Product Spotlight - Electrically Conductive Polymers

1. Traditionally, one of the only drawbacks of plastic has been its lack of electrical conductivity. But, that’s starting to change with hybrid materials that can be processed with traditional production methods.

India and France to overtake UK in GDP rankings

1. Both India and France are likely to overtake the UK in the rankings of the world’s largest economies next year, with Britain falling from fifth to seventh place.

Palm Oil Industry in 2018

Palm oil is literally everywhere – in our foods, cosmetics, cleaning products and fuels.

Product Spotlight - Recycled Food Grade Resin

1. The approach to sustainable packaging and the future of plastics in packaging.

2. With public interest in the impacts of plastic leakage into the natural environment soaring, it becomes easy to lose sight of why plastics are used in the first place. As materials, plastics are light-weight, strong, versatile, cheap and hygienic, and so they have significant benefits for the packaging industry. Without plastics, it would be difficult for consumers to enjoy the sheer range of choice that exists in the market today.

Principles, Ideas and Discussion on Transit-Oriented Development

TOD is the key to more efficient, sustainable, and equitable communities because it prioritizes the “3Cs”: compact, coordinated and connected. By following a TOD approach, decision makers and urban planners can strengthen their communities.

Survey on Defined Benefit Pension Plan & Insurer's Outlook On Investment Returns

1. A defined benefit pension plan is a type of pension plan in which an employer/sponsor promises a specified pension payment, lump-sum (or combination thereof) on retirement that is predetermined by a formula based on the employee's earnings history, tenure of service and age, rather than depending directly on individual investment returns. 

2. Traditionally, many governmental and public entities, as well as a large number of corporations, provided defined benefit plans, sometimes as a means of compensating workers in lieu of increased pay.

3. Over time, these plans may face deficits or surpluses between the money currently in their plans and the total amount of their pension obligations. Contributions may be made by the employee, the employer, or both. In many defined benefit plans the employer bears the investment risk and can benefit from surpluses.

[U.S. China Trade War] Opportunity for Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia is seeing a boom in foreign direct investment as the intensifying trade war between the U.S. and China prompts companies to shift production to the region.

Product Spotlight - Bio Plastics - Part 3 - Plastic Spectrum and Biodegradability

Generally, “bioplastic” are made from renewable resources such as corn, sugars, potatoes, etc. There are four types of degradable plastics

Product Spotlight - Bio Plastics - Part 2 - Summary of Advantages and Disadvantages

Products made from bioplastic look, behave and feel like conventional clear plastic products. The use of bioplastics has become increasingly popular. Let’s have a look at the advantages and disadvantages.

Product Spotlight - Bio Plastics - Part 1 - Harmonised Standards For Bioplastics

1. Standardisation is an effort of industrial stakeholders to define criteria for the description of products and services. The idea is to ease the competition and the commercial growth by overcoming barriers that result from unclear or incompatible specifications.

2. The use of standards is voluntary, which means that it is within the sovereignty of a company to seek the compliance with a standard or not. In the latter case, however, it is not allowed to make the reference to the standard.

3. Certain European standards are called harmonised standards. This means that the European Commission mandated the European Standardisation Organisation CEN to elaborate the content of the standard.

Product Spotlight - Thin-wall injection molding

1. Thin wall injection molding is a specialized form of conventional injection molding that focuses on mass-producing plastic parts that are thin and light so that material cost savings can be made and cycle times can be as short as possible. Shorter cycle times means higher productivity and lower costs per part.

2. The definition of thin wall is really about the size of the part compared to its wall thickness. For any particular plastic part, as the wall thickness reduces the harder it is to manufacture using the injection molding process. The size of a part puts a limit on how thin the wall thickness can be. For packaging containers thin wall means wall thicknesses that are less than 0.025 inch (0.62mm) with a flow length to wall thickness greater than 200.

Overall Equipment Effectiveness

1. OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) is the gold standard for measuring manufacturing productivity. Simply put – it identifies the percentage of manufacturing time that is truly productive. An OEE score of 100% means you are manufacturing only Good Parts, as fast as possible, with no Stop Time. In the language of OEE that means 100% Quality (only Good Parts), 100% Performance (as fast as possible), and 100% Availability (no Stop Time).

2. Measuring OEE is a manufacturing best practice. By measuring OEE and the underlying losses, you will gain important insights on how to systematically improve your manufacturing process. OEE is the single best metric for identifying losses, benchmarking progress, and improving the productivity of manufacturing equipment (i.e., eliminating waste).

OEE, OOE, AND TEEP

1. OEE is measured by combining a machine’s performance, availability, and quality.  In this way, OEE helps you to identify potential losses and understand where your process is falling short.  But OEE alone is just the first step to fully understanding your performance.

