AUTOKEEN SEES STRONG DEMAND FOR AUTO PARTS, TO RECOUP LOSSES BY OCT

By Aishah Mohmad Afandi

CYBERJAYA, Aug 13 -- Autokeen Sdn Bhd, a vendor for a domestic car manufacturer, expects to recoup the losses it incurred during the Movement Control Order (MCO) over the next two months.

Managing director Asyraf Abdul Rahman said the company which employs 280 workers was severely hit during the MCO when all economic activities were not allowed to take place. 

"However, after the period ends and business resumes as usual, we received pent-up demand from car manufacturers. Overall (this year), the impact will be marginal, and we project this year to remain stable," he said to Bernama today.

On the labour front, he said 60 per cent of the company's workforce were locals, most of whom are highly skilled workers, while the remaining 40 per cent comprised foreigners engaged for the lower-skilled jobs. 

As for cash flow, he said the situation remained a little tight but manageable for now.

The company secures an average order book worth RM6 million per month. 

Autokeen is involved in the business of stamping and sub-assembly of metal components especially for the automotive industry, and is one of the vendors for Perodua. 

Asked on the future of electric vehicles in Malaysia, Asyraf said the interest is there, but it would take another five to seven years to ensure that all the required infrastructure, such as charging ports, were in place.

"This trend will start with higher-end or luxury vehicles first before moving to affordable cars. 

"In this period, affordable cars will move towards hybrid or higher energy combustion vehicles," he added. 

Earlier, seven companies received the CEO/Owner Growth Mindset Programme (COGMP) certificates from the Malaysia Automotive, Robotics and IoT Institute (MARii). 

MARii chief executive officer Datuk Madani Sahari said the COGMP is designed to instil a collective growth mindset from the companies' top management which directly influences the culture, performance, and operations. 

"Since its initiation in 2017, top participating companies in COGMP have recorded a reduction of between 45 per cent and 91 per cent in customer complaints," he said after the COGMP sharing session and certificate presentation here, today. 

The seven companies that have graduated from COGMP are Autokeen Sdn Bhd, Ohta Precision (M) Sdn Bhd, WSA Engineering Sdn Bhd, Ueda Plating (M) Sdn Bhd, Kah Hong Precision Tooling Sdn Bhd,  Kasai Teck See (M) Sdn Bhd, and Industrial Quality Management Sdn Bhd.

COGMP is a business enhancement programme designed by MARii in collaboration with Perodua to transform the mindset of top management and business owners in achieving world-class levels of competitiveness and sustainability. 

-- BERNAMA