“Many manufacturing industries in the country are expected to increase the usage of automation in their manufacturing processes to improve efficiency and productivity to remain competitive.”

Dear Friends,

I am very pleased to announce that the Malaysia Automation Technology Association (MATA) was officially registered with the ROS and we are now ready to launch our expansion plan under this new association. For those of you who are new to us, we were previously known as the FMM Automation Technology Industry Group or FMM-ATIG operating under the aegis of the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers since April 2003.

The move from FMM-ATIG to MATA was a major milestone for many of us in FMM-ATIG as this idea was mooted some years ago and we have finally made it a reality. With the formation of MATA, we are now able to open our membership to more companies who are involved in the automation industry but have no intention to become FMM members currently.

As our vision is to be the voice of the Automation Technology Industry, we are reaching out to more companies in the automation industry to join us. I firmly believe that in order for our association to be strong and vibrant, we must work together with a strong and collective voice when representing the interest of the automation industry to the related government and regulatory agencies.

The ETP as initiated by the Malaysian government for the country towards a high income nation by 2020 offers many opportunities for automation players in Malaysia. Many manufacturing industries in the country are expected to increase the usage of automation in their manufacturing processes to improve efficiency and productivity to remain competitive. It will further add pressure to the SMIs who may lack the knowhow and capital to adopt more automated processes or machinery. Therefore, it is important for MATA to play our role by providing feedback and proposal to the relevant government agencies in formulating suitable policies to help the SMIs in the adoption of more automation in their manufacturing processes.

With our collective strengths and knowledge, I believe we will be able to promote greater advancement of the automation technology in the country. This will create more opportunities for all of the automation players and make our industry stronger and more resilient. It is my sincere hope that MATA will provide the right platform for more open and professional communication amongst our industry leaders and help to build a cohesive automation community which is so vital for the healthy growth of our industry.

If your company is involved in the automation industry either as automation parts, sub-system manufacturers and resellers, software vendors, system integrators or machine builders, you are most welcome to join us. Our memberships are also open to individuals and students who have keen interest in the advancement of the automation technology industry in Malaysia.

I look forward to welcome most of you onboard and will appreciate your active participation in our future activities which is important for MATA to achieve greater heights in the coming years.

Sincerely,

Tiong Khe Hock

MATA President