2. Today we will explore two other important and related metrics to help round out your continuous improvement strategy: Overall Operations Effectiveness (OOE) and Total Effective Equipment Performance (TEEP).   

Income Tax (Exemption) (No. 11) Order 2006 [P.U.(A) 112/2006] Income Tax Act, 1967 AND Income Tax Act, 1967 (PART IX) EXEMPTIONS, REMISSION AND OTHER RELIEF

Understanding Manufacturing Productivity, Difficulties in Measuring, & Productivity vs Efficiency

1. Productivity is defined as outputs ÷ inputs. Productivity increases when the same quantity of inputs results in more outputs, or when you get the same output quantity using fewer inputs.

2. When calculating productivity at a whole economy scale, economists often measure the ratio of gross domestic product (GDP) to labour hours.

3. Similarly, productivity in manufacturing measures the number of units produced or net sales, relative to employee labour hours.

4. It’s important to note that measuring labour hours as the sole input is only a partial measure of productivity. In practical terms, this is a useful benchmark, as labour is an input to almost all production. However it does not capture the full productivity picture, and other measures including Capital Productivity, Multifactor Productivity and Total Productivity are also used (see below).

[U.S. China Trade War] Trump & FDI

1. Trump is hurting American firms that have outsourced to China in the hope of bringing manufacturing back to the US. Beijing has to give US firms reasons to stay.

Licensed Manufacturer Warehouse (LMW/ GPB)

1. Gudang Pengilangan Berlesen (GPB) merupakan gudang yang dilesenkan di bawah seksyen 65/65A Akta Kastam 1967 untuk menjalankan aktiviti pengilangan dan penggudangan barangan keluaran yang berorientasikan eksport. 

2. Permohonan untuk menikmati kemudahan ini hendaklah dikemukakan kepada Pejabat Kastam yang berhampiran dengan premis pengilangan dan tertakluk kepada syarat-syarat dan prosedur permohonan yang ditentukan. 

3. Di bawah kemudahan ini pengilangan akan diberi pengecualian ke atas bahan mentah/komponen dan mesin serta peralatan yang digunakan secara langsung di dalam proses pengilangan untuk menghasilkan suatu keluaran siap yang baru. 

4. Bayaran lesen Gudang akan dikenakan sebanyak RM 1,200 setahun, manakala fee lesen mengilang dikecualikan. 

5. Pemegang lesen GPB hendaklah mengemukakan jaminan bank bagi yang mengilang barangan yang dikatogerikan sebagai barangan kritikal dan bon am bagi barangan bukan kritikal. 

6. Hanya pemegang lesen GPB dibenar menjalankan aktiviti-aktiviti yang diluluskan selain daripada akltiviti pengilangan di dalam premisnya dan tertakluk kepada syarat-syarat tertentu. 

7. Pemegang lesen GPB juga dibenar membuat jualan tempatan dan barangan tersebut adalah dianggap s​eolah-olah ianya diimport. 

8. Oleh itu,pengenaan   duti/cukai akan dikenakan sebelum barangan tersebut dilepaskan.

Reinvestment Allowance and Accelerated Capital Allowance (ACA)

1. With effect from the year of assessment 2009, a company or a person has to be in operation for not less than 36 months to be eligible for RA.

Raw & Manufactured Materials: 2018 Overview

1. The production of many key raw materials has declined recently, while others are finding opportunities through new production processes and applications.

2. The production of many key raw materials has declined, while others are finding opportunities through new production processes and applications. Here you’ll find production and import/export information, as well as details regarding applications and future trends.

Dubai Investment Development Agency

1. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister, in his capacity as Ruler of Dubai, issued a law establishing the Dubai Investment Development Agency which will be affiliated to the Department of Economic Development in Dubai.

2. Under the law, the Agency will be tasked with reviewing and analysing the investment climate in the emirate, identifying investment opportunities and impediments to their growth, as well as dealing with any obstacles.

3. Article 12 of the law dictates that preferential advantages, including incentives and exemptions, be granted for investment projects in areas including infrastructure, industrial, social, educational and healthcare.

Self-Employed and Pension Scheme

1. New research from Prudential shows that self-employed workers are heading towards a pension saving crisis as they cannot afford to save for their retirement.

Product Spotlight - Ethylene bis stearamide (EBS)

1. Ethylene bis stearamide (EBS) is an organic compound with the formula (CH2NHC(O)C17H35)2. It is a waxy white solid and is also found as powder or beads that is widely used as a form release agent. The compound is derived from the reaction of ethylenediamine and stearic acid. It is a white solid of low toxicity that provides a slippery coating for a variety of applications.

2. EBS is a synthetic wax used as a dispersing agent or internal/external lubricant for benefits in plastic applications to facilitate and stabilize the dispersion of solid compounding materials to enhance processability, to decrease friction and abrasion of the polymer surface, and to contribute color stability and polymer degradation.

