We just got back from Perodua’s sprawling base at Sungai Choh where 20 fresh grads from Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UNiMAP) have just completed a six-month Digital Engineering and Prototyping training programme. Twelve of them underwent training at Perodua R&D, two each at Sipro Plastic Industries and Ingress Technologies, and four others at Sapura Industrial. The three companies are Perodua vendors.

Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry, Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir was there to present the certificates to the trainees. Those who trained at Perodua have been given temporary positions at the company for a year.

This Digital Engineering and Prototyping (DEP) training programme was created by the Malaysian Automotive Institute (MAI), which is a non-profit organisation under MITI. MAI’s DEP programme offers students access to high end software and hands on training. The module includes CAD (computer aided design), CAM (manufacturing), CAE (engineering), CAPE (production engineering) and Product Lifecycle Management).

Encouraged by the success of this pilot batch, MAI has expanded the next intake to 35 students, to be selected based on CGPA scores and an interview with both MAI and industry execs. Next up, MAI will work with UiTM to introduce styling design as part of the programme, which will help produce 4,600 automotive designers in five years, in line with the target set by the government.

After the scroll presentation, Dato’ Mukhriz clicked “Like” on Perodua’s new Facebook page to launch it. The MYPerodua page with the catch phrase “Lagi Best” will feature a contest to drum up fan count. Called “The Perodua Auditions”, one basically needs to show how much they love Perodua in a video to win a RM10,000 grand prize and five iPad 2s. Head on to www.facebook.com/MYPerodua to find out more.

The Perodua Eco-Challenge (PEC) is one of the more interesting CSR programmes around. Now in its third year, PEC challenges universities and polytechnics to produce the most fuel efficient “concept car”. The main objective is to challenge the engineering capabilities of undergraduates and to breed innovation and creativity among them. And as we’ve seen from last year’s event, the results can be very impressive.

Perodua Eco-Challenge 2011 will happen on June 25 at the Melaka International Motorsports Circuit. The venue of the finals may be the same, but this year’s PEC is a much tougher challenge for the students. The main change is that teams are now only given an engine (660 cc three-cylinder) and a gearbox (five-speed manual), as opposed to a full car last year.

This means that teams will have to construct a chassis and shell for the car, instead of just stripping and modifying Vivas. Because of this extra work, the seed money given to each team by Perodua has increased from last year’s RM10,000 to RM17,500.

Because of this new ruling, the machines we will see at MIMC next month will come in various shapes, sizes and configurations – UKM is working on a mid engined, rear driven car, for instance. They will also be given less fuel. Last year, teams extracted the most out of a litre of petrol; this year, they will do so with half the amount (0.5-litre) of Petronas Primax 95 Xtra.

The entry list this year has grown to 14 teams, including a Perodua in-house R&D team that won’t be eligible for prizes. Speaking of prizes, the longest distance winning team will take home RM20,000, first runner up RM10,000 and third place RM5,000. The “Engineering” category has a RM30k pot to be won, while the “Design/Participation” category offers RM9,000 up for grabs.

At a progress update event this afternoon, the selected reps of the participating universities didn’t reveal too much of their “trade secrets”, but the Perodua team (which has nothing to lose, or rather nothing to win) shared their project targets as well as the shape of their car, which you can see from the image above. Can any student team beat this 70 km/l benchmark? We’ll have to wait. At present, many of the teams are in the phase of manufacturing the components and testing the car.

The entry list consists of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Universiti Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Spanish Institute, Politeknik Sultan Azlan Shah (based in Tg Malim, so they will be testing in Proton’s facilities!), Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Universiti Sains Malaysia (2010 A/T winners), Universiti Teknologi Mara, Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Universiti Tenaga Nasional (2010 M/T winners), Universiti Industri Selangor, Politeknik Ungku Omar, Politeknik Port Dickson, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka.

All the best to the participating teams – see you in Melaka!

The triple disaster that hit Japan in March has severely affected the automotive industry, as carmakers and their various levels of vendors saw production disrupted or stopped completely in the aftermath. Overseas CKD operations aren’t spared, as vital parts still come from Japan.

But of those affected, Perodua seems to be weathering the storm pretty well – and as proof, the company is maintaining its 2011 sales target of 195,000 units, instead of lowering the figure. This was announced by Perodua MD, Datuk Aminar Rashid Salleh in a media briefing this morning, where he also declared that plans for the launch of the new Myvi is on track and not affected by the Japan disaster.

Click to enlarge image

As to when the sequel to Malaysia’s most popular car will be launched, he was tight-lipped, but did let slip that September 2011 would be too late, as the new Myvi will be the main factor in hitting the 195k target. We’re into May already, so it could be anytime from now till August – stay tuned!

As you can see from the graph below, there’s some catching up to do in terms of figures. Aminar said that by June/July, Perodua’s production will ramped up to make up the shortfall, with overtime thrown in. By the way, throughout this period since March, production in Rawang was still at two shifts, and the only slow down was the removal of daily and weekend overtime.

Click to enlarge image

The fact that Perodua is so lightly affected is down to a few reasons, chiefly the high degree of localisation (up to 90% for their latest model, Alza) and the priority given to Perodua by stakeholder Daihatsu. Malaysia is the biggest market for Daihatsu outside of Japan, so this makes sense.

Among the affected parts are 23 engine components and accessories from Japan, as well as the paint supply, but as mentioned, Perodua expects production to be fully normalised from June, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

Aminar also said that the Japan disaster might expedite the process of making more components locally. As previously revealed, an E-AT (electronic automatic transmission) plant will be built here (location not yet finalised), and it will churn out gearboxes for local consumption before exports start.

Construction of the RM200-250 million plant will start in the fourth quarter of this year. This will help Perodua reduce costs as part of the company’s preparation for market liberalisation.