Golden Hope Fibreboard Sdn Bhd, one of Malaysia's leading medium density fibreboard (MDF) producers has selected IFS Industrial and Financial Systems, a top global business applications supplier, for its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) requirement. Golden Hope Fiberboard will implement IFS Applications for Financials, Distribution, Manufacturing and Maintenance at its plant in Nilai, Malaysia. The agreement was forged at a signing ceremony today in Petaling Jaya.

Golden Hope Fibreboard Sdn Bhd is a subsidiary of Golden Hope Plantations Berhad, one of Malaysia's largest conglomerates with diversified interests in agro-business, property development and construction, resource-based manufacturing and overseas operations. Its production facilities are part of a fully-integrated wood-based manufacturing complex with production capacity of 110,000 cubic metres per year of MDF and 30,000 cubic metres per year of sawn timber valued at RM70 million and contributing to 10% of total MDF production in Malaysia.

The Golden Hope Group has continuously strived to be more competitive and credible to global customers and stakeholders. It has continued strengthening its foundation and platform to gear towards increased competitiveness and improved earnings. The implementation of the IFS’ Applications™ is in line with its aim to further reinforce the role of ICT and best practices in its internal business processes. Through its Group ICT division, Golden Hope Group focuses on establishing its ICT infrastructure with emphasis on core business applications enhancement consisting of financials, web-based human resource information system, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems for industry, web-based estate computer system (GH-ECS version 3), marketing and supply chain management systems in the Precision Agriculture Information Management System (PAIMS) and back office applications of Agro portal. Golden Hope Group has put in a substantial investment on the Group-wide personal computer upgrades and intranet infrastructure to strengthen its presence in the new economy.

"Implementing IFS Applications in Golden Hope Fibreboard is to totally integrate all business processes with the ambition to deliver on promises to customers, drive unit costs down, enhance procurement management, provide accurate information on demand throughout the company, reduce paper processing and benchmark against world-class standards and practices. The strategy is to achieve a higher level of business performance through transformation of the organization using ERP as the enabling tool,” said YB Dato' Abdul Wahab Maskan, the Chairman of Golden Hope Fibreboard Sdn Bhd and the Group Chief Executive of Golden Hope Plantations Berhad.

IFS Applications runs on an open portal framework that provides access to information and communication from any data source. Its across the board functionality connects old, new and emerging business models thus simplifying the flow and control of information and transactions in the networked economy. IFS Applications™ is particularly exceptional in delivering seamless communication and transaction through its web and portal based technology. It provides a sophisticated solution, backed by solid technology and innovation that would enable organizations to evolve into an extended enterprise at a pace suited to the environment.

The intense business process mapping studies and many product demonstrations and user site visits, convinced Golden Hope Fibreboard that IFS was the solution that best matched their requirements. Golden Hope Fibreboard aims to achieve a pay-back within three years of the full implementation of IFS Applications™ from tangible improvements in business performance, recognizing also that many intangible benefits will be derived from the enhanced availability of management information throughout the organization.

President of IFS Asia Pacific, Mark Rabjohns, said, "Golden Hope Fibreboard's choice of IFS Applications serves to reinforce the strength of our solutions in the wood and furniture industry. Our strong local team proves to be one of the deciding factors in Golden Hope Group’s selection process, coupled with our prominent presence in 43 countries and 74 offices. With IFS’ component-based business solutions, Golden Hope Fibreboard will have the freedom and flexibility to choose and add new functionality as its business expands or as new requirements arise."

In South East Asia, IFS has successfully implemented its solutions at Indonesia’s Olympic Group through subsidiary company PT. Cahaya Sakti Multi Intraco. Globally, some of IFS’ customers in the wood and furniture industry include Moelven Industrier ASA (Norway), AssiDomän Wood Supply (Sweden), Colonial Craft (USA), and Generation 2 Worldwide (USA).