The team of the EMO Hannover is currently on promotion tour in Asia. Today Christoph Miller (right side) stops in the Malay capital Kuala Lumpur. Among the numerous curious visitors we meet Khoo Seng Giap, Director of Operations of the Malaysian exhibitor HPMT. With joy he reported that he loves the EMO and is already looking forward to his fifth stay in September in Hanover. Quotation Giap: "We are using the EMO as a gateway to Europe. At the EMO, we understood the way how companies are operating in Europe. The way how work is done in Germany is completely different from our way of working". He is also looking forward to the international exhibitor's party with German beer and bratwurst.

Malaysia’s industrial sector has high hopes of 2017

Malaysia’s economic growth slowed down in 2016. Reasons include weakness of investment worldwide, and the low energy prices on the global market. This has also proved disadvantageous for the Malaysian government, whose revenues from oil exports have fallen substantially, thus reducing the scope for public capital investment. Private investors are likewise in a cautious mood, since business expectations are subdued. It is only capital expenditure channelled into electrical engineering, electronics and transportation that continues to hold up well.

Malaysia’s machine tool consumption totalled 430 million euros in 2015. All of the requisite production technology was imported. Almost a third was exported again. The most important suppliers of production technology for Malaysia’s industrial sector are Japan, with a share of 25 per cent, China and Taiwan. Germany, with a share of six per cent, ranks 5^th, together with South Korea.

In 2015, Germany supplied machines worth 33.3 million euros, an increase of 38 per cent. The exports primarily comprised lasers, presses, plus parts and accessories. In the first three quarters of 2016, German deliveries fell by six per cent. Orders from Malaysia for German machine tools likewise showed a decline.

An improvement is anticipated for 2017. Oxford Economics is forecasting growth of 4.5 per cent for Malaysian GDP, following 4.3 per cent in the preceding year. Capital investments and machine tool consumption are also predicted to show a more substantial rise, of 4.4 and 3.9 per cent respectively. High-potential sectors include electrical engineering and electronics (where firms are targeting more sophisticated production operations with a higher proportion of automation), and medical technology. Malaysia is pinning substantial hopes on medical tourism, is building new hospitals, and expanding its production output of medical equipment. In the aviation industry, too, various investment projects have been launched with involvement from abroad. For example, Rolls-Royce intends to produce turbine casings.

“This is why Malaysian manufacturers require comprehensive information on new solutions for their production operations,” says Christoph Miller of the VDW. Exhibitors at the EMO Hannover 2017 will include representatives from all important supplier nations for Malaysia’s industrial sector. Machine tool manufacturers from more than 40 different countries, including HPMT Industries Sdn. Bhd. from Selangor, will there be spotlighting their production technology, ranging from simple, sturdy and affordable to high-priced high-tech. Both stand-alone machines and concatenated systems will be on show,plus transfer lines and large machines, featuring a high degree of automation. “The EMO Hannover is the ideal platform not only for big investors,” is Christoph Miller’s explicit message to Malaysian trade visitors. “We are particularly keen to encourage mid-tier users of machine tools to find out in detail what the world of metalworking has to offer.”

Bildquelle: VDW