Malaysia is world's top manufacturing location : report

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia is the world's top manufacturing location, according to a report by global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield.
Published on its website last week, Cushman & Wakefield said the Manufacturing Index 2014 showed that Malaysia scores particularly well in the costs and risks categories, justifying its position at the top of the ranking.
Malaysia is one of the least expensive locations within the index. Meanwhile, Taiwan places second with South Korea in third and Thailand in fourth.The largest manufacturing country in the world, China, comes fifth overall, performing strongly in terms of costs, but falling short of the top spot due to its weak score in the risk category.
Cushman & Wakefield Asia Pacific corporate occupier & investor services executive managing director Richard Middleton said Asia Pacific continues to be at the forefront of the global manufacturing sector.
"This is highlighted by the top five countries in the index all being located in the region. Furthermore, locations such as Vietnam and the Philippines are also anticipated to emerge over the next few years as notable manufacturing destinations," it said.
According to the firm, the Manufacturing Index 2014 assesses factors likely to affect the successful operation of production facilities in the 30 countries with the largest manufacturing output, as defined by United Nations Trade and Investment (UNCTAD).
The primary aim of the ranking is to illustrate what parameters manufacturers need to consider when evaluating the most suitable locations to expand or relocate.
In the report, three principal areas, namely costs, risks and conditions, are analysed and broken down again into more than 30 sub-categories. Factors including logistics, the likelihood of natural disaster, economic risk, energy and labour costs are all taken into consideration and individually weighted for comparison.
The index takes the example of a company with highly mechanised operations, which generally requires unskilled labour, operating within a multi-regional market for a single finished product. These companies typically target a growing urban population and consider sustainability to be an important factor.