PROTON'S new regional parts centre (RPC) in Sabah aims to meet the growing demand in the company’s third highest state for vehicle sales in Malaysia.  

The national carmaker's new centre in Inanam, Kota Kinabalu is 2.5 times bigger than its previous location and is capable of reducing spare parts lead time by 30%.

Its built-up floor space of approximately 28,000 sqft allows it to receive up to six containers of parts on site simultaneously which is up from two containers previously.

The place, which follows the launch of a similar facility in Sarawak last year, is currently processing an average of 26 containers per month to fully utilise its capability to store up to three months of stock. 

Proton’s RPCs in East Malaysia can now handle up to 28 containers from West Malaysia and overseas per month. This is an increase in capacity from the previous limit of 24 containers per month. 

The company’s order fulfilment in Sabah is expected to improve exponentially as up to three months stock of parts can now be stored at the location.  

Proton Parts Centre Sdn Bhd (PPCSB) also deployed a new warehouse management system (WMS) at all its locations earlier this year.

This enables the daily delivery capacity at the new RPC to jump 66% to 300 lines in July from 180 lines previously (with a maximum capacity of 400 lines slated to be achieved by September). The added space also allows the allocation of 8,500 bins to store parts - up from 5,000 bins in the previous facilities. 

The stock value is expected to increase 1.5 times to RM9 million by December 2024, up from RM5.8 million a year earlier, as a result.

“Proton’s previous warehouse facilities in Sabah were overflowing with parts and running inefficiently due to a lack of space with growing customer demand over the past few years. The opening of this new facility in Kota Kinabalu will complement its counterpart in Kuching and both will function collectively as parts distribution centres for after sales parts and components for East Malaysia. 

“This overall improvement in storage has created a buffer for demand surges and fluctuations, enabling us to increase parts throughput and as of today, we are rapidly addressing the backlog of orders from our dealers and customers in this market,” said Proton Edar sales and after sales vice president Edmund Lim. 

Proton’s market share in Sabah has increased steadily from 10% in 2018 to 25.9% in 2023 and currently stands at 27.4% year-to-date for 2024. 

The company says this is fuelled by the popularity of the new X-series models as well as the evergreen Proton Saga. 

In 2023, sales of Proton vehicles in East Malaysia contributed 15.8% to the company’s total sales volume. The top three Proton models sold were the Proton Saga with 13,700 units followed by the Persona with 4,264 and the Proton X50 with 2,955 units, respectively.  

“Proton sales in East Malaysia have multiplied by a factor of 3.1 times to 23,871 units in 2023 from 7,697 units in 2018. With 8,000 bookings for the 2024 Proton X50 under our belt plus the upcoming 2025 Proton X70 launch this month, we foresee another increase in the state by the end of the year. 

"Therefore, with the rise in sales leading to a higher demand for parts, the launch of a larger, more advanced parts centre will guarantee adequate parts supply not only for new vehicles but also to improve our after sales service,” added Lim.