Heralding PLWS as a Benchmarking Tool for Productivity: IMetal (M) Sdn. Bhd
The impact of PLWS onto IMetal, as quoted from the Director, is "tremendous." According to him, the programme encourages a 'Symbiotic Ecosystem', whereby the items needed to produce efficiency and consistent productivity are feeding into each other. At the same time, the benefits of the model contribute to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs which is often what companies would like to achieve in the long run.
Aligning Employee Commitment through Productivity-Linked Wage System (PLWS): Bumi Emas Services
One of the major impact of implementing PLWS is BES was instilling enhanced morals or ethics within staff to be more productive. Since the company is small in size, the need to retain talent is a priority, therefore, it's to also ensure the stability of workers while reducing the need to retrench staff during challenging times. The PLWS model has also improved the work scope and strengthen teamwork which generally motivates work cooperation which reinforce unity. Teamwork promotes loyalty to work harder to support organisation objectives in accordance with the staff's skill. This will also increase the likelihood for the staff to move up from its current level.
Peeking into the Best Packaging Business Practice
“After being in the market for almost 25 years, it was time for Multiplex to challenge itself by going out of its comfort zone. In the years of our operation, we never really focused on improving our work processes which could minimise our operational cost, but instead focusing on increasing our number of sales. When we joined the SPPE programme, we realised the importance of implementing Lean in our company and how it contributes to our profi ts as well. Upon completion of the programme, we were able to execute three Lean projects that made signifi cant impacts in our business operation. Through the projects, we identified the wastages in our work processes and came up with more than 11 Kaizen solutions that can reduce or eliminate the wastages and subsequently save our overall costs about RM300,000 in a year. Not only that, we also managed to achieve a zero reject rate that ultimately fulfi ls our customers' high quality demand and satisfaction.” - Mr. Ker Chong Liong, Managing Director, Multiplex Packaging Sdn Bhd
Small Improvements Go A Long Way
The PPKV project from the collaboration between MPC and MEDAC is a successful initiative that exposed AISB to the need for continuous improvement to increase production efficiency. It is a catalyst for mobilising AISB to try to develop applications internally by optimising the use of existing resources. This given challenge succeeded in improving the skills of our engineers who were previously only focused on production. Through this newly developed system, the output can be optimised as a result of effective monitoring. PPKV has also successfully inculcated a culture of innovation and creativity among employees in the production line. Now, employees have understood the methods to determine the issues in inefficiency in the work process, and to generate ideas to resolve the issues to meet the demands of AISB customers. The elimination of wastage in the work process has also been successfully implemented and this initiative will be continued to increase the capacity of our plant in the future.
Thriving in a Competitive Environment
As a vendor in the telecommunications industry, the aim of this company has always been to provide quality fiber optic installation and maintenance services to our anchor company clients. This is a key strategy in growing our business as a result of the trust that our anchor clients provide. Our involvement in the PPKV programme has exposed all our employees to the need to improve work efficiency, which in turn can eliminate waste and bring much improvement in service quality. Close guidance from MPC is one of the main factors in the success of this business enhancement project, as well as the support by MEDAC as the project’s key funder. In addition, the initiative to develop our own system using own funds has greatly helped the company in increasing productivity in various aspects of the business. We will continue to make sustained improvements because we believe that this effort can increase the company’s sales, which have already been felt since the implementation of PPKV.
Profitting from the 'Fruits' of Education, Collaboration and Value Creation
Founder of K-Farm, Kit Chan thinks that there are more to contract farming that are often overlooked by eager farming agropreneurs. From his observation of the contract farming model, Kit Chan believes many wrongly assume that growing produce automatically leads to profit. “The truth is, many farmers do not understand that profit comes from income, and income comes from not only the price, but also the quantity of produce that they can supply. Thus, profit is not necessarily derived from price alone. When farmers fail to understand this, many would hop from one buyer or another in the search of an extra 10 cent of revenue. This then leads to an unsteady relationship with buyers whereby trust cannot be developed in the longer term,” says Kit Chan.
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The Sweet Taste of Agropreneurship
MGROW is a contract farmer that supplies its fresh produce to the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA) and to private companies mainly in the northern region of the country. In the international front, it has also brokered exporting deals to China, a promising market for the tropical fruit. Ting shares, “The market here has been very welcoming. We are excited to get an overwhelming enquiry from distributors and exporters, to the point that we had to say ‘no’ to some! It is a good problem and has boosted our confidence in the product. But we recognise the high-demand and we plan to expand our farm soon so we can venture into more contract opportunities.” For MGROW, contract farming is a strategic component of the business growth. “Contract farming provides a set target that allows us to make precise decisions on how many acres of pineapples we are growing, how many the farm will produce, and when it will be harvested. Once the pineapples are planted, the only focus is to ensure we meet the deliverables,” says Ting.
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Getting Started: FLFAM President shares advice for Beginner Contract Farmers
With the increasing focus on food security and safety, digitalisation is the way forward for the industry. Tan reiterates that the first criteria to truly benefit from technology is to implement a closed-house farm system. Aside from providing a better system in maintaining the climate, ventilation, watering system and sanitation, it is also the key in improving disease-control.
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Towards a Vision of Shared Prosperity and Sustainability
“Even though Aqina Group is now fully-integrated, we also provide local farmers with the opportunity to participate in contract farming as well. This is in line with the government’s initiative towards shared prosperity and we support this vision wholeheartedly. At the same time, we are proud to contribute to the national economy by supporting local farmers, instead of relying on foreign labour. This ensures shared prosperity throughout the broiler chicken supply chain in Malaysia,” says Wesley Tan Seah Ging, Group Executive Director of Aqina Group.
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From A Humble Chicken Supplier to Large-scale Contract Farmer
When starting one’s own contract farming business, there are a few key factors to consider. One must first have land to operate the farm, whether it is one’s own land, or rented from other farmers – with license to operate a chicken farm. They also need to have the know-how in managing collaborations with integrators to ensure quality of chicks and the chicken feed are not compromised, or at an optimum level that does not negatively affect productivity levels.