Product Spotlight - Starlinger recycling technology

Austrian recycling equipment manufacturer - Starlinger recycling technology

[U.S. China Trade War] Ripple Effect

1. President Donald Trump's trade saber-rattling and protectionist economic policies are discouraging the flow of overseas money into job-creating US investments as foreigners grow worried about what an unpredictable government may do next.


2. The administration turned to the previously rarely deployed section 232 national security provision of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, and now uses it to threaten crippling duties on car imports. Trump is also turning to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, or CFIUS, as a way to limit foreign investment in sensitive technologies.

Global Coatings Market Overview

1. The global coatings industry experienced good growth in 2017 with decorative coatings leading the way in terms of global growth. Automotive and industrial coatings also experienced good growth too but not quite as high as that of decorative coatings segment.   

"Make in India" boosting FDI in manufacturing??

1. Less than half of FDI went to ‘Make in India’ sectors in FY17 and the first 9 months of FY18, but a lot of these funds may not represent fresh investment

2. Thus, government’s target to increase the share of manufacturing in the country’s GDP to 25% by 2025 remains an uphill task.

3. FDI inflows to India as a share of GDP actually declined from around 2% in 2016 to 1.6% in 2017.

USA FDI - Down 32% in 2017, But Manufacturing Top of List for Investment

1. Foreign direct investment in manufacturing was $103.7 billion in 2017, accounting for 40% of total expenditures.

2. The total was $259.6 billion in 2017, down 32% from $379.7 billion in 2016, according to the Department of Commerce.

3. Manufacturing was at the top of the list of expenditures at $103.7 billion, accounted for 40% of total expenditures.

Pension Funds Are World’s Largest Asset Owners

1. Pensions funds are responsible for the majority of capital held by the world’s 100 largest asset owners (AO100), placing them among a unique group of investors that are “too important to fail”.

Survey on Retirement Fund Adequacy in UK and Singapore

1. Two in five British workers aged 46 to 55 do not know how much they have saved for retirement, despite closing in on the age they can access their pensions for the first time.

2. Finding from a new study by insurance firm Aviva, which found that this age group is the most likely to not know how much they have saved in pensions.

Low Rates Of Business Claimants Winning Insurance Claims Dispute

1. A study of every court case related to primary business insurance disagreements between 2013 and 2018 shows that a whopping 68% went in the insurer’s favour.

2. It was also found that it takes an average of three years for commercial insurance disputes to be resolved, with settlements typically just three-fifths of the original amount claimed.

3. Nearly half of large claims are disputed, according to the research by governance experts Mactavish. 

4. Transport, manufacturing and construction the sectors most commonly affected.

Thailand FDI Tax Incentives

1. Thailand’s Board of Investment (BOI) offers a range of tax and non-tax incentives to foreign companies making investments that are deemed highly beneficial to the Thai economy.

2. The BOI announced a new seven-year investment promotion strategy (2015-2021) that offers special privileges to foreign investors.

3. Under the strategy, tax-based incentives are granted according to the group classification (A or B) for the activities and the merit of the project.

Views and Forecasts for Oleochemicals industry in Brazil and Mexico

1. Oleochemicals are obtained from bio-based resources, such as animal fats and plant oils, to provide sustainable and high-performance alternatives to petrochemical-originated products. 

2. They are used for production of solvents, lubricants, biodiesel, and bioplastics. As the price of crude oil increases, manufacturers prefer to switch from petrochemicals to oleochemicals, as they are plant-based sources and serve as an economical source. 

3. Oleochemicals are widely preferred in several applications, such as pharmaceutical, food & beverage, soap & detergent, and others, owing to the fact that they are biodegradable, environmental-friendly, and possess low toxicity.

4. Increase in demand for bio-degradable products and sustainable solutions and implementation of government regulations towards the use of environmentally-friendly products boost the demand for oleochemicals.

5. Several new applications of oleochemicals, such as biopolymers, biosurfactants, and biolubricants, which have emerged as substitutes for petroleum-based products, are expected to offer lucrative growth opportunities for the Brazil and Mexico oleochemicals market.

Views and Comments on Malaysia's Oleochemical Industry

1. Local oil palm companies are keen to invest further downstream from oleochemicals to oleo derivatives, but many are still hesitant given the good revenue derived from their core upstream business.

2. Attributed the slow take up rate to the perception that oleo derivatives business was capital intensive and involved some challenges.

3. Oleochemicals, Oleochemical Derivatives or Preparations are included in the list of promoted activities and products which are eligible for tax incentives considerations under the Promotion of Investment Act 1986 depending on the merits of each project.

