KarenSoft targets RM50m in ERP sales to furniture makers TheEdge Daily, Tuesday, July 20, 2004 KarenSoft Technology Bhd is targeting RM50 million in sales of its extended enterprise resources planning (ERP2) solution to the 2,000 members of the Malaysian Furniture Entrepreneurs Association (MFEA) over the next three years. KarenSoft executive chairman Chee Chong Hwa estimated that at least 10% of MFEA members would have the budget to implement the KarenSoft ERP2 solution costing between RM150,000 and RM250,000. He said KarenSoft's ERP2 solution would help furniture manufacturers increase their global competitiveness by improving their management of customer relationship, supply chain, and financial and human resources. "The adoption of KarenSoft ERP2 solution encourages and enforces enterprise-wide integration, avoiding work duplication," he said at a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signing between the company and MFEA in Shah Alam on July 19. Chee said the Mesdaq Market-listed company was eyeing other trade bodies to provide similar ERP2 solutions. MFEA would collaborate with KarenSoft to introduce the ERP2 solutions to its members under 11 state furniture associations. MFEA committee member and the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Furniture Entrepreneur Association first vice president Steven Tan said members who were interested in implementing the KarenSoft ERP2 solution could apply for small- and medium-enterprise loans. Tan said it was crucial for MFEA members to improve their manufacturing processes and product quality in view of the challenge from other low-cost countries such as Vietnam and China. "A number of Malaysian furniture manufacturers have relocated their plants to low-cost countries to produce lower-end products but those that remain are producing medium-range and high-end products," he said. "Malaysia ranks 11th among furniture exporting countries, while China ranks number four and is fast becoming a threat (to the medium-range and high-end furniture producers)," Tan said. He said Malaysia's furniture export was expected to hit RM7 billion this year, up from RM5 billion in 2003, due to sales of higher-end products and the high import tariff imposed by the US on China's furniture. Meanwhile, Tan said prices of rubber wood had shot up to RM1,400 per cubic metre from about RM900 per cubic metre early last year following a surge in demand for the raw material and a supply shortage in the country. "Members have resorted to importing rubber wood from Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand as a short-term solution. For the long term, we urge the government to encourage smallholders to plant rubber trees," he said. Executive chairman and CEO of KarenSoft exchanging documents with Lim Yong Keong, assistant executive secretary general of MFEA, witnessed by Lan Dee Dee executive director of Novo Sdn Bhd and Steven Tan, first vice president of Kuala Lumpur & Selangor Furniture Entrepreneur Association By Jimmy Yeow