A string of industry excellence awards and product quality certificates adorn the walls and shelves in HeveaBoard Berhad’s office and manufacturing premises in Gemas, Negri Sembilan. They bear testimony to the company’s continued commitment to produce high quality products for its domestic and overseas customers.

Group Managing Director, Yoong Hau Chun proudly stated: “We are the first particleboard manufacturer in Malaysia to receive the Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) Mark Certification. This certificate, first obtained in February 2004, is awarded by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) for our F*** and F**** particleboard products.

“Our JIS-certified particleboard, manufactured using p-MDI (polymeric methylene diphenyl diisocyanate) technology, is our finest quality particleboard products. These are manufactured through tight control processes to ensure the products meet the stringent requirements for formaldehyde emission and comply with METI standards for unrestricted use in internal housing components.”

Besides the JIS Mark Certification, among HeveaBoard’s industry and product excellence credentials are:

• Singapore Green Label Certificate from Singapore Environment Council for environmentally-friendly products (June 2015)
• Eco Label from SIRIM QAS QAS to mark its products as environmental-friendly (February2015)
• ASEAN Best Practices Awards for Energy Management in Buildings and Industries for the Industry Special Submission Category from the ASEAN Energy Awards 2014 (September 2014)
• ISO50001:2011 for its excellence in Energy Management System (April 2014)
• PEFC certification for complying with good forestry practices and ensuring that its products are produced with respect for the highest ecological, social and ethical standards (June 2013)
• CARB (California Air Resources Board) certification for complying with applicable emission standard in section 93120.2(a)phase 2 from PT MUTUAGUNG (May 2013)
• ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001 and MS 1722 by SIRIM QAS (October 2011)
• ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System from SIRIM (July 2009)
• Export Excellence Award (Merchandise) 2008 by MATRADE (March 2009)
• ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management System certification under the scope DEVELOPMENT AND MANUFACTURE OF PLAIN AND LAMINATED PARTICLEBOARD from SIRIM (August 2008)
• Productivity Award – Special Award by the National Productivity Corporation (May 2006)
• Industry Excellence Award 2005 under Category of Quality Management by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (March 2006)

HeveaBoard was incorporated in 1993 as a private limited company under the name of HeveaBoard Sdn Bhd. The Company was converted into a public limited company in 2004 and assumed its present name, and was subsequently listed on the main board of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad in January 2005.

HeveaBoard and its subsidiaries manufacture, trade and distribute a wide range of particleboard and particleboard-based products. HeveaBoard takes the lead in the manufacturing of particleboard – a reconstituted wood panel derived from Rubberwood (Hevea brasiliensis) residues.

Set in HeveaWood Industrial Park, HeveaBoard’s particleboard plant in Gemas is ideally located where the supply of Rubberwood raw material is abundant. The company also carries out mobile chipping at harvested Rubberwood plantation sites to ensure that the wood residues are not wasted but collected for the manufacture of particleboards.

The particleboard plant has a total annual production capacity of 525,000m3 and is equipped with modern equipment and technology from Finland and Germany. The company supplies particleboards from 9mm to 38mm in sizes of 1220mm x 2440mm (4’ x 8’) and 1830mm x 2440mm (6’ x 8’). Other sizes are produced based on customers’ requests.

On ensuring the quality of its products, its General Manager for Plant Operations, S. Ganesan, demonstrated how grading and quality checks are enforced at every stage of the manufacturing process, and random samples are tested for compliance with established standards in a well-equipped factory laboratory.

Besides its Hevea F*** and F**** JIS-certified particleboard, HeveaBoard’s product range also includes its premium HeveaUF particleboard, a high moisture resistance HeveaMUF particleboard conforming to the V313 standard, and its HeveaMFC melamine laminated particleboard manufactured using the highest quality particleboard.

Its subsidiary, HeveaPac Sdn Bhd, is involved in downstream particleboard-based Ready-to-Assemble (RTA) furniture manufacturing. Another subsidiary, HeveaMart Sdn Bhd is engaged in trading and distribution of particleboard and wood panel related products while BocoWood Sdn Bhd is the subsidiary engaged in the distribution and marketing of RTA furniture

HeveaBoard has an established domestic market with customers from panel furniture, speaker boxes and door manufacturing industries. But the bulk, about 80%, of its particleboard is exported mainly to China, Japan, South Korea and India while most of its RTA items are bound for Japan, Europe, Australia and the United States.

“HeveaBoard has already invested RM270 million since its establishment, and a further RM20 million was invested for the modernisation of its production capacity last year. This has further improved the quality of our products and increased our production by 10-15% to meet our customers’ requirements,” Yoong added.