More Penang factories taking steps to cushion the economic turmoil impact

I just received an email from a friend of mine who works in one of the factories in Bayan Lepas, Penang on this. More factories taking drastic actions!

Flextronics 4 days week for Month Nov and Dec.

AMD Penang announced this morning VSS lay off 500 employees.

Spansion force to take leave (5 days in this quarter)

Jabil planned shut down from Dec 24 to Jan 4, will be 6 days leave.

Agilent planned shut down from Dec 24 to Jan 4, will be 6 days leave.
Jan09 might have another shutdown. No increment 2008 review.

Avago no plan shutdown as no more in house production, hiring freeze.

ASE shut down every fortnightly on Monday starting from Nov 3.

Fairchild planned 'Mass Vacation' for 9 days leave in FY08

INTEL - No increment 2008 review, VSS for those under perform and
massive cut cost/travel 2009, no shutdown plan yet

Motorola, Penang- Still hiring+profit, suspect got government 'look after',
Singapore cellphone plant cut 800 job and now waiting for sale.

Siltera, kulim - Propose close down this Malaysian 1st Fab company, loss RM4billion in 2008

SENSATA Plant shutdown from 22 DEC 2008 to 02 JAN 2009; NO increment in 2009;
NO Profit Sharing in 2009!

What about the company you're working with? What action plans have been announced? For those who are self-employed, what's your plan? For full-time mommies, what are you doing to help to cushion the impact on your family? Or there's no need to worry at all?

Well as for myself, I always believe in the philosophy that "Tough times create more winners"!

Halal Certification

Gosh... what a busy day today! Met up with a customer this morning and then followed by my food biz sales call during lunch break. This time I met a food caterer cum factories canteen operator cum restaurants owner. A rather huge company with many branches.

Again, my openness to share with him my intention and plan of promoting this food product received another positive feedback. Once again, the man was kind enough to give me some biz penetration advise. Major concern when it comes to food biz is the Halal certification. To reach out to those food operators which cater to Muslim customers, it is necessary to have this certification, though none of the ingredients used are considered non-Halal.

What is "Halal" by the way? As a non-Muslim, I have never really paid attention to this matter. As long as our eating place together with our Muslim friends are Muslim-owned, then we are safe. But now that I'm in the food biz where Halal certification is a much-needed requirement in our country, it opened up my eyes to this whole aspect.

Take a look at the Halal defination I found in our Halal Industry Development Corporation website:

a) Neither is nor consist of or contains any part or matter of an animal that a Muslim is prohibited by Hukum Syarak to consume or that has not been slaughtered in accordance with Hukum Syarak.

b) Does not contain anything which is considered to be impure according to Hukum Syarak.

c) Has not been prepared, processed or manufactured using instrument that was not free from anything impure according to Hukum Syarak; and

d) has not in the course of preparation, processing or storage been in contact with or close proximity to any food that fails to satisfy paragraph (a) (b) or (c) or anything that is considered to be impure according to Hukum Syarak.

Still not clear? Me either! It helps to get a clearer idea if we start talking to those experienced biz owners, not minus-ing the need to talk the authority directly. So, you know where I'm heading to next!

So, what is the procedure to apply for one? The Penang State Government website provides a pretty clear guideline. But it is certainly better for first-timers like yours truly to drop by at the Penang State Department of Islam to find out more...

Who says operating food biz is easy?!

Business ideas

I'm so happy to receive a call from a good friend of mine this morning. She came to know about my new business plan after reading my blog. And as a "seasoned" person in this food industry, she gave me few more ideas on my target market.

Yup, I've jotted them down in my list.

And last weekend in my friend's wedding, another good friend who has built her many millions ringgit on her own effort gave me valuable business tips too.

Great! I gain new ideas, experiences and knowledge everyday! Thank God for these great people whom have been so supportive :)

Registration of business

Hooray! I registered a business name for my family food product last Friday at Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia (Companies Commission of Malaysia) located in Seberang Jaya, Penang! It's called Treelah Gourmet Enterprise. Strange name but I have my long-term plan why it's named such. Haha.

Wait....

The registration process was simple and quite hassle-free. The officers were friendly and very helpful. The signboard says that the process will take approximately 1-2 hours but I was done in less than an hour. And that includes getting the form from the office, filling up the form, lining up to wait for my turn to meet with Customer Service office to search the availability of my business name proposed, filling up the confirmed business name by another officer, lining up to take a number for payment, waiting time, paying the registration fee, waiting time and collecting my business registration certificate.

For now, I registered it under Sole Proprietorship. And it only cost me RM70 per annum!

So, want to start your own business and get it registered too?

Watch out, supermarts... (Part 2)

Good news! The buyer is interested to list my food product in their supermarket! Unbelievable! I was overjoyed!

He gave me a lot of insight into this retail biz and few tips on how I can penetrate into this market deeper.

As soon as I get the re-packaging done, he will proceed with the necessary arrangement. Not difficult to fulfill. So, you bet that I immediately called up several people to get it executed.

Now that I have started the ball rolling, I better complete my solid business plan fast...!

I'll write more on how it all began in my separate blog. Will advise once available k!

p/s: My hubby always like to tease me, "So, 1001 things to do mom - what are you up to now?"

Watch out, supermarts...

Tomorrow after work, I'll have to rush to meet a buyer of a supermarket chain. He would like to see the food product that I can offer!! Wow, that's a good start!!

I'm still very green in this food retail business or should I say that I have no idea at all! But that will not deter me from not finding out. For the last few weeks, I have been so busy finding out from many resources to learn the trick of the trade. Yup... I've been burning midnight oil. And I can tell you, it's not easy at all. I've faced roadblocks many times and I'm sure I will face more... but I have that little hope in me that keeps me going.

I'm not too sure if I'm ready for supermarts yet but I will take the opportunity given tomorrow to find out more and make it happen!

One step at a time...

Busy... busy... busy

I'm multi-tasking like there's no tomorrow! Oh, my brain is so-overworked with multiple projects that I'm working on concurrently. "Plan, plan and plan. Prioritise, prioritise, prioritise..." I have to keep reminding myself that.

One of them is building a blog on a food business that has been my dream since university years...

Oh gosh... so much research to be done for my content creation. Pening... pening... pening...(headache)

Will announce once it is ready ya!