What vertical markets are booming in Malaysia?

There are various vertical markets in Malaysia, some more booming than the others. In a lot of these markets, end users have learned to use security products for non-security purposes as well.
 

Manufacturing

One vertical experiencing a boom is manufacturing. “A lot of our major customers are in manufacturing, which is growing because of exports. Two of our customers are America-based, and they are expanding their factories here, which is a positive sign for us,” said Yap Vooi Kuen, Director of ELID. “They are looking for advanced solutions; one of our car factory customers, they want new technology involving face detection and AI (artificial intelligence).

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While the concept of Industry 4.0 has yet to become a full reality in Malaysia, most manufacturers are beginning to realize its importance and benefits. “It’s one of the emphases of the new government – to push Industry 4.0,” said Ir. A. H. Yong, President of The Electrical and Electronics Association of Malaysia (TEEAM). “In Malaysia only a small number of manufacturers have adopted Industry 4.0, maybe less than 5 percent. So the government is committed to helping manufacturers catch up to it. And our association is very supportive of the government on this.”
 

Real estate

 
Another vertical that’s gathering a lot of steam is real estate. In particular, this industry is seeing increasing Chinese investment.
 

“There is quite a few Chinese investors here due to the One Belt One Road initiative as well as similarities in language and culture. Chinese investors basically cover all vertical markets in Malaysia, including manufacturing, transportation and real estate,” said Huckel Zheng, MD of Hikvision Malaysia. “When Chinese investors come to Malaysia, Hikvision inevitably becomes their top choice, as they use Hikvision in their own projects in China.”
 
Meanwhile, so-called “mixed projects” are increasing in Malaysia, too. “There is a lot of mixed projects in Malaysia, meaning you have retail, hotel, shopping mall and private residences all combined into one. It’s been quite popular over the past few years,” said Allan Koay, Technical Sales Manager at MicroEngine Technology, adding that an integrated platform allowing the end users to view everything from one screen is in high demand. “MicroEngine started off as an access control company. We have now expanded our offerings to include integrated security management systems, which enable integration with subsystems like CCTV, elevator system, BMS and parking payment system. We do offer this kind of integration.”
 

Retail

 
Finally, the retail sector has seen an uptick in growth, with a lot of retailers using security solutions for non-security purposes.
 

“More and more retailers now rely on people counting and heat maps, which offer insights into how their business is doing. For example with people counting and POS (point of sale) data, they can find the store’s conversion rate and get a better understanding of why there are so many people yet transaction is low, or why one area has higher traffic than the others,” said K. K. Lim, Director of ALMA Technology. “And indeed Malaysia is increasingly seeing this trend, and retailers are looking for related solutions, not just hardware.”
 
“Their biggest demand is still security and loss prevention, and indeed we have the solutions for it. But at the same time, we are also assisting them with business analysis, whereby through our solutions they can find which part of the store has more people, and place merchandise accordingly. With people counting, heat maps and POS integration, you can find out which area has more people at what time,” said Simon Weng, Country Manager for Malaysia at Dahua Technology. “We are seeing rising demand for these solutions in Malaysia, especially in convenience stores.”