|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Company News
|
Nov 1, 2002 |
| |
By S C Chan, Malaysian
Business
CITY-LINK Express (M) Sdn Bhd is truly a success story. From
a two-office operation in 1979, it has grown into one of
three dominant players in the local courier industry.
Back then, the company operated from an office in Petaling
Jaya and Singapore, and its handful of staff handled mainly
simple documents.
When the Malaysian economy picked up with industrialisation
and manufacturing, the company progressed to a small-parcel
delivery. This necessitated the setting up of a service
outlet network covering the major towns and cities
throughout the country.
Today, according to founder and chief executive officer
David Tan Ah Ba, Malaysia’s first licensed courier company
is one of the big three in an industry enjoying an estimated
total annual turnover of RM 600 million.
City-Link’s share is about RM 65 million (compared to RM
200,000 in its first year of operations) and is expected to
grow between 10 per cent and 15 per cent annually. This is
in tandem with business growth generated locally and
overseas through its joint ventures in the Asean countries
including Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Myanmar and
Vietname, as well as Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea.
The company now has more than 100 outlets in Malaysia and
the region. Within two decades, the company has evolved into
a fully integrated courier service operator ready to respond
to changing market needs.
City-Link’s head office is housed in Wisma City-Link, a RM
10 million purpose-built complex located in Glenmarie, Shah
Alam.
Malaysia's first courier company, City-Link Express (M) Sdn
Bhd, has enjoyed phenomenal growth in line with the
expanding economy.
The group’s management team includes deputy CEO/director Ng
Chet Chiang, who joined the company soon after it was
founded, and joint-founder Saimon Chia, who is the executive
director of Singapore-based City-Link Express (S) Pte Ltd.
As part of its aim to provide total logistic solutions, the
City-Link Group has two subsidiary companies to integrate
its services: City-Link Air-Cargo Sdn Bhd provides
air-freight and ocean-freight services while City-Link
Parcel and Card Services Sdn Bhd handles consignments that
require special security arrangements such as credit cards,
automated teller machine cards, special gifts as well as
integrated inventory management.
The directors are very aware of the importance of
reliability, speed and efficiency in the courier line of
business and makes sure this point is not lost with the
growing workforce, which now numbers 1,800 for the entire
domestic and regional operations.
The group handles a daily shipment of more than 30,000
packages. To ensure that it sustains it competitive edge and
position as industry leader, the company has invested a
sizeable sum in Information Technology.
“We’ve invested a large sum on IT within the group” Ng tells
Malaysian Business. For example, City-Link is one of the
first Malaysian package-delivering companies to introduce
the barcode technology.
‘All our branches and divisions are fully equipped with the
latest on-line IT equipment to enhance operational
efficiency,’ adds Ng. In line with its increasing domestic,
regional and international operations, the company is now
going e-global to keep in step with the ‘e’ way of doing
business on the Internet.
Adds Chia, ‘We must meet today’s challenges in order to
grow. The market today is educated. It demands quality
service and speed and it is Internet-savvy. The economy is
information hungry.’
The company has, therefore, launched e-global LINK, a fully
integrated courier service system based on the Application
Service Provider (ASP) concept. Claimed as a first in the
local courier service industry, e-global LINK is described
as an innovative strategy that employs Internet centric
applications that include Front Office Applications and Back
Office Applications.
All City-Link’s offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand
and Vietnam will go online with e-global LINK.
The characteristics of the e-commerce modules incorporated
in the system include e-warehousing, e-procurement,
e-distribution, e-fulfillment, ASP operations, ASP Customer
Service Help Desk, ASP Track and Trace and City-Link
Corporate Website. The device’s independent software systems
are Unix, Linux and MS Window.
‘City-Link has developed a powerful and advanced Track &
Trace web-based functionality in the service provided by the
company,’ says Tan. The customers can use the system to
check on, for example, delivery status, information, rate,
invoice, docket editing, time in transit, pick-up
scheduling, customs clarification and claim status.
The 2003 Budget proposal abolishing the 5 per cent service
tax on overseas consignments for the local courier industry
has been welcomed as timely. ‘It is definitely a good
encouragement to the local industry to help stimulate
domestic economic growth,’ says Ng.
Prospects for the industry certainly look bright. Ng says
despite the wide availability of fax and e-mail facilities,
document-handling business activities will continue to grow
in tandem with the expanding population and general business
activities in the country and region.
According to Ng, the local courier industry has evolved into
‘a system of its own kind,’ with the ratio of parcels to
documents at 60:40.
‘At first it was thought there was going to be panic when
fax first came. Then e-mail followed. But in spite of all
this, they can’t cater (to the growing customer needs),’ On
the contrary, the courier industry has grown 10-to 20- fold
since the early 1980s.
Tan anticipates that with the Government’s growing emphasis
on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and the
development of physical infrastructure such as roads,
airports and ports, economic growth will accelerate in the
future.
The industry needs therefore to respond to the changes and
challenges in order to grow faster. With the industry’s
growth projected at between 12 per cent and 15 per cent
annually, this can only mean that City-Link will continue to
grow and expand in both its domestic and regional
operations.
Ng says the company’s plans to include seeking a listing on
the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. |
|
|
|
