Jackspeed higher turnover hopes

Singapore-based Jackspeed Leather Special Pte Ltd expect their plant in Kluang, Johor, to contribute RM25 million (US$6.6 million) in turnover this year, up from RM22 million in the previous financial year. Its chief executive officer Jackson Liew said the company had invested RM200,000 to set up the Kluang factory, and that after four years in operation, the investment and assets had risen to RM5.6 million, including the value of the 887,000 ft2 land. He said the global automobile industry had enjoyed tremendous growth over the past ten years, thus creating demand for the automobile-related products such as leather car seat covers and accessories. Liew said the Johor plant produced 1,500 car seat covers a month and that by end 2002, monthly production would reach between 5,000 and 7,000 units. He added that the company's plant used cow hides from Austria, Germany, Italy and Britain, and it had been awarded the QS9000/ISO9001 and ISO14001, becoming the first leather-based product manufacturer in the region to receive such accreditation. Liew said the company's export markets for the leather car seat covers included Europe, the US and Asian countries such as Japan, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam. By early next year, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait would be added to the list, he said. For the group as a whole, Jackspeed Leather are also projecting an increase in turnover this year to S$35 million (US$19 million) from S$24 million last year.