Perodua’s five-year strategic business road map achieves a key milestone as Akashi Kikai Industry (M) Sdn Bhd officially opens its new RM200 million transmission plant situated at Sendayan Tech Valley in Negri Sembilan today. Originally announced in 2010 as an automatic transmission plant supplying exclusively to Perodua, the plant’s portfolio has since expanded to include manual transmissions and other components.
Small volume production at the plant began last March, exactly two years after Akashi Kikai Co Ltd of Japan entered an agreement with Negri Sembilan’s Menteri Besar Incorporated (MBI) and developer BSS Development Sdn Bhd to acquire 113,000 square metres of land from the state to construct the plant. Initial size of the plant is approximately 13,000 square metres.
“It (the new plant) expanded production volume last summer (August) and achieved stable and full-capacity production status this year,” said Mr Noriyoshi Matsushita, President of Akashi Kikai Industry Co Ltd of Japan, at the launch.
To date, the plant has supplied more than 180,000 automatic transmissions to Perodua and it currently has an annual production of 200,000 transmissions per year. The plant is a full-fledged manufacturing facility complete with its own casting, machining, and assembling areas. Clean room environments ensure precise and dust-free assembly of transmissions.
Shareholding of Akashi Kikai Industry (M) Sdn Bhd are held by Akashi Kikai Industry Co Ltd, Daihatsu Motor Corporation, and Perodua at 51, 39, and 10 percent equities respectively. The company’s paid-up capital is RM100 million with 222 staff currently in its payroll. Nationalities of plant employees include Japanese (20), Malaysian (93), Nepalese (108), and Indonesian (1).
Adjacent to the Akashi Kikai plant at Sendayan, Perodua and Daihatsu are investing a further RM600 million to set up a new engine plant co-owned in 49:51 equity between the two companies.
The first five months of 2015 have seen Perodua produce some 99,900 vehicles and sell 92,000 of them, both figures being 15.2 and 18.4 percent year-on-year increases respectively from 2014. The company continues to be bouyed by strong demand for the Axia, which has received 119,000 orders since August 2014 and delivered 75,300 units. In view of this demand, Perodua’s annual sales target for 2015 has been officially raised to 208,000.
Keyword: New Akashi Kikai transmission plant opens in Sendayan, Negri Sembilan