Edwards Lifesciences to invest RM100 million in Malaysia
Malaysia is our choice to house our new BSC for the JAPAC region due to its cultural diversity, highly-capable multilingual talent pool, business-friendly policies and strong infrastructure.
Dr Huimin Wang, Edwards Lifesciences’ corporate vice president Japan, Asia and Pacific
KUCHING: Global medical technology company Edwards Lifesciences ( Edwards) expects to invest RM 100 million in Malaysia over the next five years through its new regional business service centre ( BSC) located at KL Eco City.
Edwards, based in California, US, is the global leader in patient- focused innovations for structural heart disease and critical care monitoring. More than 60 years ago, it was the first company to develop a commercially viable heart valve.
The new Edwards BSC is expected to provide key support functions such as Finance, IT, Supply Chain, HR, Digital Health, Marketing and Quality Assurance to seven (7) of f ices across the Japan, Asia and Pacific( JAPAC) region.
In the next phase of BSC growth, Edwards plans on setting up an analytics Centre of Excellence and hopes to attract talented employees with expertise in artificial intel l igence and machine learning, data management, big data analytics and digital, to join the company.
These talents will help support business needs in the JAPAC region out of the KL BSC office, and more importantly, use their expertise to help patients with structural heart disease.
Officiating the launch ceremony was Deputy Minister of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry ( MITI) Dr Ong Kian Ming, United States Ambassador to Malaysia Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir, Edwards Lifesciences’ corporate vice president Japan, Asia and Pacific Dr Huimin Wang and chief executive officer of Invest KL, Datuk Zainal Amanshah.
“Malaysia is our choice to house our new BSC for the JAPAC region due to its cultural diversity, highly-capable multilingual talent pool, business- friendly policies and strong infrastructure.
“We are aiming to add more than 100 new employees over the next three years, and we are looking to source local talent to fill these positions,” said Wang.
“Edwards’ heart valve was first successfully implanted in a Malaysian at the National Heart Institute ( IJN) and in the past five years alone, more than 3,700 patients in Malaysia have received Edwards’ heart valve repair or replacement therapies.
“We are in the business of saving people’s lives and we are looking for likeminded individuals to join us and grow with us, and also to help us build and strengthen our community engagement throughout Malaysia,” he added.
Edwards’ initial hiring plans for 2019 are focused on adding approximately 60 new employees that will take on corporate services roles and business leadership positions.
Edwards aims to provide educational and professional opportunities to its employees to grow their abilities not only in Malaysia, but also across the region.
It also intends to of fer community engagement activities through employee volunteerism and the Edwards Lifesciences Foundation, which was established to strengthen and support Edwards’ passion for helping people around the world.