Malaysian motorcycle joint venture celebrates move to new factory

Construction has been completed on a new factory facility for Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd.'s motorcycle manufacturing joint venture in Malaysia, Hong Leong Yamaha Motor Sdn. Bhd. (Managing Director: Ron Lim Kim Chai; company name abbreviation: HLYM) and the first motorcycles have come off the line. To celebrate the official move to the new facility, an opening ceremony was held on July 18, 1997, attended by such dignitaries as the Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry, Mr. Dato' Seri Rafidah Aziz, representatives from YMC's joint venture partner Hong Leong Industries Bhd (President & CEO: Kwek Leng San, company name abbreviation: HLI) and YMC's President Takehiko Hasegawa.

As of mid-April of this year, HLYM has moved from its old factory in Shah Alam, Selangor, to its new premises in Sungai Buloh in the same state (25 km north of the capital Kuala Lumpur). Operations in the manufacture of 100 cc to 600 cc motorcycles began in April with 440 employees at the new 33,000 square meter factory working toward an annual production goal of 120,000 units. HLYM was founded in 1979 as a joint venture between YMC and Malaysia's HLI, a holding company with interests in manufacturing and selling motorcycles, semi-conductors, tile and other products. At that time the company was capitalized at approximately 1.2 billion yen, with HLI investing 69.4% and YMC 30.6%.

Coinciding with HLYM's factory move, the group's sales company and parts manufacturing company have also moved to the facilities on the same grounds. These moves have increased the production capacity of the new factory from the former 100,000 units to 180,000 units per year, while also enabling the consolidation of manufacturing and sales operations that were previously located at a distance.

In Malaysia today, motorcycles are an important means of transportation in the daily lives of the people. The present market demand of 330,000 units (1996) has been growing at an annual rate of 5%, with underbone type models constituting more than 80% of the total demand. With the recent moves to the new premises and the founding of the new motorcycle development company HL Yamaha Motor Research Centre Sdn. Bhd, which brings together all operations from R&D and manufacturing to sales together on one factory complex, the Hong Leong Yamaha group will work to realize an even more timely supply of higher quality products that are better tailored to the specific needs of the Malaysian market.

* Figures calculated at \45 = 1 Malaysian dollar