Opening a Plant in Malaysia: Which Parts to Make Locally and Which to Keep in Korea

A Korean equipment or test company is setting up a new plant in Perak, Penang or Kulim. The engineering team in Korea sends one large set of drawings for the new line. Some of those drawings describe the machines themselves. Others describe guards, covers and frames that are only needed because the Malaysian building is different from the Korean one.

When all of these drawings are handled in the same way, problems follow. If a small cover is made in Korea, it may not fit when it arrives, and a new one has to be shipped. If a machine part is made by a local workshop too early, it may not match the latest design in Korea.

How to sort the drawings into three groups

Before any drawing is sent out, ask one question about each part: what would go wrong if a workshop that does not know your machine made it? The answer puts every part into one of three groups.

Parts of the machine itself. These include moving parts, parts that must fit closely with other parts, and surfaces your customer will inspect. If one of these is made wrongly, the machine will not work as designed, or it will fail your customer's inspection. Keep these drawings with the designers in Korea, because only they know why each dimension was chosen and whether it may still change.

Parts that fit the building. These include guards, covers, adapter plates and support frames. They are needed because a column, a door, a drain or a pipe in the Malaysian plant is not where it was in Korea. If one of these is made wrongly, it simply will not fit the space. So they are best made near the site, where someone can measure the space with a tape measure and check the part against it.

Spare parts of an approved design. These look like the first group, but the design is already finished. A bracket that has been used on the Korean line for years, and is now needed on the Malaysian line, is a copy. It can be made in Korea or in Malaysia. Either way, it must be made from the approved drawing, with its revision number. A note saying "same as the one in Korea" does not tell the workshop which version to make. For more on how a copy differs from a trial part, see One-off, prototype and repeat work.

Sorting the drawings usually takes a few hours. It saves weeks later.

Why the 2026 announcements make this important

In July 2026, the Korean company K-Test started building its first Southeast Asian plant in Perak. The plant is reported to cost about RM 200 million and will test semiconductor wafers and finished chips. Completion was planned for the end of February 2027. Officials in both countries have spoken of more Korean companies building factories in Malaysia, not only selling to it.

We have no connection with K-Test. We mention the company only as an example of the kind of plant this article is about.

Each new plant of this kind creates the same situation. The engineers who understand the machines are in Korea, but the building the machines must fit is in Malaysia. Many small parts are needed quickly, and each one has to be sent to the right place to be made.

Korea is one hour ahead of Malaysia, so the working days overlap. A question sent in the morning can usually be answered the same day. Even so, please put every instruction on the drawing or in an email. An instruction given only in a chat message or a phone call is easy to lose, and it cannot be checked later. For more on how we work with Korean manufacturers, see Precision Stainless Steel Fabrication for Korean Semiconductor Manufacturers.

What can go wrong when a machine part is made locally too early

Making parts near the new plant is often a good idea. It is not a good idea for a machine part whose design is not yet finished.

A local workshop can cut and bend the metal accurately. What it does not have is the design history: why each hole is where it is, and which dimensions the designers are still changing. So a workshop may make a part to a shape that your designers planned to change next week. Or, to make the part easier to fit, it may move a hole that positions something inside the machine. Both changes look helpful at the time. But the part will then not fit the machine as your designers in Korea know it, and someone will have to explain the difference to them.

To prevent this, please write in your email that the drawing must not be changed. If we find a problem, such as a hole that clashes with a nearby frame, we will stop and ask the person you name. We will not move the hole ourselves, and we will not send a part that is close to the drawing but not the same.

The rule is the opposite for a part that fits the building. For a guard or an adapter plate, the measurements taken on site are what we cut to. A Korean layout drawing that has not been updated for the Malaysian building is useful as a reference, but we do not cut to it.

What to send a workshop in Penang

For each part, please send the correct drawing, the units it uses, and the stainless steel grade. Also tell us who in Korea is allowed to approve a change.

• For a machine part: the approved drawing with its revision number, the grade, the surface finish, and a note that the drawing must not be changed.
• For a part that fits the building: the measurements taken on site, which we will cut to, and the Korean drawing, which shows what the part must not touch.
• For a spare part: the approved drawing, or photographs of the original part next to a ruler, and a list of any features that may be different.

If the Korean drawing and the site measurements use different units, please tell us which set of numbers to cut to. Do not leave both on the drawing and expect them to agree.

You are welcome to visit our workshop in Bayan Lepas, especially before we make the first part that sits next to a machine. An hour of talking in front of the part can answer questions that a PDF leaves open. If you cannot travel, the drawings and a clear written note are enough to start.

Everything in What a fabricator needs to quote also applies here.

What we will not do

We will quote and make only from the drawing you mark as the one to use. We will not change a drawing for a machine part, even when a change would make it easier to fit.

We have not yet shipped parts to Korea, and we work in English only. We are not an approved supplier to any Korean company because it is building a plant in Malaysia. A new factory in Perak, Penang or Kulim does not mean we should copy every drawing that company has produced. If the approved drawings for the machines stay in Korea, please send us only the parts that fit the building.