Said Chua Hock Keng, Deputy Managing Director, "In view of the growing business, we're thinking of adding on another 5,000 to10,000 sq ft." According to Mr. Chua, Kawata-Enge has doubled its sales from last year, recording a turnover of RM16 million this year and expecting to reach RM20 million-or more-in 2001.

Kawata's 25,000 sq ft clean-environment facility was the first to be set up outside Japan, with the second one established in Shanghai, China, in 1998. Kawata went into business with Enge to take advantage of the good infrastructure and cheap cost of labor offered by Malaysia. The partnership has worked well - Kawata machines to suit customer requirements and Enge has bought Kawata machines for its systems. Added Mr.Chua,"We're able to offer our customers prices that are 30% lower, with saving on freight. Only the critical components are imported from Japan with the rest sourced locally."

Kawata's main products are dehumidifying dryers for engineering plastics, auto-coloring mixing systems, auto loader, chillers, centralized conveying systems and mould temperature controllers, as well as OEM machines foe audio, camera and VCD parts manufacture. Some of Kawata-Enge's  customers include Minolta, Canon, Matsushita Electric and other custom molders and converters, while Nikko, JPK ,Lion Plastics and Hil Plastics utilize Kawata's fully automated raw materials system. This is the Selectronic system, an integrated conveying and mixing system.

According to Mr. Yoshiharu Yamamoto Director/General Manager," Our products are for the high-end market, as 70% of our customers are Japanese companies operating in Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines. The Malaysian market makes up 20%, with 10% Imported back-to Kawata-Japan."    

Kawata's dehumudifying dryer comes with a patented honeycomb desiccant to achieve more consistent drying. Currently, the desiccant and controller are imported from Japan and the dryers are assembled locally. When asked about output, Mr. Chua remarked," We'd like to produce more, but the delivery of the desiccant is a bit slow coming in from Kawata-Japan as the bulk is channeled to Kawata-Shanghai, which covers a bigger market in China."

The company's expansion plans should tie in well, as it is in the midst of finalizing another join venture for the manufacture of Sweden's Rapid Granulators as its plant in 2001. Apart from expanding its facility, Kawata-Enge is looking at undertaking its own auto-recycling, so to a be a "total system supplier," and to expand to India.