Testimonial
50 Years Rooted in Malacca: KOA DENKO (MALAYSIA) Aim For a Further Leap Forward
KOA DENKO (MALAYSIA) SDN. BHD.
Project Leader: Seiji Ozawa, Managing Director
Project Duration: 2022-2025
Location: Malacca, Malaysia
Creating the Group's Largest Factory in Partnership with Local Communities
KOA DENKO (MALAYSIA) SDN. BHD. (“KOA DENKO (MALAYSIA)”), a leading global resistor manufacturer, has been operating in Malacca, Malaysia for half a century. In April 2025, the company completed construction of its largest factory to date. The Groundbreaking Ceremony was attended by the Chief Minister of Malacca State, making it a major construction project that drew significant local attention.
PLUS PM CONSULTANT SDN. BHD. (“Plus PM”) provided complete support for this project from land selection through design consultant selection, design, construction bidding, contracts, construction management, and final handover. How was this massive factory built despite numerous challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic, differences in local regulations and business practices, contractor coordination, and budget control? Let’s take a look behind the scenes.
Largest factory in KOA Group
Chief Minister attended groundbreaking
Successfully managed through COVID-19
Complete project management from land selection to handover
A Massive Factory to Support Our Long-term Vision for the Electric Vehicle Era
As the world moves toward decarbonization, the automotive industry is facing a major shift. To support the growth of new mobility markets, including electric vehicles, KOA group developed a growth strategy looking toward 2030. As part of this strategy, the company decided to build a new factory at its Malaysian site to significantly strengthen its global supply capabilities.
The new factory construction project was set in motion. The person chosen to lead this project was Seiji Ozawa, current Managing Director of KOA DENKO (MALAYSIA), who had experience with factory construction in Japan.
“I was assigned to Malacca in November 2020. Building a massive factory in Malaysia, with its different business practices, laws, and language, seemed like an overwhelming challenge when I started researching it. That’s when I learned about Construction Management, and I was convinced that ‘this is exactly what we need,'”
ー Seiji Ozawa, Managing Director
Bringing in the Consultant and Land Selection Process
In February 2022, Plus PM officially joined the project.
The KOA DENKO (MALAYSIA) team consisted of three Japanese staff members, including team leader Ozawa, and two local staff members. Each team member worked on the new factory construction project while handling their regular duties.
Ozawa attended almost every meeting as the leader, and other members also gave their full commitment to this largest factory construction project in the group’s history. “Their proactive and dedicated work made our success possible,” Ozawa reflects. He continues, “Good results don’t come without discussion. To avoid regrets, I wanted to move forward with full understanding and confidence in our decisions.”
▲The land was originally a sloped site, as shown in the photo prior to construction.
The first area where Plus PM supported was land selection. For the two sites that KOA DENKO (MALAYSIA) had already identified as final candidates, Plus PM provided objective research and comparison materials, creating an environment where KOA DENKO (MALAYSIA) could make well-informed decisions.
The response after completion has been overwhelmingly “It’s
absolutely huge!” Among the multiple design proposals that Plus PM presented during the land selection phase, the design idea that made use of the sloped terrain has been particularly praised as “really well thought out.”
▲The design idea that made use of the sloped terrain proposed by Plus PM
Key Benefits
- Objective site analysis
- Risk assessment
- Cost comparison
- Regulatory compliance
- Local expertise
- Terrain optimization
▲After construction
Balancing Production Activities with Decision-Making Support
Ozawa mentions that one of the challenges of this project was “balancing it with regular production activities.”
“Planning a future factory while continuing normal production activities at our existing facility was more challenging than I expected. When you’re dealing with immediate issues, future matters naturally get pushed aside. Having Plus PM there with us was incredibly reassuring.”
ー Seiji Ozawa, Managing Director
As the project moved forward, we faced various decisions, both large and small. For each of these, Plus PM gathered exactly the right information we needed, supporting Ozawa’s decision-making process. “Thanks to them, I could make decisions with confidence,” says Ozawa.
During actual construction, Plus PM continued supporting decisions from the client’s perspective. For example, when contractors requested additional costs based on regulatory requirements, they carefully reviewed the contract terms and clearly determined that “additional costs in this case are not justified,” helping to control budget increases. This thorough analysis gave Ozawa peace of mind when making final decisions.
When entering into direct contracts with suppliers, they also examined conditions carefully, checking for any terms that might be unfavorable to KOA DENKO (MALAYSIA). As a result, they established contract conditions that KOA DENKO (MALAYSIA)could feel secure about. By preventing the “Overlooking of details” that often happens at construction sites and in contract negotiations, this contributed to reliability and cost optimization throughout the entire project.
Overcoming Challenges to Build Our Largest Factory
The project faced many obstacles: delays due to COVID-19, slow government approvals, and varying contractor response times. Despite these challenges, Ozawa maintained a “let’s solve this together” approach on-site, while Plus PM coordinated with over 40 different organizations (various government agencies, developers, construction companies, direct contractors, etc.). As a result, the project was successfully completed and handed over in April 2025.
40+
Organizations Coordinated
3 Years
Project Duration
April 2025
Successful Completion
Largest Scale
Factory scale within the
group
If you’re considering building a factory in ASEAN, I absolutely recommend working with a consultant who has local experience. Trying to handle everything on your own when you don’t understand the business practices or construction processes is risky. Plus PM always looked for the best solutions, compared multiple options, and established fair conditions, which ultimately led to overall cost savings. I’m confident that relying on them was absolutely the right decision.”
Managing Director Seiji Ozawa,
KOA DENKO (MALAYSIA) SDN. BHD.
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