Panasonic Invests RM1.84bil in Solar Manufacturing

In a report by Bernama on Friday, March 2, Panasonic Corporation is investing RM1.84 billion (US$610 million) for its first fully integrated solar manufacturing base in Malaysia through Panasonic Energy Malaysia Sdn Bhd. A good achievement by the state of Kedah in wooing foreign investors to this Northern state of Peninsula Malaysia.

Sabah's Failed Attempt at Solar Glass Manufacturing

Back in 2010, Sun Bear Solar Ltd through it's subsidiary Sun Bear Solar Sdn Bhd announced its investment of RM5.2billion (US$1.72bil) to build the first solar glass manufacturing plant in Malaysia, to be located at Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park, Sabah.

It was scheduled to start the first production in Q1 of 2012 but the company reviewed it investment position due to the power supply issue in Sabah. It was such a shame as this would have put Sabah in the front line of solar panel production.

300 MW Production Capacity at Kulim Plant

Source: Bernama, Mar 2, 2012

Located at the Kulim Hi-Tech Park, the facility will undertake the integrated manufacturing of solar wafers, cells and modules with an estimated annual production capacity of 300 megawatt (MW).

Ground breaking ceremony in Kulim, Kedah. Image: ntv7 news

"At our new factory, the entire production process is integrated within a single base. We can reduce costs significantly by cutting down processes and eliminating the transportation process," Panasonic Group Vice President, Tetsuhiro Maeda said during the groundbreaking ceremony and exchange of land lease agreement here, Friday. Maeda is in charge of the solar business for Panasonic Energy Company Japan.

Also present at the ceremony was the chairman of Kulim Technology Park Corporation Sdn Bhd, Datuk Ir Amiruddin Hamzah, the president of Energy Company of Panasonic Group, Masato Ito, the Managing Director of Panasonic Asia Pacific, Yorihisa Shiokawa and Managing Director of Panasonic Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Jeff Lee.

Currently, the company's total global capacity is 600MW from its factories in Japan, Hungary and Mexico. Construction of the new facility in Kulim will commence immediately with operations starting by December to manufacture Panasonic Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin-layer (HIT) solar modules.

The plant is expected to employ 1,500 people and has a total built-area of 70,000 square meters. The products manufactured in Kulim will be sold to all over the world, as well as in Japan. Maeda said for the last three year, solar panel sales had dropped but not its HIT modules.

"With increasing environment awareness globally and the introduction of subsidy systems as well as a Feed-in Tariff scheme in various countries, the solar market is predicted to grow further," he added. Due to this, Maeda said robust demand is expected particularly in the residential sector, the main target area for HIT solar modules.

LED Glasses Help Restore Sight

A pair of electronic glasses have been developed by neuroscientists at Oxford University that allow visually impaired wearers to see once again. Not literally. But these glasses could help many people navigate their way with ease.

Hi-tech specs. Image by  MailOnline

Video cameras mounted on the corners of the frames build up a three dimensional, or stereoscopic view of what is in front of you. This is then translated as simple patterns accross a grid of LEDs on the glasses' transparent lenses, with nearer objects being signalled by brighter lights.

A prototype, which also uses infrared technology from the Xbox Kinect to detect objects in low light conditions is in its early stages. In the long run, lead researcher Dr. Stephen Hicks believes the glasses could be manufactured for around £500 a pair. [Note: In an article posted by MailOnline in 2011, the glasses were tagged to cost less than £1,000]. Dr. Hicks said that what made these image recognition glasses possible was the development of sufficiently powerful and portable computer technology.

Technology does help us in our daily affairs and in this case, our visually impaired friends and kins. Many thanks to never ending endeavor of ordinary people around us!

Private Sector Minimum Wage Set Below RM1,000

The inevitable has now been made known - the private sector is set to have minimum wage. While the public sector have seen at least a couple of wages reviews or changes in the salary scheme quite recently, employees of the private sector have not seen any light to the very question of minimum salary.

As the title suggests, minimum wage is set below RM1,000.00 and I will not blame you if you now begin to wonder. I myself am puzzled. Below RM1,000 can mean anything from a single Ringgit to RM999 although it would take a dumb to think about figures towards the low end.

 

Image: MalaysianInsider

Datuk S.Subramaniam: “There will be a minimum wage below RM1,000 as the minister has said before and the Cabinet has approved it.”

The Malaysian Insider online news reported today (Mar.3, 2012) that the Cabinet has agreed to set a minimum wage of below RM1,000 for the 3.2 million workers in the private sector, with a RM100 difference between states in the Malay peninsula and Sabah and Sarawak, sources say.

The Malaysian Insider understands that the Najib administration decided on a regional difference in wages rather than sectoral differences although some sectors will be excluded from the policy. Selangor under Pakatan Rakyat (PR) rule has set a minimum wage of RM1,500 as demanded by most unions but opposed by employers.

Read the full article here.


In Brief

If reading a lengthy article is not your cup of tea, the following table is the summary of what I understand from the report:

Who will be affected	3.2 million workers in the Private Sector
Minimum wage	Below RM1,000
Condition*	RM100 difference between states in Peninsula Malaysia and Sabah/Sarawak
Initial demand by most Unions	RM1,500
Exception	Selangor has set minimum salary at RM1,500
Current  average salary:-
Sabah	RM577
Sarawak	RM758
Peninsula Malaysia	RM1,131
Estimated 33% of private sector workers	Earning less than RM700

My Personal Opinion

Some people say let the demand-and-supply determine the salary in the private sector. While partly agreeing to such subscription, it is also worth looking at the public sector over supply of staff. One can look at the ratio of public servant to total population in developed countries and it is not hard to see that Malaysia has a significantly higher ratio.

Similarly, productivity of labour, be it in the public or private sector, must increase with the increase in remuneration. Towards this end, have we seen any significant increase in production in the public sector (or GLC) after the recent salary scheme revision? That is the similar question when determining the minimum salary for the private sector.

We have seen reluctance on the part of the employers every time the workers ask for minimum wage. This brings about the general perception that Malaysian employers prefer to bring in foreign workers at the expense of the local workers. Foreign labours normally cost lesser to employ and thus employers maximise their profit that way. I hope this is wrong but it is what many perceive as happening.

What makes you think that given proper salaries, local will not take up the hard and tasking jobs currently dominated by foreigners? Plantation, construction, manufacturing (factories), to name a few. Make it a policy to first give the jobs to Malaysian and not to the cheap imported labour. It will cost higher but that's the only way for this country to become a high income nation in 2020. That is what the regulator (government) is there for - to ensure that the people get remunerated properly while seeing to it that employers are still making profit.

Lastly, when the minimum wage is implemented, wages revision must be carried out across the board. Workers in the lower rank would no doubt be affected (in a good way), but those in the higher ladders should benefit equally.