From Value One, Spring 2010 No. 28

Nicom Steel Centre (M) Sdn. Bhd.

First Japanese Steel Service Center to Invest in Malaysia

Aiming to Be the Steel Service Center That Customers Trust Most

Nicom Steel Centre (M) Sdn. Bhd. (Nicom) is located in Bangi Industrial Estate, situated midway between Kuala Lumpur International Airport and downtown. Established in 1980, Nicom was the earliest Japanese steel service center to set up in Malaysia. Nicom's main business lines include cutting and processing sheets (primarily electrical sheets and surface treated sheets), die pressing motor cores for air conditioners and refrigerator compressors, and annealing and aluminum die casting, mainly for motor processing. Our main customers are Japanese electrical equipment and electronics firms that have invested locally, such as Panasonic Corporation (air conditioners, refrigerators, motor cores, etc.), Sony Corporation (DVD players, audio equipment, etc.), and Sanyo Automedia Sdn. Bhd. (car stereo equipment) as well as firms in the automotive sector, such as car manufacturer Proton Holdings Berhad's vendors. Our customers continue to position the Malaysian market as a major manufacturing and export base in their global strategies. For Nicom's part, it strives every day to be the steel service center that customers trust most in all phases of inventory control, sales, and downstream phase processing.

300-tonne press for punching out motor cores Slitter line No. 2

All Working Together as a Team Is Our Motto

We currently have 170 employees, and we diligently apply ourselves daily, based on our motto of all working together as a team on efforts related to projects and issues. At this point, I would like to talk about things that happened that gave me a renewed awareness of our employees' latent strengths. When we began die casting (a method of casting molds) motor cores in 2007, a customer urgently requested a vertical startup (bringing people together quickly and launching an efficient production system all at once). Thanks to everyone's united, focused efforts, we were able to pull the launch off spectacularly, which the customer highly appreciated. Moreover, a steel service center in Penang in which Metal One had invested was going to shut down in 2008, with all production shifting to Nicom. At that time, everyone worked together as well, and we were able to smoothly carry out the transfer of the work.

Malaysia, Multiethnic Nation

One aspect that can be said to set Malaysia apart is that it is a multiethnic nation. It is 66% Malay, 26% Chinese, and 8% Indian in composition. In terms of religion, the country is divided into Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus. Our employees come from these three ethnic groups. Pork is taboo in the Islamic faith, on top of which only few Chinese restaurants are permitted to use pork as a food ingredient. So basically, pork dishes are not available at Chinese restaurants in hotels. This is about me personally, but soon after I transferred here, I chose some foodstuffs, including pork, at a Japanese supermarket, and upon taking it to the cash register, the clerk (a Malay) began raising a fuss in a loud voice. Surprised and wondering what was going on, I was made aware of the rule that you need to pay for pork at the place where pork is sold and then bring the rest of your food items to the cash register to pay. It was an incident that gave me a bit of a sense of what a multiethnic country is.

Petronas Twin Towers, symbol of Kuala Lumpur

I Recommend Bak Kut Teh

The dish I recommend above all in Malaysia is a Chinese dish called bak kut teh (meaning "meat bone tea"). It is said to have originated in Malaysia. It is a unique dish involving simmered pork eaten on top of rice; it is also beneficial to your health. It apparently started out long ago as a breakfast meal for tin miners. It is cheap, and you do not get hungry again right away, so you should definitely give it a try when you visit here.

Bak kut teh, popular Malaysian Chinese dish

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