PETALING JAYA: Powerwell Holdings Bhd
is confident that its plan to significantly increase its market presence and technological capabilities will bode well for it.
And, being the only public-listed company on Bursa Malaysia that produces and exports electrical switchboards, it has the goods to back it up.
According to executive director Soh Wei Wei, the company deals mainly in the production of low and medium voltage switchboards.
“There are a number of industries that need these switchboards like infrastructure, construction, and data centres. We will be leveraging on that.
“Our uniqueness is that we can customise the switchboards to suit different sectors,” he told StarBiz.
Powerwell records RM12mil in sales of switchboards on a monthly basis and its buyers are from the local construction industry including Gamuda Bhd and IJM Corp Bhd.
It also exports to Bangladesh, Vietnam, Pakistan, Cambodia, Indonesia and Australia.
Most of the manufacturing is done in Malaysia, but the company also has factories in Indonesia, as well as local distributors in Thailand and Singapore.
Some of Indonesia’s airports are sourcing switchboards from Powerwell.
“The various government projects in Indonesia are approved by the local authorities, we are aiming to enlarge our presence to Kalimantan,” Soh said.
As for Bangladesh, he said: “We have been there for more than 15 years. We started with line switchboards and then moved into switchboards for textile factories. We are venturing into solar plants and will be focusing on two solar projects.”
Powerwell expects to begin supplying switchboards to Bangladesh towards the end of the year.
Another country which is on Powerwell’s radar is the Philippines.
Its government, according to Soh, has been encouraging data centre projects as well as infrastructure.
“We have submitted a few tenders and have some quotations and negotiations to conduct there with our partners. We expect to start exporting next year,” he said.
It has been supplying switchboards to the Philippines but had to stop when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
“We are keen to enter again as its infrastructure projects are starting again. It’s a good time to be going back,” he said.
As for Australia, Powerwell already supplies switchboards to a car manufacturing plant.
“Our aim is to become a one-stop solution provider for electrical switchboards and we want to be more than just a manufacturer.
“Our switchboards are produced according to British standards which had also made it easy for us to go into the Asean countries,” he said.
To cater to the ongoing projects as well as future ones, Soh said its factories in Johor and Jakarta would be expanded in terms of more machinery as well as talent.
Allocations for the expansion plans had been set between RM150mil and RM300mil.
“Talent is definitely an issue, we see many engineers going to Singapore to work. Switchboard making is a hands-on process so we need human capital for this. Automation can be used maybe for the internal processes and tracking but at the end of the day, we need more engineers.”
To mitigate this, Powerwell had partnered with universities to offer internships.
According to Soh, 90% of the switchboards used in the Mass Rapid Transit projects as well as the Light Rail Transit jobs are from Powerwell.
Other notable projects are the Exchange TRX mall and its surrounding condominiums and hotel under the same management.
Meanwhile, executive director Catherine Wong said, based on its performance, Powerwell is eligible to transfer from the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia to the Main Market.
“If Covid did not take place, we would have already been on the Main Market.
“But for now, we want to be even more prepared before we transfer, but that is definitely a goal that we are looking at in the next two to three years.”
