WITH the evolving business landscape, PKT Logistics Group Sdn Bhd is partnering with Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) for its digitalisation initiatives and to spur more innovations in the logistics industry.

The two parties recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at Canselori Putra building at UPM’s campus in Serdang, Selangor.

PKT Logistics group chief executive and managing director Datuk Seri Michael Tio represented the company while UPM vice-chancellor Prof Dr Mohd Roslan Sulaiman signed on behalf of the university.

In his speech, Mohd Roslan said he considered the collaboration a “smart partnership process” as it would include data sharing that would add value to the industry.

“In the business world, innovative ideas will not be enough if they are not supported with capital,” he said, adding that crowdfunding was a method that could support such ventures.

Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a venture or activity by raising money from a large number of supportive participants who are keen to contribute to its success.

In his speech, Tio said that the Malaysian logistics industry was growing rapidly and currently contributed RM57bil to the country’s economy.

He said Malaysia needed to deploy more technology to its logistics operations to optimise the industry’s efficiency and cope with its future growth.

Tio said he had discussed with Assoc Prof Dr Koh Tieng Wei, from UPM’s Computer Science and Information Technology Faculty (FCSIT), on the need to develop software to solve the inefficiency of buying car spare parts in the market.

“We will now start working towards developing a platform called Sparke – digitalisation of car spare parts business,” he said, adding that the platform would be ready by the middle of next year and would be co-owned by FCSIT.

On crowdfunding, Tio said that PKT would give RM100,000 for the setting up of a start-up for FCSIT.

“Sparke will be the first project under this start-up,” he said.

He shared that PKT Logistics Group chief marketing officer Kuan Eu Jin was appointed adjunct professor at FCSIT for knowledge sharing and to ensure the success of the platform.

“Kuan will share his knowledge on what are the requirements and type of talent needed for the logistics industry, and will give feedback on the industry, and what subjects to include in the future.”

“It is about time the university comes up with its own inventions that can be commercialised.

“The collaboration needs to have entrepreneurs involved in commercialising ideas.

“We already have the products and sales capability but with this collaboration, the chances of success will be higher.

“There are a lot of public universities which have the capacity and knowledge that often go unutilised.

“By going to them, we find ample resources and together, we can innovate with new knowledge and new technology to develop our logistics business.

“I hope our corporations will look to public universities for collaboration rather than outsource to international consulting firms. Give them a chance,” Tio said.

He said that the company was also in the process of constructing the biggest warehouse in Malaysia, to be called Global Distribution Centre (GDC), under a joint venture with Daiso.

The GDC will be located in Pulau Indah, Selangor.

“With automation, our PKT talent will no longer be limited to only logisticians.

“Now, we also need engineers, data scientists, programmers and cyber-security specialists in order to help us operate and run this distribution centre,” he said.

Tio said the co-operation would also cover research with UPM on logistics automation.

“We will be taking UPM students for internship and employment,” he added.

FCSIT dean Assoc Prof Dr Razali Yaakob said that the collaboration would benefit UPM.

“We can expose our students to the real industry environment.

“It can promote talent development and develop the skills of both the students and faculty members.”

Koh said six students and three lecturers, including himself, were working on the Sparke platform, which is currently under feasibility studies to come up with a prototype.

Koh said he was confident that the collaboration between UPM and PKT would bring about an industry-oriented start-up and enable the faculty to better address the skills gaps in data science, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, augmented reality and virtual reality.

“We aim to build a sustainable workforce ecosystem through an apprenticeship programme that will benefit other industries.

“We are also inviting other employers to the campus so that we can work together to deliver value-added research and development solutions to their clients,” he added.