BFG which was granted the biggest local contract of RM5.3 billion two years ago to build six naval gunboats for the Malaysian Navy, wants to build the country's first defence and maritime portal to streamline efficiency and share information like design blueprints and reduce cost overruns.
BFG group chairman Amin Shah said the portal would be up and running within the next 10 months and its immediate aim was to get all their 1500 suppliers and partners within and outside the country to be online.
"We want to do everything via the Web, from purchasing a small screw to propellers and engines," he told reporters recently adding BFG's subsidiaries Penang Shipbuilding & Construction (PSC) and PSC Naval Dockyard will integrate engineers, architects and contractors in the value chain.
"We have set aside RM10 million initially to get this portal up and running. We need to be Internet-savvy so as to ensure the multi-billion ringgit contract is managed successfully," Amin stressed.
BFG now aims to get at least 70 percent of all its suppliers and partners linked via the Internet to its databases, besides being an alternative sales channel for the players.
Software solutions provider SAP Malaysia will develop the whole end-to-end e-solutions for BFG's IT arm BFIT which is responsible for the whole overhauling of its local shipbuilding practises which is considered to be lagging behind other world players as far as e-enabling is concerned.
Its managing director Khatijah Shah said there was no time frame instituted for this partnership with BFG.
BFG owns two shipyards in the country; one in Penang and the other in Lumut, Perak. It also controls a shipyard in Ghana and Perth.
German-based SAP has been assisting companies to make the transition to the Internet business model since 1996 and now has a customer base of more than 12,000 companies around the world.
Among its Malaysian clients are Maybank, Matsushita Industrial Corp, PROTON, Petronas and Telekom Malaysia.
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