Beststone to Set up Marketing Arm in Malaysia

Malaysia is the heart of the world's natural rubber industry. With approximately 6 million hectares of rubber growing area, Malaysia produces almost 20% of the world's natural rubber and is the third largest exporter of natural rubber worldwide. Malaysian rubber is regarded as the best in the world, and it still leads the world in terms of R&D as well as support for the material and all the industries that use it. All the above reasons have made Malaysia so attractive to Johny Kwandy, CEO of Beststone Group, that he has decided to set up a marketing arm in Malaysia. "Malaysia enjoys an exceptional advantage. Apart from rich natural resources, Malaysia has a stable political environment, a healthy and growing economy, and most importantly, we are able to find the right personnel in the rubber related industry such as retreading and rubber compounding, " Johny said.

Founded in Indonesia in 1979, Beststone's parent company is mainly engaged in rubber, shoe and printing industries. After years of steady and consistent growth, the Group has expanded into China. In 2006, the company invested substantial capital to establish Dongguan Beststone Rubber Co., Ltd in Dongguan city, Guangdong, China. Tread rubber and cushion gum are its two main products.

With 30 years of experience and expertise in rubber compounding and retreading equipment, Johny is keen to share his knowledge with the local retreaders. "There are about 80 retreaders in Malaysia. The reason we are here is not to compete with them, but to help the retreaders through our franchise programme so that they are able to grow bigger and stronger. Thus, our retreading plant is our training centre as well as a model plant. Just like our rubber compound manufacturing is 90% intended for the export market and 10% for the local market. "

The total site is about 3 acres at the Senawang Industries Park, Seremban, including a manufacturing facility that occupies 1 acre of land plus a marketing office. The plant, says Johny, is fully automatic and environmentally friendly. "

We will implement an 'Intelligent Information Control System" in this plant, that uses a bar code system to monitor the production process through to product shipment. Besides that, the whole plant uses a monorail system that increases productivity by cutting down on the risk of casing contamination and which allows for faster loading and unloading of tyres. In addition, it increases the work place safety and cleanliness."

According to Johny, after the establishment of the Malaysian plant, the group's plant capacity will be 30,000 tonnes per year with the aim to expand to 50,000 tonnes by 2012. It is expected that the plant will have its trial run in May, and an initial opening sometime in June.

As for the franchise programme, Johny said the company is aiming to build an important franchise programme that delivers results. The retreaders, which invest in the franchise system will benefit from the vast experience of the company, raw material and turnkey equipment supply and training as well as technology backup from Beststone.

Compared with other franchise programme providers, Beststone claims to have many advantages. Its accumulated experience in the industry enables the company to better understand the market trends, product and equipment, as well as the challenges that are faced by the retreaders. As a raw material supplier, Beststone is able to produce a quality and consistent product with a reasonable price, and as a retreading equipment supplier, Beststone is able to provide the right equipment, technical backup and good after sales services. "

Once we have built up our marketing arm, I am confident that we will be able to expand nationally, and also into other Asian countries, such as China, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, as well as Europe, Australia and Middle East, " said Johny.

Issue 2010/2