Pursue Design Excellence For Furniture Export Growth, Says Minister Lim

Malaysian furniture producers and manufacturers should be more aggressive in their efforts to create innovative and unique furniture designs in order to gain an edge over their rivals in the global market. Speaking at the national seminar "Towards Malaysian Furniture Design 2003" in Kuala Lumpur recently, Primary Industries Minister, Dato' Seri Dr. Lim Keng Yaik noted that the export of Malaysian furniture has been increasing from year to year since early 1990s. In 2002, it increased two-fold to RM4.17 billion as compared to RM2.07 million in 1995. Nevertheless, despite this impressive growth, Malaysia currently penetrates only a mere 2.56% of global market of US$98.62 billion and ranked as the 11th largest exporter of furniture in the world.

"Malaysia has more than 2,000 manufacturers of furniture, but only 20% of them are really capable of exporting furniture. Therefore, it is crucial that Malaysian furniture manufacturers keep abreast of the changing trends and technological development of furniture production, and in order to obtain more share in the global market, they have to improve the quality of furniture by injecting creativity, originality and innovation into the designs," said Dato' Seri Dr. Lim when officiating the seminar which was held on 11-12 December 2003. Among those present at the seminar's opening ceremony were Ministry of Primary Industries' Deputy Secretary General, Dato' Suboh Mohd. Yassin and Chairman of Malaysian Forestry Research and Development Board, Dato' Seri Lim Chong Keat.

The seminar was jointly organised by the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), Malaysian Timber Industry Board (MTIB), Furniture Industry Technology Centre (FITEC), Malaysian Design Council (MDC) and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). It was held in recognition of the importance of establishing a Malaysian identity on furniture products in boosting up the number of demand and market opportunities as well as upgrading the standard of the Malaysian furniture industry as a whole.

Dato' Seri Dr. Lim urged Malaysian furniture manufacturers to progress towards becoming Original Design Manufacturers (ODM) and Original Brand Manufacturers (OBM) which would enable them to positively shift from producing furniture for the low and medium-end markets to the more lucrative, high-end markets. The local designers, on the other hand, should strive to create original new designs that are truly Malaysian, said the Minister.

A total of 11 papers were presented at the two-day seminar which covered various aspects of furniture designing including the historical development of furniture designs and styles, current trends in the global market, latest technology, implementation of non-wood materials in furniture designs and the incentives given by the Malaysian government in supporting the furniture industry. In the paper titled "Physical Performances of Furniture Through Testing", Mr. Abdul Hamid Saleh of FRIM explored the two basic principles to be considered to create a good design, namely visual appearance and practicality. He then discussed furniture testing and the standards required for chairs, tables and storage compartments as well as the factors generally linked to failures in furniture testing which included failures of or faulty raw materials, jointing system and designs.

Mr. John Shipman of SATRA Technology Centre, United Kingdom, presented a paper titled "Furniture Design Characteristics for European Market". SATRA is a world class technology centre providing expertise in furniture designs, evaluation, consultancy and training. According to Mr. Shipman, to many people, the requirements for the European market appear to be uniform across Europe or similar to the US market. He pointed out that there are actually many differences across Europe and exporters should try to understand the market requirements by considering factors such as style, safety and product quality in order to "market their products right first time".

In "Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in Furniture Design", Mr. Mohamad Nawawi Hussin of SIRIM Bhd addressed some relevant issues relating CO intellectual property (IP) and described the different categories of IP regime with special emphasis on the Malaysian Industrial Design Act. Other interesting topics presented at the seminar were "Ergonomics in Furniture Design", "Towards A Malaysian Furniture Design Identity", and "Furniture Design Trends for Global Market".