Independent toll blender UMW Lubetech Sdn. has increased its production capacity by more than two-thirds to 60 million liters (54,000 metric tons) per year.
UMW Lubetech is a member company of the Malaysian conglomerate UMW Holdings Bhd.
UMW Lubetech sold its previous plant in Shah Alam and moved to a new plant at Pulau Indah Industrial Park, near Port Klang, the largest port in Malaysia in the state of Selangor. The old plant, which was 20 kilometers west of Kuala Lumpur, had a capacity of 35 million liters per year.
The new plant’s built-up area is on 3.2 acres. Construction began in March 2022, and the project cost 67 million ringgit (U.S. $14 million). The warehouse is equipped with an automated racking system and 14 filling lines. Commercial production began in April 2023. The plant has a workforce of more than 200 employees.
The new plant also has facilities for rainwater harvesting, electric vehicle charging and waste composting, and solar panels will be installed by the first quarter of 2024. The new plant’s current utilization rate is 60%. UMW Lubetech toll blends for original equipment manufacturers, such as Toyota, Perodua and Modenas, for the Malaysian domestic market.
“We are excited about the opening of this new plant, which has increased our blending capacity by 71% compared with the previous plant,” Anas Nasrun Mohd Osman, group director for UMW’s manufacturing and engineering division, said in a Nov. 27 press release. “The new plant will allow us to increase production of all types of lubricants, penetrate the bio-lubricants market segment as well as expand our toll blending business, in line with the expected increase in demand for lubricants.
“We are also revitalizing our export initiatives with the focus to penetrate the [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] markets through UMW’s establishments in Vietnam, Singapore and Myanmar.”
Since 2010, UMW has operated a lubricant blending plant in Jiang Men, Guangdong, China, with a capacity of 50,000 tons per year. The plant is managed by another member company, Lubritech Ltd., a joint venture company between UMW and Dah Chong Hong Group of Hong Kong, which specializes in manufacturing and distribution of lubricants in China. Dah Chong Hong Group is a member of China’s major conglomerate, CITIC Group.
“By the end of 2023, about 40% of Lubritech Limited’s annual revenue was from UMW’s lubricant brand, ’Grantt’ and Spanish lubricant brand, Repsol. Another 60% of annual revenue derives from various original equipment manufacturers and toll blending businesses for Shell, BP Castrol, repair shop franchises, BYD, Geely, and others,” a company spokesman told Lube Report.
UMW produces passenger car motor oil, motorcycle oil, automatic transmission fluid, agricultural oil, marine oil, greases, radiator coolant, brake fluids, bio-hydraulic lubricants and food grade grease under the Grantt brand. It is also the parent company of UMW Toyota Motor, which assembles, markets and exclusively distributes Toyota and Lexus vehicles in Malaysia.