Vinda Group Southeast Asia (Vinda SEA), a unit of Hong Kong-listed Vinda International Holdings Ltd, officially launched the construction of its regional headquarters with a groundbreaking ceremony.

Located on a 27-acre site filled with greenery, the state-of-the-art regional headquarters will comprise a double-storey manufacturing plant with raw material warehouse, a finished goods warehouse, the Vinda Innovation Centre and a six-storey administration block to be implemented in phases, in line with Vinda’s five-year plan. The investment of more than half a billion ringgit over the next five years in multiple projects to set up the Vinda regional hub represents Vinda’s commitment to Malaysia and to the state of Selangor.

Vinda SEA President Su Ting Nee said at the ceremony that the regional headquarters will not only centralise expertise and high-value activities in Malaysia, but also make the group globally competitive through the use of the latest technologies and processes with automation used where possible. Vinda SEA also anticipates that these changes will increase capacity by more than 20 percent when the facilities are fully in operation.

Examples of the automation that are planned include automated storage and retrieval system, automatic raw material supply to production lines, pre-selection of finished goods to be loaded and a fully automated first-in first-out system. The automation and integration will also help to reduce the carbon footprint, which is in keeping with the company’s sustainability policy.

The regional hub will develop, manufacture, and/or market four different product categories, namely, baby care, incontinence care, feminine care, and tissue products.  Drypers, TENA, and Libresse are currently the market leaders, while Vinda Deluxe is seeing strong growth momentum in the markets since the 2017 launch. This facility will serve mainly the Southeast Asian market, and support sales to more than 25 countries, with Malaysia being the strongest market.

In line with Vinda’s five-year plan, the first phase is expected to be completed in 2021, when the warehouse will also be operational. The second phase is expected to be completed by 2023, with manufacturing facilities and the Innovation Centre to be in operation by then.