Saint-gobain, Leading Building Materials And Construction Company, Opens New Plant In Malaysia

Named Top 100 Global Innovator 10 times for the past 10 years, Saint-Gobain strengthens its presence in Southeast Asia to better serve the region. Leading player in the construction industry, solutions provider and responsible business model focusing on social commitment, environmental challenges, and economic growth. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) May 29, 2021 - Saint-Gobain strengthens its position as a preeminent producer of advanced solutions for construction applications in Southeast Asia with the announcement of the opening of its 5th plant today, located in Johor, the southernmost state of Malaysia.

Constructed on over 50,000m² of land and built specifically to serve and commit to the growing Singapore and Malaysia construction markets, the facility caters to the production of a large variety of mortars, waterproofing and construction chemicals solutions. As a leading player in the construction industry, Saint-Gobain has spearheaded many complementary developments that support multiple industrial applications in the automotive, aeronautical, health, security, and protection, and even the food & beverage sectors.

The new factory is the 5th industrial complex in the group’s more than 20-year history in Malaysia and the 28th in Southeast Asia. This expansion in the Asia-Pacific region constitutes one of the top priorities for Saint-Gobain as a future regional manufacturing hub and marks a significant milestone in supporting projected growth in ASEAN countries and beyond. Addressing the increased market demands and challenges, this latest addition to Saint-Gobain’s footprint in Malaysia incorporates the best of the Company’s technologies and manufacturing processes such as robotic palletizing, Industry 4.0, and Warehouse Management System at scale and with scalability. This new plant is also designed to produce 3D concrete printing solutions to advance their leading positioning in this new market segment.

Mr. Arham Abdul Rahman, Chief Executive Officer of the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), commended Saint-Gobain’s continued confidence in Malaysia. Commenting on the Company’s latest expansion in Malaysia, he said, “The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to accelerate the adoption of digital technologies to be applied in the manufacturing of products. Given that research and innovation are at the heart of Saint-Gobain’s strategy, we are excited to witness this latest undertaking here. We are confident that Saint-Gobain will further benefit from Malaysia’s strategic location, comprehensive global trade agreements, competitive cost of doing business, multi-facetted talent pool as well business friendly policies.”

In line with its focus on sustainability, inclusivity and environmental responsibility, Saint-Gobain has pledged to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 through investments in Industry 4.0, recycling, raw material reduction, and Carbon Capture Utilisation (CCU) technologies to reach this goal. In line with these efforts, the new plant will also replace natural gas usage with low carbon dioxide emission.

Mr. Javier Gimeno, Group Senior Vice-President of Saint-Gobain Group, CEO Asia-Pacific, said: “This investment in Johor is a tangible proof of the long-term commitment of Saint-Gobain with Malaysia and Southeast Asia. Indeed, we are convinced of the huge potential of development in these geographies whose markets are increasingly driven by innovation, technology, products’ performance, and genuine respect of the environment. At Saint-Gobain we strive every day to excel in all these fields so that we can bring to our clients and the final users the best value proposition.”

To learn more about Saint-Gobain (Weber-E.MIX)
www.sg.weber

Appendix:
• Excerpt from Speech by Arham Abdul Rahman, Chief Executive Officer of the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA)
• Excerpt from Speech by Javier Gimeno, Group Senior Vice-President of Saint-Gobain Group, CEO Asia-Pacific
• Excerpt of Speech by His Excellency, Roland Galharague, Ambassador of France to Malaysia

About MIDA
MIDA is the government's principal investment promotion and development agency under the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) that oversees and drives investments into the manufacturing and services sectors in Malaysia. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur Sentral, MIDA has 12 regional and 20 overseas offices. MIDA continues to be the strategic partner to businesses in seizing the opportunities arising from today’s rapid pace of technological development. For more information, please visit www.mida.gov.my and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube channel.

About Saint-Gobain
Saint-Gobain designs, manufactures, and distributes materials and implements solutions across diverse industries for a variety of industrial applications. Its primary markets are in construction, mobility, and healthcare amongst others. With a strong commitment to continuous innovation and invention, its products have earned a place in many aspects of daily life enhancing wellbeing, performance, and safety.

The men and women at Saint-Gobain are a family that believes in the company’s guiding principle of “MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER HOME” and is dedicated to sustainable construction, resource efficiency and the fight against climate change. Every day is taken as an opportunity to fulfil the shared ambition to make the world a more beautiful and sustainable place to live in.

Issued on behalf of Saint-Gobain (Singapore) Pte Ltd by Affluence Public Relations.

