DESPITE the slow economy, Panasonic Malaysia recorded an increase in sales the past year and expects double-digit growth for the financial year 2010.

Speaking at a ground-breaking ceremony of the company’s new warehouse in Shah Alam, its executive director, Ng Chee Keong, said: "New sales and marketing strategies and an aggressive Panasonic Malaysia team has contributed to this and we hope the move to this bigger facility will help us accommodate the expected business growth.

"We expect sales to hit RM1.9 billion by March 31, 2010."

He said one of Panasonic’s logistics policies is to ensure quick delivery of its products to dealers within 24 hours along the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

The new facility, Ng said, would help consolidate trans-shipment of goods to East Malaysia and improve delivery time by up to three days.

"The construction of this integrated warehouse is very timely to meet our challenges."

The new integrated logistics hub, constructed and managed by Eignretep Sdn Bhd (ESB) for Panasonic Malaysia, will be the hub for Panasonic products in the country and accommodate 2,000 containers at a time.

ESB also manages warehouses for BSH Home Appliances, Bosch, ICI, Astro and Hasbro toys.

Located at the Lion Industrial Park in Shah Alam, the RM55 million integrated hub will be the first logistics warehouse in Malaysia built based on a "eco-friendly" concept for Panasonic which tags itself as an "eco brand".

The 350,000 sq ft warehouse and 14,000 sq ft administrative and operations office scheduled to be completed on Oct 10 next year, will replace the company’s 240,000 sq ft storage facility.

It will feature environmentally-friendly features such as a rain water harvesting tank in which water for washing, cleaning and watering plants will be stored.

The building will also feature natural ventilation mechanisms, energy-saving light fittings, translucent roofing that will allow natural light in to reduce dependence on the use of light bulbs and fluorescent lamps, as well as solar lamps in its surroundings.

There are plans to build a lake and manage the river fronting the property in collaboration with the Drainage and Irrigation Department and Selangor Water Management Board, which can be used as a recreational spot for staff.

Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, who attended the ground-breaking ceremony, said investments in such logistical facilities will augur well for Selangor in making it a manufacturing and logistics service hub.

"We hope we can attract more investors to Selangor by providing them with the necessary infrastructure such as this warehouse which features energy-saving and green technology," he said.

Abdul Khalid said the state would do all it could to aid investors and had already put in place measures to cut red tape and delays in obtaining approvals.