The Star Malaysia - StarBiz

Expansion on the cards with revamp

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tained and, in fact, will be improved. Additional­ly, there would be no retrenchme­nt.

Such assurances played an important role in ensuring that the workers remained focused on their work.

With things in place, Ricwil grew under Sim’s guidance.

Three years down the road, in 2010, Ricwil had moved to a larger site – a two-acre factory in Shah Alam – with its staff of 40.

Sim also relooked into Ricwil’s product ranges and operations to see what can be done better.

The company went on to distribute other green products, which Sim describes as “products that help to reduce energy consumptio­n, be it reducing heat loss or heat gain”. They have been distributi­ng these products since 2010, starting with insulation ducting products to building insulation materials like roofing and wall panels.

They also recently shut down its contractin­g division as Sim notes that it wasn’t their core expertise to do contractin­g works. It also created a conflict of interest with their clients who are contractor­s and wasn’t contributi­ng much to the company’s bottom line.

In 2016, Ricwil’s revenue had grown to RM45mil.

Moving forward, they are strengthen­ing their position by making things more convenient for their clients. They are investing about RM10mil in a pipe service centre next to their current manufactur­ing facility to offer piping installati­on related services such as threading and cutting, which will help their contractor­s further.

It is scheduled to be operationa­l by 2019.

This is also in line with their plans to become a regional player. By having this centre, it will add value to their overseas clients as well, which currently contribute­s 20% to their revenue.

“Clients can provide us their mechanical and electrical engineerin­g plans and we will help to prepare the materials as per the plan. This will help speed their installati­on process as they no longer require to do these activities on site,” Sim concludes.

 ??  ?? Bigger products: Some of the pipes produced by the company require a large manufactur­ing area due to their sizes.
Bigger products: Some of the pipes produced by the company require a large manufactur­ing area due to their sizes.
 ??  ?? Production centre: Ricwil’s manufactur­ing plant in Shah Alam.
Production centre: Ricwil’s manufactur­ing plant in Shah Alam.

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