IN VIEW of rapid development in Southeast Asia, construction material giant Saint-Gobain has invested in a new plant to produce advanced solution for construction applications, including a large variety of mortars, waterproofing and construction chemicals solutions.
Located on a 50,000 sq metres land in Johor, the plant will be devoted to serve the company’s growing Malaysian and Singaporean markets.
Saint-Gobain has been present in Malaysia for over 20 years. This new factory is its fifth industrial set-up in Malaysia and the 28th in Southeast Asia.
The expansion in Asia-Pacific constitutes one of the top priorities for Saint-Gobain as a future regional manufacturing hub to support ASEAN countries and beyond.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to accelerate the adoption of digital technologies to be applied in the manufacturing of products,” commented the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) CEO Arham Abdul Rahman.
“We are confident that Saint-Gobain will further benefit from Malaysia’s strategic location, comprehensive global trade agreements, competitive cost of doing business, multi-facetted talent pool as well business friendly policies.”
This latest addition to Saint-Gobain’s footprints in Malaysia gathers the best of the company’s technologies and manufacturing processes. The new plant is also designed to produce 3D printing solutions to support the company’s pioneer positioning in this new market segment. The capacity of the plant is scalable for future demands.
Moreover, to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the new plant will utilise natural gas with lower carbon dioxide emission. Saint-Gobain is committed to continually seek out and invest in Industry 4.0, recycling, raw material and energy reduction to reach its desired goal.
“This investment in Johor is a tangible proof of the long term commitment of Saint-Gobain with Malaysia and Southeast Asia,” Saint-Gobain Asia-Pacific senior vice-president and CEO Javier Gimeno pointed out.
“Indeed, we are convinced of the huge potential of development in these geographies whose markets are increasingly driven by innovation, technology, products’ performance and genuine respect of the environment. At Saint-Gobain we strive every day to excel in all these fields so that we can bring to our clients and the final users the best value proposition.” – May 25, 2021
