GUTOR ANNOUNCES RM10 MILLION OF INVESTMENT IN MANUFACTURING FACILITY EXPANSION

Schneider Electric celebrates the success story in bringing foreign direct investment into Malaysia

Shah Alam, 12th November 2013 – Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management, today officially launched GUTOR’s second manufacturing facility in Shah Alam, Selangor, an expansion of its regional Asia Pacific headquarters. GUTOR, part of Secured Power Systems for Industry and Infrastructure of Schneider Electric is the international leader in power protection and industrial uninterruptible power supply solutions (UPS).

The ceremony was officiated by the Yang Berusaha En Mohd Ridzal Sheriff, Deputy Secretary General (Trade), Ministry of International Trade & Industry (MITI) with Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Amirsham A. Aziz, Chairman, Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), His Excellency Dr Rolf Lenz, Swiss Ambassador to Malaysia, Vice President Secured Power Systems for Industry and Infrastructure of Schneider Electric, Enric Costa, Chief Executive Officer of GUTOR Electronic LLC, Jacques Muller, Managing Director of GUTOR Electronic Asia Pacific Sdn Bhd, Denis Schuler and over 150 guests comprising key clients, partners and media as witnesses.

[L-R] Mr Enric Costa,  Vice President Secured Power Systems for Industry and Infrastructure of Schneider Electric;  His Excellency Dr Rolf Lenz, Swiss Ambassador to Malaysia; Jacques Muller, Chief Executive Officer of GUTOR Electronic LLC; Yang Berusaha En Mohd Ridzal Sheriff, Deputy Secretary General (Trade), Ministry of International Trade & Industry (MITI); Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Amirsham A. Aziz, Chairman, Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA); Denis Schuler, Managing Director of GUTOR Electronic Asia Pacific Sdn Bhd; and Nazli Abu Bakar, Managing Director, Intaj Holding, Gutor Business Partner in Malaysia officially launched GUTOR’s Production Facility Expansion 2013.

GUTOR has added 2400 square meters to its production facility to significantly double the production capacity, equivalent to 35 per cent of the total GUTOR production capacity. The expansion in turn will improve the overall flow of the production processes and support the growing demand of industrial power protection and energy efficiency management solutions.

The expansion of the new facility will provide GUTOR with strategic advantage to further provide top notch services including strategic counsel, training, research and development (R&D) design, testing and technological know-how to existing and potential clients. Malaysia serves as the only regional headquarters with a production facility aside from GUTOR’s main headquarters in Switzerland, serving the strategic clients in Malaysia and globally in all markets in Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and American regions.

Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri with Yang Berusaha En Ridzal listened attentively as a GUTOR employee explained the process of the test-bedding facility.

“The facility expansion will allow GUTOR to support our client’s needs and upscale demands of the market. We have had a significant growth over the last 15 years. The last 5 years of operations indeed has shown tremendous business growth which increased our customer demand and driven our sales upward. By having the expansion, it will help to keep our high quality standards of our products while increasing production capacity and output,” said Denis Schuler, Managing Director of GUTOR Electronic Asia Pacific Sdn Bhd.

Jacques Muller, Chief Executive Officer of GUTOR Electronic LLC added, “Our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility enables GUTOR to not only serve our clients better, but also to encourage knowledge transfer in Malaysia in the coming years. With the expansion, GUTOR will also be able to encourage foreign and domestic businesses to build and expand their investments into Malaysia as well.”

Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Amirsham and Yang Berusaha En Ridzal Sheriff applauded GUTOR Electronic for its facility expansion.

GUTOR was established in Malaysia in 1998 with a headcount of 10. The company is now ready to continue to grow with the strength of 160 employees, all of which are local bred talents. “Our community provides an industry-savvy workforce that makes Malaysia very attractive to industrial companies. With the new facility ready to run, GUTOR will be able to encourage companies both locally and regionally to keep or expand their businesses and enhance the expertise of their skilled employees to further meet the needs of the businesses and the industry,” added Schuler.

The company has been responsible for developing power protection solutions in several key power projects in Malaysia. Amongst the landmark projects of GUTOR includes Petronas Tanga Barat, PLANT REJUVENATION AND REVAMP 2 PROJECT (PRR2), LEKAS project and Petronas FLNG, a project that is currently in the execution phase. In external demographics, GUTOR extended its service to Chevron in the Gorgon Project, which is one of the world's largest natural gas projects and the largest single resource development in Australia's history. It was a great achievement for GUTOR as it was the single largest project where project management, engineering, assembly, and testing were handled from Malaysia.

Following the success and great performance, the manufacturing facility expansion will support the implementation to further develop industries that utilises advanced manufacturing processes to accelerate and grow within Malaysia and across the region. GUTOR Electronic Asia Pacific contributed to about 35 per cent of market share for GUTOR Electronic worldwide.

GUTOR Electronic has its global headquarters in Wettingen, Switzerland and is a member of the Schneider Group Worldwide. The multi-national company with representative offices in China, Emirates, Germany, India, Mexico, Russia Saudi Arabia and the USA provides unique and customized uninterrupted power supply (UPS) solutions that run mission-critical applications in the oil and gas, petrochemical and power generation industries. The company presently has a global headcount of 500.

At the event, Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Amirsham Abdul Aziz, Chairman, Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) said at the launch, “The economic environment in Malaysia right now is attractive and conducive to invest in. GUTOR is exemplary as it showcased another major step forward in to expand trading relationship with Switzerland. It will create more export growth in Malaysia - something that is at the top of this Malaysia's economic growth plan.”

“At Schneider Electric, we want to support the government in helping Malaysians make the most of their energy. As such, we hope that the government will further support the drive for energy efficiency in the country,” added Schuler.