New phase: Hollingshead (left) and Kagan launching Insulet’s new plant in Johor. The company expects increase its workforce threefold in the coming years.
ISKANDAR PUTERI: US-based Insulet Corp (Insulet) plans to expand its Malaysian manufacturing plant in the coming years as part of the company’s US$200mil investment in Johor.
According to its president and chief executive officer Jim Hollingshead, the maker of medical devices planned to increase the number of its employees to more than 1,000 at its facility here from 350 currently.
“We want to position and develop the Malaysian operation as a regional hub for the manufacturing of our tubeless insulin pump under the Omnipod brandname,” Hollingshead told StarBiz.
Hollingshead said this after the opening ceremony of the Insulet Malaysia plant at the Southern Industrial and Logistics Clusters. The event was officiated by United States Ambassador to Malaysia Edgar D. Kagan.
The new manufacturing facility was designed with sustainable elements to eventually achieve both Green Building Index certification and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver certification.
Also present at the event were Johor Investment, Trade and Consumer Affairs Committee chairman and Iskandar Malaysia Regional Development Authority chief executive Datuk Dr Badrul Hisham Kassim.
He said the products made by the Johor facility would be marketed in the United States as well as 26 other countries.
“We are also considering marketing our products to countries in the Asian region in the coming years as they offer good growth prospects and business opportunities for us,’’ said Hollingshead.
He said there were approximately 537 million people with diabetes worldwide, including roughly 64 million who require insulin.
Meanwhile, Insulet senior vice-president of global operations Prem Singh said the Johor plant will see the number of production lines increasing to five from the existing two under future expansion plans.
“We started the test runs at the new facility May this year and production began last month, and all systems working smoothly,’’ he said.
Prem said the 400,000sq ft Johor plant is twice the size of the company’s highly automated manufacturing facility in Acton, Massachusetts, in the United States,
He pointed out that the new manufacturing facility would strengthen the company’s global capabilities and supply chain resiliency.
Insulet Malaysia Sdn Bhd general manager Darren Oh said hiring Johoreans and locals would not be easy due to Johor’s proximity to Singapore.
Furthermore, he noted the strength of the Singapore dollar against the ringgit was the major attraction for thousands of Malaysians commuting to the city-state daily to work.
“Our 350 employees are all locals, who are highly skilled and experienced in operating our state-of-art highly automated equipment,’’ said Oh.
He said the company offered competitive salaries in the market, a conducive working environment, training and career-growth prospects including reskilling and upskilling.
The company also worked closely with vocational institutions and universities in hiring workers who were multi-taskers and technology driven, Oh added.
“We do have expatriates from China and the United States assigned at our Johor plant to assist our Malaysian employees as of now,’’ he said, adding that locals will take over once they have the experience.
Founded in the United States in 2000, Insulet has been pioneering tubeless, waterproof insulin delivery for nearly 25 years.
The company is a global leader in tubeless insulin pump technology.
“Our new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Malaysia positions us strategically to stay ahead of the huge demand for Omnipod, ensuring our customers have uninterrupted access to our products from this thriving region with great talent,” Hollingshead said after the launch.