Understanding Oleochemical Industry in China

STAGES OF GROWTH IN CHINA OLEOCHEMICAL INDUSTRY
1. Initial Stage: Before the 1990s, China oleochemical industry mainly developed its home-grown technology and was confined to soap production and soap co-products like stearic acid and glycerol. The production scale was small and the technology was relatively backward.

2. Developing Stage: From the 1990s to the early 21st century, China’s further reform and opening up policies had created a good economic and political environment. Through introducing the advanced technologies of Germany, Italy and other countries, the production scale of enterprises was greatly enlarged and the technical level was improved, which laid a good foundation for the development of China oleochemical industry.

3. Rapid Growth Stage: Since 2003, the influx of some large multinational groups (mainly referring to those of Malaysia and Singapore) had brought in the advanced technologies and business principles. Meanwhile, many domestic enterprises began to build up or expand production devices, which greatly enhanced their production scale and concentration. Hence, the oleochemical industry entered into a rapid development period.

Tax Incentives for Foreign Investment in Singapore - Part 2 - R&D

Continuation from previous posts. Tax incentives offered to the R&D Industry.

Tax Incentives for Foreign Investment in Singapore - Part 1

Singapore offers a wide range of investment incentives for investors including tax holidays and concessions, accelerated depreciation schemes, grants and favorable loan conditions to attract investments. The tax incentives and grants offered in Singapore are in the form of exemption from tax, reduction in the rate of tax or subsidies, and are available to a very broad range of industries.

Tax Incentives for Foreign Investment in Vietnam

Vietnam’s low wages have traditionally provided these cost savings; however, the country has also quietly developed one of the most competitive tax regimes throughout Southeast Asia. 

B10 - Part 2 - CPO Prices, Production Capacity and Specs of B10

1. At the moment diesel sold has a 7% palm oil content and is called B7. The Malaysia government is looking at increasing the blend to B10 this year, meaning 10% of palm oil content in diesel.

2. In Indonesia, the government has taken an aggressive approach and is now adopting a B20 policy.

3. Indonesia's policy created an additional 3 million tonnes of demand in a year.

B10 - Part 1 - Biodiesel implementation in Malaysia

1. The B10 blend that was slated to be introduced at petrol stations nationwide consists of 10% palm methyl ester and 90% regular diesel fuel.

2. Fuel stations currently sell the B7 blend (7% palm methyl ester). However, the implementation of the B10 blend will only affect Euro 2M diesel in Malaysia, while Euro 5 diesel will continue to be a B7 blend.

Impact from China's Plastic Scrap Ban

Information Compiled for Internal Newsletter Circulation

Plastic recycling is the process of recovering scrap or waste plastic and reprocessing the material into useful products. Plastic recycling includes taking any type of plastic, sorting it into different polymers and then chipping it and then melting it down into pellets.  Soft plastics such as polyethylene film and bags can also be recycled. 

Building Information Modeling (BIM)

BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING (BIM)
1. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an intelligent 3D model-based process that gives architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals the insight and tools to more efficiently plan, design, construct, and manage buildings and infrastructure

Feeder Vessel and Feeder Ports

1. A feeder vessel is a vessel that “feeds” the large ocean vessels with containers. 

2. A feeder port is a port where the large ocean vessels normally don’t go. Partly because there are not enough containers to load onto a large ocean vessel or because the port is not large enough to handle the large ocean vessels.

3. Feeder ports and feeder vessels play a very important role in the worldwide transportation of containers. 

Freight Village: European Models

1. The “freight villages” (english designation) are called in different ways depending on the country:

“Interporti” in Italy;
“Transport Centres” in Denmark;
“Gunterverkehrszentren” in Germany;
“Zonas de Actividaedes Logisticas” in Spain.

2. The different experiences of achievement show differences in the organization of infrastructure and services that offer the same logistics platforms.

Inland Ports

1. Some countries imports a lot of goods, and these imports must enter the country through a few seaports. Often, these seaports become bottlenecks; in addition to offloading freight, they must function as distribution hubs. 

Impact and Opportunities From China's Plastic Scrap Ban

China is upending the global plastics market. The world’s biggest user of scrap has stopped accepting shiploads of other countries’ plastic trash as it phases in a new ban.

Insurance Sector Global Reports

Compilation of reports and outlooks for 2017 - 2018 covering the global market, Malaysia's Takaful and Vietnam's growing insurance sector.

Blockchain and the Insurance Industry

The financial industry is at a “crossroad” and risks future growth if it does not adapt to changing consumer behaviour. By embracing blockchain, insurers can benefit from more efficient underwriting, the development of bespoke products, and a smarter way to process and manage claims.

BNM's Comments on the State of Malaysia's Insurance

Key points from governor’s Keynote Address at the Malaysian Insurance Summit (MIS) 2017.