From Humble Origins to a Regional Plastic Powerhouse – BP Plastics Holding Berhad
It all began on the first day of April in 1990 when Lim Chun Yow, Tan See Khim and Hey Shiow Hoe pooled their resources to set up a plastic bag manufacturing partnership called Lam Guan Plastic Industries in the small town of Batu Pahat. Later in 1991, BP Plastics Sdn Bhd was incorporated in response to the government’s Reinvestment Allowance incentive under the industrialisation policy. The name BP was selected simply as an abbreviation of Batu Pahat, in recognition of the town. From the start, the three lifelong friends have passion and dedication and humble hopes in their hearts as they envisioned that their modest project would supply polyethylene (PE) plastic bags to the garment and textile industries in town.
Due to the limited resources, BP’s plastic production was initially set up in a small rented factory located in a residential area. At the start, the power consumption of their machinery, at times, disrupted the power supply of the whole area. On top of that, the machine chugged, roared and rumbled whenever it was operating and this contributed to the noise level in the otherwise peaceful neighbourhood. Yet, production was able to continue with great efforts to minimise the disturbance and inconvenience caused, as well as kind understanding from residents and neighbours. As the business partners explained, to grow a small-scale business, they took the steady path or persevering rather than taking on a major shift or a plunge that may jeopardise sustainability of the company as they navigate the treacherous tightrope of balancing capital, cash flow and human resources. Along with expansion of the business, 1994, a decision was made to move and expand the operations to an industrial park.
Since then, the three business partners have not looked back. After 15 years of persistent hard work backed by strong support from its customers, employees, business partners, stakeholders, shareholders, families and friends, BP Plastics Holding Berhad (BPPLAS) was incorporated on 9th March 2004 as the holding company. It successfully listed on the Industrial Sector of the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad on 23rd February 2005, signifying the company’s commitment towards continuous growth and expansion.
A plastic powerhouse
Since its public listing, the company’s turnover has grown steadily over the years and today, BPPLAS is one of the largest PE film and bag manufacturers in Asia. The company supplies cast stretch films and blown PE packaging films and bags to both domestic and overseas markets. BPPLAS has presence in more than 54 countries and exports about 75% of its products to customers worldwide including Asia, Australasia, the Middle East, Europe and North America. Located in the Sri Gading Industrial Estate of Batu Pahat in Johor, BPPLAS has a combined land size of 15.5 acres, and operates at two manufacturing locations within the same vicinity with a total built-up area of 360,000 square feet. At the end of 2021, BPPLAS currently has a combined nameplate production capacity of 10,000 metric tons per month and is capable of producing a diversified range of PE film products to meet worldwide demands every single day, with room to grow.
By converging the world’s best machinery and equipment with the finest raw materials selection, and supported by its own in-house research and innovative capabilities, BPPLAS specialises in producing high quality cast stretch film and blown PE film products, and also has their own brands “Infinity”, “Clarity”, “Priority”, “Hill Plus” and “R-Edge” to cater to a wide spectrum of their customers’ needs and requirements. In addition to ISO9001 (quality management), BPPLAS is also an ISO14001 (environmental management), ISO45001 (occupational health and safety) and ISO22000 (food safety management) certified PE film manufacturer, embracing the 5Ss and 3Rs at its core operations. This entails the principles of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle in its daily operations to extend and preserve natural resources for future generations. At BPPLAS, economic, social and environmental sustainability is an integral part of its growth and strategies. With the continuous efforts to innovate and produce more high quality and sustainable packaging products for its customers worldwide, BPPLAS also seeks business opportunities to further expand and strengthen its market position as the key plastics packaging supplier of choice in the Asian region, and to deliver enhanced stakeholder values over the long term.
