40,000 Wajas Produced

40,000 Wajas Produced

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Proton today completed the 40,000th unit of the Waja since production of the model began in September 2000. On hand to give the milestone car, a silver 1.6, its final quality check was Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad. At a simple ceremony in the Medium Volume Factory which only produces the Waja, the PM went through the checklist with Proton QC staff and finally affixed the ‘LULUS’ sticker to the rear left quarter-glass of the car.

Prior to the ceremony, the PM toured the MVF which was specially built for the purpose of producing the Waja. It has a present capacity of 60,000 units a year which works out to 5,000 units a month. This can be increased to 80,000 units a year with an additional investment of RM50 million. The 800 workers have been putting in a great deal of effort to produce more cars to try to shorten the waiting list (which started with over 32,000 orders) and monthly production exceeded 5,000 units in June this year. It takes about 27 hours to assemble a car or about 25.2 man-hours per unit.

The RM400 million factory, which operates on two shifts, is one of the most advanced in ASEAN as it has a high degree of automation. Unlike the main plant which does the other models, the MVF is designed for modular production. In this type of production, less assembly of small components is carried out in the plant and the suppliers deliver larger pre-built units such as the dashboard and door module. The Waja presently has 14 modules, which has reduced the number of components to be installed by 25%.

According to Tengku Tan Sri (Dr) Mahaleel, Proton’s CEO, the various processes in the MVF have helped Proton reduce its production cost per car by 11.3% since 1997. However, he is not satisfied with this reduction and says that greater efforts will be made to bring costs down.

This is understandable as Proton’s rivals have also achieved cost reductions over the years and in the highly competitive auto industry today, the name of the game is getting the cost as low as possible. This is being done through squeezing suppliers to lower their prices as well as increasing productivity and efficiency. Besides these approaches taken, Proton is also cutting its costs through design and engineering.

Commenting on the MVF after his tour, the PM said that he was greatly impressed with the progress made by Proton and its capabilities today. He noted that in earlier days, the cars sold in Malaysia were mostly from UK; today, however, there is no longer a true British car but there is still a truly Malaysian car by Proton.

The Prime Minister also continued to stress that Proton would not be sold off to foreign parties and said that “we will resist this move as long as possible”. He said that, instead, strategic partnerships and technical tie-ups would be considered.

No mention was made of the next product which Proton will introduce although it is widely known that it will be a mini-MPV based on the Mitsubishi Town Box. The 1.1-litre model is already in production at the AMM plant in Pekan, Pahang, and is likely to be launched this month.

There was also no news of the availability of the more luxurious Waja 1.6X version (although a unit is being displayed in the Proton head office lobby) but the company announced that the Renault-engined Waja 1.8 will go into production during the first quarter of 2002.

While at the factory, the PM was taken around in a unique long-wheelbase Waja. This prototype was not built by ACE, the EON subsidiary well known for its conversion of Proton models, but was built by Proton engineers in-house. It has a 1.8-litre engine and the interior is equipped for the executive on the move. It has a full complement of mobile office equipment, including a fax machine, printer and video-conferencing facilities. A Proton source said that there were no plans to offer such a variant.

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