Germany's Schott establishes IT competence centre in Malaysia

• Establishment of the centre, a testament of continued confidence in Malaysia
• IP and privacy law, low staff turnover, English skills, familiarity with western culture

GERMAN multinational company, Schott AG, has established its international IT competence centre, Schott Asia IT Services Sdn Bhd (SAITS) in Kuala Lumpur.

The formation of the new centre is supported by Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC).

In a statement, MDEC said during the startup phase, the IT competence center will help steer Schott AG’s virtualisation and cloud platform management, network and modern workplace services across 45 production plants and seven business units worldwide.

“​​SAITS will consolidate the company’s IT services currently spread across different providers by bringing them under one roof,” it said.

During his talk in the ongoing Malaysia Tech Month 2021, Mirko Goetze (pic), vice president & head of regional information solutions for Schott, cited Malaysia’s strategic geographical location in the centre of Asia as one of the core factors the company chose to establish SAITS.

He said Malaysia fulfils many requirements Schott needed as an ideal location, especially in the areas of IP and privacy law, staff turnover and loyalty, English skills, and familiarity with western culture. 

“The country’s multi-cultural, multilingual workforce is also listed as a deciding factor, which is essential in supporting Schott’s global operations and SAITS’ diverse project team,” said Goetze.

“The establishment of SAITS in Malaysia is testament to the continuous confidence German companies have for Malaysia as a premier destination for digital investments in line with the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDigital),” said Raymond Siva, senior vice president (Investment) and chief marketing officer of MDEC.  

“This is also a step forward for MDEC’s ‘Digital Investments Future5 (DIF5) Strategy’, our five-year plan focusing on five key thrusts aimed at attracting investments and advancing Malaysia’s digital economy,” he added.

Schott AG is a German multinational glass company specialising in the manufacturing of glass and glass-ceramics. Headquartered in Mainz, Germany and with a presence in 34 countries, the company is a highly-skilled partner of high-tech industries that range from healthcare and consumer electronics to optics, automotive and aerospace. 

As of the fiscal year of 2020, Schott has 16,500 employees worldwide, generating sales of US$2.63 billion (RM11.1 billion), MDEC said.