While Proton is synonymous with ‘national carmaker’, it is ‘second child’ Perodua that is leading the Malaysian car market, a position that P2 has held for 10 years now. With a pretty comfortable margin and no signs of complacency, too – the latter proven by year-after-year of increased targets and record sales.
What is Perodua’s competitive edge? Besides the fact that it knows what the majority of Malaysian carbuyers want, it is the efficiency brought in by P2’s partner Daihatsu. Efficiency is brought about by discipline, and it is discipline that has enabled the company to progress successfully in the industry, said Perodua Auto Corporation (PCSB) president Yasumitsu Morita.
PCSB manages the manufacturing operations at Perodua’s still expanding base in Sg Choh, north of Rawang. There are two plants there – an older factory that produces the Myvi and Alza, and the Perodua Global Manufacturing plant that rolls out the Axia. Mirroring the tech and processes of Daihatsu Kyushu (Daihatsu’s leading plant in Japan, read our feature story), the RM1.3 billion PGM has been in operation since August 2014. It was officially launched last month.
Morita san said that Perodua plants practice Dojo, which means “home of practicing”, to maintain quality and service standards. The veteran boss explained that the company implemented a 5S workplace organisation method comprising five Japanese words – seiri (sort), seiton (set in order), seiso (shine), seiketsu (standardise) and shitsuke (sustain), to create a pleasant workplace for all.
The heads lead by example. “Me and Zainal will be waiting as early as 7.30am to greet our workers at the main entrance,” he said, referring to Perodua Auto Corporation deputy president Zainal Abidin Ahmad, who was also present at the leadership lecture organised by the Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT) at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia KL.
