MAI AND PROTON COLLABORATE IN THE LATEST ROUND OF SUPPLY CHAIN & AFTERSALES DEVELOPMENT

L to R - At the launch - Chief Procurement Officer PROTON-Tuan Haji Hamizan bin Osman, MAI CEO-Datuk Madani Sahari & Mr. Rohime Bin Shafie, CEO Proton Edar

It was a whole day thing for me today at the Malaysia Automotive Institute (MAI). I witnessed the prize giving and conference for the inaugural Formula SEA ASEAN in the morning and then later in the afternoon, I attended the launch of the latest round Automotive Supplier Excellence Programme (ASEP) and Dealers Entrepreneurship Enhancement Programme (DEEP) conducted by MAI featuring PROTON with participation by its chosen vendors and dealers. 

This time around, MAI is collaborating with PROTON  to further cooperate in strengthening PROTON vendors and dealers based on ASEP and DEEP. Aside from the official launch of the programmes, there was also a small event marking the official handover of tooling dies that would be used in MAI's new and soon to be opened training facility in Bukit Beruntung, Selangor.

Through this collaboration and mutual understanding, MAI and PROTON will basically work together in the up scaling of human capital, technology and supply chain as stipulated in the National Automotive Policy 2014 (NAP 2014). It is all about empowering the Malaysian automotive workforce so that they are able to add more to the plate and making Malaysia have some edge in competing on a global scale. The Automotive Supplier Excellence Programme (ASEP) and Dealers Entrepreneurship Enhancement Programme (DEEP) are two capacity building programmes listed under the Malaysia Automotive Supply Chain Development Roadmap (MASR).

The main objective of these programmes are to elevate the levels of competitiveness & sustainability of our local automotive suppliers and dealers by providing technical assistance, consultancy and coaching by our experts. So here, PROTON's vendors and also dealers that have been chosen to participate will be given all sorts of technical assistance so that they will improve their capabilities.

The ASEP first began in 2013 where to date, a total of 91 automotive vendors had participated and achieved ASEP level 3 which is equivalent to Supplier Competitiveness Level (SCL) Level 3. As for the DEEP programme, it began on 2015 where to date, a total of 29 car dealers had participated in this programme. Upon completion, all dealers recorded increased sales output. Previously, Perodua's vendors and dealers have participated as well as other smaller firms such as workshops.

Under previous ASEP programmes, participating companies (108 in total) managed to achieve a total cost down (savings) of RM630million. Under DEEP, participants recorded an increase of 30% in sales and 15% increase in profitability. 

For this next ASEP and DEEP, MAI through collaboration with PROTON will be embarking on a new phase of the ASEP which will involve 16 PROTON vendors and 7 PROTON dealers. ASEP and DEEP will be co-operatively implemented by the Malaysia Automotive Institute (MAI) and PROTON for up to 6 months with coaching, assessments, and reporting exercises. It will be undertaken by experts from MAI and PROTON relevant to the areas of improvements needed by each of the participating company. They were given their appointment letters at the event.

These are efforts to improve the quality of the products produced by Proton and also its sales as well as the very important after-sales. It looks like PROTON is still pushing hard. Good for us consumers of course.