For media enquiries, please contact:
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Appendix
Excerpt of Speech by Arham Abdul Rahman, Chief Executive Officer of the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA)

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to accelerate the adoption of digital technologies to be applied in the manufacturing of products.

Given that research and innovation are at the heart of Saint-Gobain’s strategy, we are excited to witness their latest expansion in Johor, Malaysia.

This new plant will not only gather the best of Saint-Gobain’s technologies and manufacturing processes, but also designed to produce 3D printing solutions to support their present and future operations.

Notably, this new investment reflects the Saint-Gobain’s continual confidence in Malaysia as their future regional manufacturing hub to support the Company’s growing market in ASEAN and beyond.

We are confident that Saint-Gobain will further benefit from Malaysia’s strategic location, comprehensive global trade agreements, competitive cost of doing business, multi-facetted talent pool as well as business friendly policies.

As Malaysia’s principal investment promotion and development agency, MIDA is committed to intensify our on-going efforts to position Malaysia as the preferred investment destination in the region for global investors.

We will continue to support and facilitate high value investments such as Saint-Gobain’s in Malaysia to generate positive spillovers for the country in line with our National Investment Aspirations.

Excerpt of Speech by Javier Gimeno, Group Senior Vice-President of Saint-Gobain Group, CEO Asia-Pacific

It’s with satisfaction that I am attending today this opening ceremony – not for being online, being less real –, and sharing with all of you - with the local authorities, with the French Ambassador, with our dear employees and our dear customers - the joy to welcome the new factory of Saint-Gobain in Malaysia, 5th industrial site of our Company in this promising country and number 105 in the Asia-Pacific Region.

As you know, this new factory, specializes in the production of the latest generation of industrial mortars for construction applications. With this new investment Saint-Gobain makes obvious our long-term commitment with the Construction industry in this country as well as our determination to intensify our presence across Southeast Asia.

Saint-Gobain is industrially active in Asia since 1985 and operating in Malaysia since 2006. We are still relatively young in this country, but our ambition is reinforcing our condition of local leader in the field of sustainable innovative solutions for the Singaporean and Malaysian construction markets.

At this special occasion I would like to emphasize that technology, innovation, respect and preservation of the environment, as well as social responsibility, are the key drivers of the action of the Saint-Gobain Group. Those principles inspire our strategy across the world, and therefore have also fed our project in Johor. Consistent with this vision, today we are inaugurating a state-of-the art factory that represents the best of what exists in terms of manufacturing, quality, safety, and environmental protection.

I have no doubt that our approach is harmoniously aligned with the strategic orientations given by the Malaysian Authorities to conduct the economic and social development of their nation.

For all these reasons, I am proud and happy to launch this factory today.
And I would like to share my pride and my joy with all of you and to convey my warmest recognition to the Saint-Gobain teams.

Excerpt of Speech by His Excellency, Roland Galharague, Ambassador of France to Malaysia

I am very happy to be able to congratulate Saint-Gobain upon the immigration of the 5th production site in Malaysia at Pasir Gudang. Saint-Gobain has been in Malaysia for more than 20 years and today with this new investment they are showing that despite the crisis they are staying true to their development plan in Malaysia. Saint-Gobain and Malaysia have been going thick and thin together. They are not just fair-weather friends but a sustainable, long-lasting, enduring partnership.

Like the rest of the 300 French companies, and like my own government, Saint-Gobain firmly believes in the growth potential of Malaysia and of Asia. This is also a testimony, dear Arham Abdul Rahman, of the continued ability of Malaysia to attract and nurture foreign investments. Some of you may be aware that Saint-Gobain goes back to the 17th century because in fact founded in 1665 which means that when the British first set foot on Malaysia, Saint-Gobain has already been around for more than a century. They were able to thrive and survive for so long, they owe it to their investments and R&D and their culture of constant technical innovation. Today, they are a world leader in sustainable construction and on their way to achieve full carbon neutrality by 2050. They are proof positive, that far from the enemy of prosperity, the fight against climate change which is so important in Malaysia and elsewhere in the world and which my government considers to be our priority. The fight against climate change is the source of growth and the source of development. Saint-Gobain is to be commended for sharing this commitment, this expertise, and their cutting-edge technology with Malaysia.

Finally, the new plant will not only create new added value and new jobs in Malaysia but also contribute to building integrated sustainable social housing solutions to address the growth of Malaysia. So let me close by wishing the best of success to this new venture of Saint-Gobain Malaysia, and to once again, commend the Malaysian authorities and MIDA for their constant and continuous support.

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