Business

Saturday July 4, 2009

Electronics group sees decline in workforce

By DAVID TAN and YVONNE TAN


GEORGE TOWN: The Malaysian American Electronics Industry (MAEI) expects the workforce employed by its 17 members to drop to 53,376 this year from 56,213 in 2008.

“This reduction is due to the termination of contractual workers and the voluntary separation schemes implemented since last October,” chairman Datuk S.H. Wong said in an interview.

Last December, Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam announced that over 4,700 workers would be retrenched by 137 employers in the first quarter of 2009.

Of this figure, some 1,500 were from the Kuching plant of Western Digital, a member of MAEI.

“Some of these electrical and electronics (E&E) companies that have started replacing staff have seen (business) volume coming back,” said Wong.

In Penang, multinational corporations (MNCs) and local companies have either started selective recruitment or are about to start it in the second half of 2009.

A source close to Motorola said the facility in Bayan Lepas was now re-hiring for the second half.

“The plant is recruiting more or less 100 engineers for a variety of new two-way radio projects,” the source said, adding that Motorola’s sales were slightly affected -- between 5% and 10% -- due to the global slowdown in the first quarter.

Intel Malaysia corporate affairs manager Loo Cheng Cheng said selective hiring was now carried out.

Loo said the recruitment was for projects that required critical skills.

“Intel was able to offer comparable positions in its newer facilities in Penang and Kulim to all manufacturing employees affected by the announced closure of its two older facilities in Penang,” she added.

Jabil Circuit, which assembles printed circuit boards (PCBs), is also in the process of recruiting 100 workers for the material procurement and sourcing division at its plant in Bayan Lepas.

”We are recruiting because Jabil is transferring additional activities from the United States to Penang.

“Orders for Jabil’s PCB products have stabilised, and in May the plant reinstated the five-day workweek,” he said.

Entegris (Kulim) plant manager Chai Eng Leng said the plant in Kulim Hi-Tech Park (KHTP) had been recruiting since May due to an increase in the orders from existing customers.

“Our customers in Asia-Pacific who have kept a low inventory earlier this year are now reordering from us. These are customers from South Korea, Taiwan, and China,” he said.

Chai said the group had so far hired some 50 workers to fill the positions of technicians and engineers, increasing the workforce at KHTP to 525.

“While we are stillrecruiting, we are still observing closely the global economic situation,” he said.

Entegris manufactures semiconductor protective material products at the KHTP facility for the semiconductor industry.

Local companies involved in the electronics and hard disk drive industries are also recruiting.

Globetronics Technology Bhd chief financial officer Ng Kok Choon said the group had taken in about 100 operators since May to meet new orders.

“Our order book is filled up till August. Hopefully the upward trend will continue into the fourth quarter. The demand for our integrated circuits come from Asia-Pacific and the US markets,” he added.

Eng Teknologi Holdings Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Y.K. Teh also said the group had since May been recruiting for its facilities in the Philippines, Thailand, China, and Malaysia.

The recruitment exercise was to meet the growing demand taking place largely in Asia-Pacific, primarily from its Japanese and US customers, Teh added.

“We are looking at adding an extra headcount of 500 to the existing workforce of the group which currently stands at about 4,100.

“We plan to increase the workforce in Malaysia to 1,700 from 1,500 by August. Overseas, we want to increase the headcount to 2,900 from the present 2,600, also by August.

“All these recruits, comprising largely contractual workers, are to fill the operator and production positions. While we are recruiting, we are also wary of the market conditions in the hard disk drive industry. That is why we are engaging largely contractual employees,” he added.

MAEI’s Wong said that it expected second-quarter performance to be “better” than the first quarter.

The performance of the E&E sector for the second quarter is expected to be announced by Matrade in either late July or early August.

The 17 companies in MAEI include Intel, Dell, and Motorola. Collectively, they employ more than 55,000 people.

The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers president Datuk Mustafa Mansur, meanwhile, said signs of rehiring were there. In a recent survey, 22 out of 63 companies indicated that they had started rehiring.

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