BMW’s Regional Parts Distribution Centre in Johor
BMW Malaysia yesterday had a groundbreaking ceremony for its new Regional Parts Distribution Centre here at Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) in Gelang Patah, Johor. The
new facility is a cornerstone to the company’s Asia strategy as the BMW Group pursues its twin goals of expansion and growth in this fast-growing market.
“The BMW Group aims to double its sales in Asia within the next five years and, naturally, the new Regional Parts Distribution Centre is central to providing the platform for that increase,” said BMW Malaysia’s Managing Director, Wolfgang Schlimme.
The new Regional Parts Distribution Centre located at Port of Tanjung Pelepas will have a capacity of 15,000 sq metres for warehousing and is expandable to 18,000 sq metres, should the need arise. The facility will occupy approximately 10.84 acres of space at PTP; with 1,100 sq metres to be used as office space.
The total investment for the new Regional Parts Distribution Centre, expected to begin operations in August 2004 is about RM36.7 million. It will serve 19 markets in the Asia-Pacific region.
“Malaysia provides the ideal environment for growth as it is led by a forward-thinking government and possesses a strong future-based economy, a well-educated population and modern infrastructure for effective communications and governance. This centre will further raise the profile of Malaysia in the region and across the world as, on a daily basis, the BMW Group in Asia and all of its customers will be dependent on us for smooth delivery of parts and accessories. It also sends a clear signal to other multinational corporations, about the BMW Group’s confidence in Malaysia,” added Mr Schlimme.
According to BMW Group Senior Vice President, Parts and Accessories, Christian John von Freyend, the BMW parts business has been performing strongly, in tandem with sales of new cars.
“The building of this Regional Parts Distribution Centre will allow us to create more jobs for people here while of course also giving more business opportunities to local partners.
We are confident that we will have access to a very talented and well qualified workforce,” he added.
BMW Malaysia, which officially began operations on August 1 2003, is currently building its headquarters in Cyberjaya with a state-of-the-art facility which will also house the Regional Group Data Centre. The latter is one of only three in the world and will serve the entire Asian region. Combined with the new Regional Parts Distribution Centre and other investments, BMW Group’s investments in Malaysia total at RM92.74 million.
“This is part of our continued investment here in Malaysia. We chose Malaysia as the focus of our investments in the region because we recognise that it is a key market for us,” said Mr Schlimme.
