The Centre for Extension Education organised a talk featuring APM Automotive Holdings Berhad Chief Executive Officer Low Seng Chee at Sungai Long Campus on 15 November 2019 which saw more than 50 participants. Present at the talk were CEE Director Lim Guat Yen, staff and students from various faculties.

Titled “Navigating through the changing business environment – APM’s experience”, the talk focused on how APM navigates through the business environment as a Malaysian homegrown company. In Low’s presentation he spoke about the overview of APM, APM’s numerous activities in the automotive sector, economic and environmental changes in the business landscape, the framework of the company and its achievements.

He said, “We often engage with the customers to find out what they really want in order to sustain in the market. Thus, we need to embrace the new technology such as smart sensor, cloud computing, 3D printing, big data analytics, location detection, Internet of Things and others as well to come up with products that suit the current needs of the customers.”

Low placed emphasis on “C = (S+K) x A” whereby C represents Competency while S represents Skills; K stands for Knowledge and A refers to Attitude. He said, “In APM, we place high emphasis on employee’s attitude. Attitude is very important in our company because it affects the employee’s morale, productivity and working environment.”

He also spoke about regulations by the Malaysian government and other legal matters, “The relevant requirements are the Employment Act, MACC Act Section 17A, Customer Specific Request, Bursa Malaysia Listing requirements, Occupational Health and Safety, Factory and Machinery, Department of Environment, Enterprise Risk Management and Sustainability Development.”

“We support other organisation that requires assistance in terms of funding, in supporting activities related to contributing back to the social and environmental economic situation. We also measure ourselves with regards to carbon footprint in the environment and incorporate investment into energy-efficient equipment. The CSR has to be meaningful for the organisation and has to be right for the people in the community,” said Low as he explained the importance of company social responsibility.

Low added, “We encourage linkages with institutions of higher learning to collaborate in terms of internship. The key point is to be able to provide a real working life experience to the students. Other areas would be to collaborate in joint research and development in common areas to innovate products.”