Pentamaster eyes expansion to Germany, setting up offices in Indonesia, Middle East

KUALA LUMPUR (April 26): Pentamaster Corporation Bhd, an automation technology solutions and services provider, will continue to further strengthen its geographical footprint in 2022 and next year through its products and solutions.

Executive chairman Chuah Choon Bin said having established Pentamaster Japan in 2021, the Penang-headquartered group will explore extending its footprint to Germany in 2022 and opening offices in Indonesia and the Middle East by 2023.

"Like a pigeon that flies out and ultimately finds its way home, Pentamaster will continue to remain steadfast and invest in Penang.

"With strong sales forecasts that the group expects in the coming years based on customer order momentum, we are expanding our production capacity, research activities and engineering staffing with the expansion of a new facility in Batu Kawan, Penang," he said in the company's 2021 annual report.

Chuah further said that the facility, to be the group’s third major production plant, is located on a 4.86-hectare (12-acre) industrial land and is expected to measure 600,000 sq ft.

Construction started this month and is slated for completion in the third quarter of 2023.

“The expansion will include increased space for research laboratories, manufacturing floors and offices,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said moving forward with its growth strategies, the key driver will be the automotive and medical sectors. This follows Pentamaster’s strategic decision to venture into new sectors in 2018 to help cushion the softness of the electro-optical sector, which remained the top revenue contributor last year.

On the automotive sector, Chuah said the group will continue to leverage its expertise and know-how in riding the high market demand for integrated power modules such as insulated gate bipolar transistors and power devices in assembly and test solutions, covering the front end and back end.

"With our proprietary silicon carbide wafer burn-in system that we have developed, this will enable us to have almost a complete production line for power devices from wafer burn-in to assembly and test [solutions] for the automotive sector," he explained.

For the medical sector, he said the group seeks to expand its medical automation solutions for the single-use medical devices industry, such as intravenous catheters, dual safety pen needles and sutures.

Chuah said Pentamaster intends to expand its geographical coverage for growth in this sector, with the immediate plan being to intensify efforts to market its solutions to key markets such as the US, India, and the Middle East region, besides China.