The Back Story – Malaysia’s Oldest and Largest Industrial Chiller Supplier and Manufacturer

We are very proud of our company history, which originated in Malaysia, and remains headquartered here, as it spreads throughout the Asian continent and the rest of the world. We’d like to share with you some of the highlights of our company – how it was formed, how it has grown and expanded – and how our commitment to quality and a satisfied customer was, from day one, uppermost in our minds. We’ve come a long way as an industrial chiller supplier and manufacturer.

We always welcome your questions and comments, so please, read on, and if you choose, kindly provide your feedback.

The Origins of AMCON – Industrial Water Chiller Experts

AMCON was founded in 1988 and over the past few decades, has grown to be Malaysia’s leading manufacturer, supplier, and reseller of industrial water chillers and Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (HVAC & R) products.

From the very beginning, the company adopted a singular principle: delivering unrivalled customer satisfaction. This includes all three pillars of our mission to serve the HVAC & R market:

• Sales
• