About Us
 Datuk Dr. Wan Mohamed W.E. Chairman / Chief Executive Officer |
WSA - GROWING FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH REFLECTING UNITY IN DIVERSITY
The Group was established in 1995. The nucleus of the Group was founded by three key players: Wan, Sinnadurai and Antonio. They contributed their initials and laid the foundation of what WSA is today.
OUR BUSINESS
In the early years, WSA main business was in trading and consultancy.
The trading business was established based
on the strengths of the founding members. Antonio introduced the products produced
byhis family's company, King Wai Pty. Ltd. Singapore. Wan & Sinnadurai used their local contacts to promote and market the products in Malaysia.
The trading activity helped the newly established company to maintain a steady cash-flow and provide the foundation to plan and explore other business opportunities.
During their initial stage, the Group was also involved in providing some advisory services. The most significant work undertaken by the Group, in collaboration with Tropbio Forest, was to draw up the sustainable Forest Management Plan and Memorandum of Information covering an area of about 250,000ha with a lease period of 99 years for the State of Sabah, Malaysia.
A breakthrough came when the Group was appointed by the second national car manufacturer, Perodua in 1999 to manufacture and supply the headliners and steering column. Two new companies were formed to undertake the projects namely the WSA Capital Corporation (WCC) and WSA Engineering (WSAE).
OUR STRATEGIC BUSINESS PARTNERS
With the business activities growing at rapid rates, from a small concern into a medium-sized operation, some of the companies were restructured to include new strategic business partners to provide capital, widen networks, and ensure better management and controls. MPEM Sdn Bhd (MPEM) and MBM Resources Berhad (MBM) became the shareholders of the Group.
MPEM belongs to the family of the late Raja Tun Mohar bin Raja Badiozaman, while MBM is a company listed on the main Board of Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange.
The late Tun was the former Special Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister and also the Chairman of several large and successful institutions and corporations in Malaysia including Petronas (National Petroleum Corporation of Malaysia).
In 2002, the Group bought Carpets International Malaysia Manufacturing Sdn. Bhd. (CIM) and its related companies. However, there was a need to extend the time to bring about the needed turnaround for CIM, hence MBM agreed to increase its investment and WCC became its subsidiary company with more than 70% ownership in the WCC.
In mid-2010 MBM decided to divest all its interest in WCC to me, being the founder and management of WCC. To complete the buy over, new Private Equity investors (PE) and some senior staff were invited to take up some shares in WCC, However, I remain the majority shareholder and have been appointed as the Chairman / Chief Executive Officer of the Group.
OUR AUTOMOTIVE BUSINESS
To keep pace with the rapid development of the automotive industry, the Group has strong linkages with renowned global companies as technical partners (Figure II).
They are Nam Yang Industrial Co Ltd, PHC-Valeo Co Ltd, One Auto Korea, R+S Technik GmbH and EDAG Holdings Sdn Bhd of Germany, I.N.C Corporation Pty Ltd and Davies Craig Pty Ltd of Australia and raw material suppliers from Japan, Italy, China, India, Korea, Thailand, USA, Germany, Sweden and Belgium.
These strategic alliances supported by in-house research & development programs, have enabled the Group to design, manufacture and supply a wide range of car interior trims and Noise Vibration and Harshness (NVH) products, steering column assembly (until 2007), Direct Connection Damper Flywheel (DDF) and Damper Flywheel (DF) for continuous variable transmission (CVT).
In 2007, WCC joined three other companies, Thai Summit Group, Delloyd Ventures Berhad and W&A Ventures Sdn Bhd to form Autoparts Networks Alliances Sdn Bhd, a consolidated vendors group specializing in automotive interior trims and NVH Products.
In 2009, WCC took another bold but strategic move by acquiring the assets and business of Johnson Controls Automotive Interiors (JCAI), a subsidiary of a global company, Johnson Controls of USA. The latter is involved in the design, manufacturing and supply of door trims, headliners and interior systems for automobiles. This acquisition is very strategic as it further deepens the Group's involvement in car interior trims and NVH, an area with wide clientele based including Toyota Malaysia, Isuzu, Hyundai and Volvo.
