I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all attending. It gives me great pleasure to welcome Yang Mulia Tunku Dato’ Seri Mahmud Bin Tunku Besar Burhanuddin, our Executive Chairman, Yang Bahagia Col. Dato’ Cheng Wah, Independent Director of Tamadam Bonded Warehouse Berhad, Encik Mansor Bin Mohd Darus, Director of Tamadam Forwarding Sdn Bhd, Management & Staff of Tamadam Bonded Warehouse Berhad to this, our 25th Anniversary Annual Dinner.
Seeing as our Company is 25 years old, we can consider ourselves an established, mature and reputable Company. I thought it would be interesting to share some statistics with you. We currently have 178 employees. The average age of our staff is 34 years. The average length of service is 8 years. I am pleased to inform you that we have 40 members of staff (or more than 20%) who have been with us for more than 10 years. In short, we have many loyal and experienced staff and I believed this is what contributed to the success of the Company. Later this evening, we will have a short ceremony to present Long Service Awards.
Over the years, I am sure you have seen many changes in the Company. What outsiders see are our huge warehouses but the real assets of the Company are you – our dear staff, which is why the theme of this Annual Dinner is “YOU ARE THE STAR”. We are having this annual dinner to thank you so please let your hair down and enjoy yourselves.
Over the last few years, I believe the Company has improved our quality of service tremendously. Our stock accuracy is very much better than before, I truly believe that our members of staff are more systematic than before and, of course, we have achieved ISO 9001:2000 Certification.
Now that we had achieved ISO Certification, I still see that our processes can be improved much further. What we need to do is to have a proper system, so that customers can be assured of consistent high quality service.
I would like to offer McDonald’s as a Company we can try to emulate. McDonald’s is able to deliver consistent food to customers at all their restaurants worldwide. Regardless of whether their staff are male, female, young, old, Chinese, Malay, Indian, Caucasian or anything else, the product served to customers is consistent. This is because they have a GOOD SYSTEM. Tamadam needs to achieve this level of quality going forward to ensure we are able to compete with the best in our industry.
Our customer service today has to be more focused and better than before because our industry is facing tremendous competition from local and foreign players. Compared with even 10 years ago, there are many more warehouses in Port Klang, not to mention Shah Alam, Bukit Jelutong and so on.
This is no doubt that each and every one of us has to work harder than ever before just to maintain our income and standard of living.
Definitely, Tamadam Bonded Warehouse Berhad is regarded as one of the best warehouse operators in Port Klang. However, perhaps a few of our competitors are as good if not better than us and customers are always looking for the best combination of price and service
Our warehouses have always enjoyed high occupancy and we have always tried to maintain premium pricing. Our competitors have had no choice but to reduce their prices to compete with us. Currently discounting in our industry is becoming too widespread and we have no choice but to compete on price and service, therefore, we have to be more frugal and work smarter and harder than ever before.
Going forward things in our industry will be tough. Some companies will not be able to survive and close. Some will merge but definitely a few will emerge stronger, leaner, more efficient and larger than before this crisis.
Our job is to do our best to ensure Tamadam is one of these winners.
We can only grow by offering our customers a competitive price but most importantly we have to ensure they are satisfied with our service.
It is so difficult nowadays to get new customers for our warehouse because, basically, we have to steal someone else’s customers as the cake is not growing.
Therefore, it is very important to keep the customers that we have, and that is up to you – the staff. You, the Staff, are definitely “The Star”.
How you talk to customers, whether you are rude or polite, even your body language and tone of voice – everything makes a difference in this ultra-competitive environment.
There are not many of us in Tamadam, and as I said earlier, we have the experience and knowledge to serve customers well. Therefore, when I hear of any complaints, damages or stock losses, you can understand that I get very upset because I know we have the experience and knowledge to avoid such occurrences.
Sometimes, having been in this industry for a long time, we long for the good old days when we were more highly paid, there was less competition and so on.
But for each of us as individuals, it is only when we let go of the past, stop blaming others for our problems and start taking responsibility for our own success that we can move on and make the most of what we have.
If we work as a team and work 100% for the Company, this could be the beginning of a new chapter in Tamadam’s history. I hope all of you will support me and the Management team as we try to bring Tamadam forward as best we can.
I do not want all of you to think only of work. No matter how tough times may be for us as individuals, there are always others who are less fortunate than us. I am glad that recently we were able to contribute to relief efforts for flood victims in Johore. I hope that going forward, we will be able to do more social work this year.
Finally, I would like to thank the Organising Committee and participants for helping to make this Annual Dinner a reality.
Most of all, I would like to thank all of you, our loyal staff for helping the Company get where it is today. If harsh words were spoken or you have been unfairly treated, I sincerely apologise and I hope you will not hold any grudges in your heart. Whatever we, the Management do, first and foremost in our minds is our responsibility to you, our Dear Employees!
I would now like to invite, our Executive Chairman, Yang Mulia Tunku Dato’ Seri Mahmud Bin Tunku Besar Burhanuddin to say a few words.
Thank you and have a very enjoyable evening!