A Peek Inside The Revamped Proton Parts Centre In Glenmarie

Earlier today, national carmaker Proton gave us an in-depth look inside its revamped Proton Parts Centre HQ in Glenmarie, Shah Alam.

Earlier today, national carmaker Proton seized the opportunity to grant select local press members – us included – with a detailed insight into its newly revamped Proton Parts Centre Headquarters (HQ) located in Glenmarie, Shah Alam.

Said facility acts as the main headquarters for Proton Parts Centre Sdn Bhd (PPCSB), which plays a critical role in Proton’s entire after-sales operations. This facility, along with four other smaller hubs, is responsible at supplying and supporting 354 Body & paint, stockists, and authorised service dealers scattered across the nation, as well as 26 overseas partners.

A special press tour was conducted detailing much of the optimisation efforts undertaken by Proton at PPCSB's Glenmarie HQ. Similar efforts are being implemented at four other supporting facilities.

These developments to Proton’s after-sales supply chain has undoubtedly allowed the carmaker to drastically reduce wait- turnaround times for its after-sales service providers and customers. Today, we were given a close, first-hand look at this ourselves.

First established in June 1992 with operations commencing in May 1993, PPCSB has evolved tremendously the last two years. The arm’s latest development saw the adoption of an innovative new warehousing system jointly developed with partners Geely that promises to further improve and accelerate its overall efficiency and delivery speed.

Concurrently, PPCSB expanded its overall warehouse space by 35% for all its hubs located in both Peninsuala Malaysia and East Malaysia. This has grown from 28,700 square metres previously to 39,000 square metres now. In fact, the Glenmarie HQ we toured earlier today itself occupies 26,700 square metres.

Under its roof, PPCSB's Glenmarie HQ handles Import, Export, and East Malaysia transfers. It can now handle between 2,500 and 4,500 Line Orders in total from its 26,700 square metre space.

Under its roof, said headquarters covers all of PPCSB’s core functions, those being Import, Export, as well as East Malaysia Transfers. Altogether, the facility has a daily operational capacity to handle between 2,500 and 4,500 Line Orders in total. The facility also operates with a space utilisation rate of 70% at present.

Up to RM130 million in parts stock, which encompasses up to 33,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs), is handled through this facility. Managing this is no easy task, thus explaining Proton’s investment into its expansion and modernisation, with the latter still in the midst of being implemented.

Nevertheless, operational improvements through the newly adopted warehousing system mentioned will soon see some of this facility’s last remaining manual processes phased out soon enough – by end of March, according to Proton. Instead, these will all be replaced by a new and fully integrated parts management system.

Up to RM130 million worth of parts stock, encompassing up to 33,000 SKUs, is handled by PPCSB's Glenmarie HQ at any given time.

Key to this warehouse’s overall efficiency is the floor-based operational flow it adopts, which sees big items stored on its second floor. In turn, this allows its base first floor to act as a fast-moving space. Here, between 150 to 500 body parts alone are also managed and shipped, along with the Line Orders and SKUs mentioned earlier.

Overall, these recent optimisation efforts have enabled Proton to increase parts availability rate up to 94% - this previously stood at just 84%. It also entails towards a 35% increase in average daily delivery output, plus a 60% back-order reduction rate.

Noteworthy here too is the fact that PPCSB’s Glenmarie HQ also caters for Proton’s export markets. For this, said facility is also supported by three other smaller warehouses, altogether handling no less than two shipments each month to sustain Proton’s largest export markets – i.e. South Africa and Pakistan.

Presently, only a few processes are performed manually still. The new warehousing management system Proton jointly-developed with partner Geely will soon make such remedial tasks obsolete.

Beyond PPCSB’s main Glenmarie HQ, Proton also briefed us on the four other facilities supporting it today. Closest to it are a 3,700 metre square secondary hub located a few kilometres away in Glenmarie as well, followed by a 3,700 square metre facility in Batu Tiga, Shah Alam.

Similarly, PPCSB’s operation is also supported over in East Malaysia with a 2,700 metre square hub located in the Bintawa district of Kuching, Sarawak, as well as an upcoming 2,800 square metre hub situated in the Kelombong district of Kota, Kinabalu, Sabah that’s set to open in Q2 this year.

Regarding the latter two, Proton notes that recent operational improvements saw stock transfer capacities doubling from before. In fact, these hubs also now allow PPCSB’s overseas vendors perform direct deliveries to these outposts.

Proton's Deputy CEO Roslan Abdullah addressing press members during the special tour conducted today at PPCSB's Glenmarie HQ.

“The unveiling of our new warehousing system reflects our relentless pursuit of innovation in ensuring optimal solutions for our valued customers and will continue continue making efforts to improve after-sales service and deliver the highest levels of customer satisfaction,” expressed Proton’s Deputy CEO Roslan Abdullah after concluding our tour earlier today.