The drive to be a fully integrated automotive trims and NVH products supplier shall continue. During the third quarter of 2010, the Group signed two Memorandum of Understanding (MOU); one was with an Australian company to carry out the technical and financial feasibility for WSA to manufacture the former patented product, Deci-Tex. The product will be used as one of the primary raw material in the production of interior trims and NVH products. The other MOU was with a local company that specializes in plastic injection, whereby their facilities and expertise can be integrated with WSA's current thermoforming processes.
The Group has recently signed the Technical and Commercial Agreement with Sanwa Kogyo Co Ltd of Japan
The Group's involvement in the automotive aftermarket business or commonly known as REM started in 2004. This is to capitalize on our local and global connections with the automotive parts manufacturers. This sub-sector offers significant growth potential in the Light Weight Vehicle (LMV) segment.
To support the development of our automotive aftermarket replacement parts (REM) and services centers we have trading partners and associates in most countries especially Korea, Japan and China.
This sector is expected to grow significantly in years to come where plans have been put in place to widen the scopes and depths of Automotive Aftermarket Business.
OUR BUSINESS DIVERSIFICATION
The Group has perfomed beyond expectations during the past 10 years with increasing number of products and services added to our portfolios. Additionally, we take pride in the growing number of new clients and partners. This reflects the market's confidence in WSA's capabilities.
We are confident that we will continue to grow between 20 to 30 percent per year of our current sales turn over. This is achievable by continuously strengthening, deepening and widening our product range, clients and services
The Group's ambition is to grow at a faster rate over the next 10 years (2010-2020), and achieve an annual sales turnover of more than RM 1.0 billion by 2020. To meet this target, the Group needs to accelerate the growth of its current non-auto business as well as evaluate other business portfolios that have potential for high growth, high return, less cyclical and sustainably compatible with the new economic models.
The diversification business plan shall be pursued through organic growth, merger and acquisition and/or joint ventures.
In this regard, Milliken of USA's (a global renowned modular carpet tiles manufacturer of over 145 years) appointment of CIM as a distributor in Malaysia in early 2010 was a welcoming start to further strengthen CIM business.
By 2020, WCC expects the non-auto businesses to contribute to more than 60 percent of its annual sale turnover and profit. It is a very ambitious growth target, but success starts with a dream.
MOVING FORWARD
The journey of WSA and the business challenges are indeed humbling experiences. As the Chairman/CEO, I would like to thank MBM personally, in particular its Chairman Dato' Abdul Rahim Halim for his past support and confidence in the management without which, WSA will not be where it is today.
To the new shareholders and Board members, I wish them a very warm welcome into the Group.
Together, I believe we can move forward positively in years ahead. The Group (WCC and WSA Industry) is set to record another important historical milestone of surpassing RM100 million sale turnover this year, 2010 (Figure III).
The next ten years shall be equally challenging and exciting as the Group embarks into systematic and well thought plans for vertical and horizontal diversification from the current business portfolios.
Besides implementing the business expansion plan, the Group also places high priority in continuous Human Resource Trainning and Development programs. The Growth Plans requires capable, dedicated, well trained, honest and loyal work force at all levels. The aim of our HR development and transformation is to identify the future leaders to lead the Group to greater heights.
I am also proud to announce that come next year on July 10, 2011 we shall be moving into our new Head Office that we can call home (Figure IV).
Finally, our objective is to establish WSA as one of the best local and regional player. The challenges are daunting, no doubt, but it will be a privilege journey for us to harness the opportunities as we grow and compete to position ourselves in the global market.
The Shareholders, Board of Directors and staff of the Group are very excited and
encouraged by this new development and look forward to playing more significant
roles in helping Malaysia achieve a developed nation status by 2020.
From the desk of
Chairman / Chief Executive Officer
