SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS S
IRIM Bhd has identified key strategies for next year that include increasing business growth and productivity, strengthening linkages and collaboration as well as nurturing high performance culture to deliver impactful outcomes.
President and group chief executive Datuk Dr Zainal Abidin Mohd Yusof said SIRIM will work to transform itself into a self-sustaining research and development institution, capable of meeting the growing needs of stakeholders, businesses and end users.
“The weaker economic situation has somehow affected our financial concerns but we will continue to deliver our services and work with the industry in meeting their requirements without being reliant on the government,” he said.
He said SIRIM will have to transform itself from working on technology-push projects to industry- driven projects.
This is the game changer and to do this, SIRIM will have to “revolutionise” the way it transacts businesses, including processes, mind-sets and competencies, he said.
“We will use technology to improve SMEs’ productivity. We will provide solutions and develop market-driven research.
“We will continue to innovate and build capabilities and capacities in new growth areas with the support of the government to facilitate market access for companies. We hope to nurture them to become export driven companies,”hesaid.
Zainal Abidin said SIRIM will continue to focus on delivering the SIRIM Fraunhofer Programme to increase small and medium enterprises (SMEs) productivity as mandated by the government.
“They (Fraunhofer, Germany) have about 67 different institutions that focuses on technological solutions for theindustr .
They focus on specific companies using technology as a vehicle. It is a good model to follow,” he said.
Last year, the SIRIM Fraunhofer Programme kicked off its first collaborative effort with a technology audit programme to assess companies in terms of their technology management capabilities and capacities to improve productivity and competitiveness.
Zainal Abidin said SIRIM sees opportunities overseas as well as in the manufacturing sector which is making a move up the value chain.
SIRIM is considering more research and development designs, industrial software and automation, green manufacturing, 3D printing and other manufacturing processes, ranging from the supply and value chain to the end of product’s lifecycle and beyond.
Under a five-year transformation plan (2013-2017), SIRIM has been able to provide the industry and end-users total solutions in research and development, and testing and certification through its core businesses in three areas - technology development, technical services and conformity assessment.
“With our strategic plan, we have started to see improved earnings compared with previous years. Cost management is one of the ways to keep our company sustainable,” he said.
“Several measures have been implemented that cover restructuring of the company and redeployment of the staff,” said Zainal Abidin.
In a move to consolidate SIRIM’s operations and services, a number of functions at SIRIM’s regional offices have been taken over by the headquarters. Testing and measurement services will still remain at the SIRIM regional offices.
Zainal Abidin said SIRIM continues to make improvements in the number of stakeholders that it helps each year.
This year, 87 technology audits were completed, 41 SMEs’ growth nurture projects were approved, 24 technology uptakes were approved and two innovation, three industry standards were produced.
Others include delivery service to green-blue packaging industry in collaboration with KeTTHA for biodegradable packaging projects as well as providing training to 522 entrepreneurs from Angkasa, MARA, ECER EEDP, Lembaga Kemajuan Johor Tenggara.