THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF SCANDINAVIAN INDUSTRIALISED BUILDING SYSTEMS

SPEECH BY YAB CHOW KON YEOW, CHIEF MINISTER OF PENANG

FOR THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF SCANDINAVIAN

INDUSTRIALISED BUILDING SYSTEMS

20 September 2019

 

 

 

A very good afternoon to all of you.

Firstly, I would like to thank SIBS for inviting me to be part of the grand opening ceremony of its production facility in Penang. I am delighted to see that a Swedish company has chosen Penang as its destination of choice for investment.

Penang is well known for many investors from European countries, particularly those from Germany. However, we only have a handful of Swedish companies in Penang. Following the latest addition of SIBS, I hope that more companies from Sweden will be aware of the competitiveness and capabilities of Penang and will consider us for their future expansion.

Despite being established in Penang only in 2017, SIBS is now in the midst of preparing for its next phase of expansion. I was informed that SIBS currently is working closely with InvestPenang and PDC on the plan of constructing a new facility of about 500 thousand square feet at North Penang Science park, which is less than a kilometre from here.

The capacity of this upcoming facility is four times the capacity of the current factory that stands here today. This means that the new plant can facilitate the production of more than 7,000 units of apartments annually. I am pleased that this upcoming factory will create more than 600 job opportunities in Penang, which is more than double of SIBS’s current headcount.   

Without a doubt, SIBS’s expansion plan is the evidence of Penang’s strong competitive edge in meeting investors’ stringent requirements in areas such as the government support, infrastructure, supply chain and talent.

Ladies and gentlemen,

We are no strangers to the Industrialised Building Systems (or IBS)

industry and in fact it’s growing at a rapid pace in Malaysia. Nevertheless, when I first heard about the investment from SIBS in Penang and its capability of completing the apartment units in a factory, I was impressed. Each industry players may produce different components and different levels of completion and quality, and with SIBS in the playing field, it is clear that there is a common goal – which is to industrialise and optimize the construction industry.

The world population is growing and the need for more intelligent and faster construction methods is on the agenda of many countries, including Malaysia. SIBS engineers, a combination of Swedes and Malaysians, have taken on an important mission and I am impressed by the results. It is very rewarding to see how people from two distanced countries work together in developing and building a system, which is deemed to be one of the most advanced building systems in the world.

Penang has more than 50 years of industrial experience in the semiconductor and E&E industry and equally doing very well in the medical devices industry for the past 15 years. The vast pool of engineering talents in these fields is one of the key factors of our success story. With SIBS on board, I am glad to see that Penang is now placed on the world map of the IBS industry. With the advanced technology that SIBS has developed, I am sure that Penang’s engineering expertise in IBS will soon be propelled to the next level and this may also create the spill-over effect on the whole supply chain.

Ladies and gentlemen,

With the close collaborative relationship between the business community and the State government, I am hopeful that we can work towards realising my Penang2030 vision. Through the State’s persistent emphasis on advanced readiness of the manufacturing industry for the digital age, I am hopeful that Penang State will be a role model that inspires the nation in modernizing the country’s manufacturing industry.   

Through InvestPenang, the state government is committed to continuously facilitate and provide our utmost support in assisting SIBS’s growth and presence in Penang. I look forward to seeing your new plant come to fruition in 2021 and I wish you a great success.

Thank you.