of Southeast Asia when it comes to electronics manufacturing. Thanks to the Thai government’s acknowledgement of the contribution made by electrics and electronics industries to Thailand’s economic development, investment incentives remain an attractive prospect to major global players. The country’s well-diversified manufacturing sector accounts for 33.4 percent of the GDP. It is calculated that various industries, primarily steel and electronics manufacturers, generated employment for 22.5 percent of Thailand’s active population in 2020 (World Bank). At the centre of it all sits Stars Microelectronics, a well-established contract manufacturer of electronic goods based in Ayutthaya. Providing Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) and Outsourced Assembly and Test (OSAT) customers, Stars also specialise in Microelectronics Module Assembly (MMA) and Integrated Circuit Packaging (IC). We spoke with Chairman of the Executive Committee, Mr. Prompong Chaikul, who is…
Sri Lanka Association of Manufacturers and Exporters of Rubber Products (SLAMERP)
Sri Lanka’s Rubber Manufacturing and Export Industry Insight into Sri Lanka’s longstanding rubber industry and government-backed plans for expansionWriter: Phoebe Harper | Project Manager: Krisha Canlas The Pearl of the Indian Ocean has long enjoyed the benefits of its strategic location as the centre for East West trade across foreign waters. Ever since 1876, when 1,919 rubber seedlings were planted in the Henarathgoda Botanical Garden in Gampaha, prompting the birth of a lucrative supply chain that is yet to cease, Sri Lanka’s (then Ceylon’s) rubber industry has flourished. 70 percent of this natural rubber production is used by rubber manufacturing industries and their organizations, offering a wide portfolio of rubber-based products that are distributed globally. The most popular products include off-road and solid and pneumatic tyres and industrial/household rubber gloves. This stable industry has become a mainstay of Sri Lanka’s economic growth as the third largest export sector, with the United States, Germany and Belgium amongst Sri Lanka’s top rubber export markets. The Sri Lankan Association of Manufacturers and Exporters of Rubber Products, or ‘SLAMERP’ was born out of a need to organize and protect those trading in the country’s rubber manufacturing industry. For Chairman of the Association, Mr. Ravi Dadlani, Sri Lanka’s advancement within the global supply of rubber is a source of great pride. “The country has not only gained recognition as a sourcing destination for quality rubber products, but it has also over the decades transformed into a niche rubber manufacturing destination that has won the confidence of global brands and investors from around the world.”Our Story With the explicit vision…
Singapore Manufacturing Federation
Manufacturing in SingaporeSingapore has one of the world’s most innovative and advanced manufacturing industries, moving full throttle towards Industry 4.0 Writer: Dani Redd | Project Manager: Matt Cole-Wilkin Singapore has one of the world’s most stable economies. According to Bloomberg’s 2020 Innovation Index, it is the third most innovative economy in the world too, scoring high on tertiary efficiency and higher education enrolment. The country’s largest industry is manufacturing, which contributes around 20 of GDP every year. Key industries within the sector include electronics, chemicals and biomedical engineering – it is also the fourth largest exporter of high tech products in the world.Rapid growth Singapore’s manufacturing industry is growing rapidly, and appears to be bouncing back after lockdown. In September 2020 it jumped 24.2 percent year on year, which was far above economists’ projections of a 2.5 percent rise. While precision engineering and general manufacturing subsectors shrank, there was a huge rise in biomedical manufacturing, specifically pharmaceuticals (113.6 percent). The electronics subsector also rose by 45.3 percent. These are strong figures, which are even more remarkable bearing in mind the global pandemic. So what explains the strength of the manufacturing sector in Singapore?One reason is the country’s commitment to innovation and technology. When Singapore became an independent republic in 1965 it had a small, low productivity manufacturing industry, and quickly began working towards industrialisation. It quickly moved towards high-skilled and technology-intensive economic activity, introducing high-paid positions and easing out labour-intensive, low-paid positions through automated production and industrial robots. By the 1980s computers and electronics soon began to constitute the largest…
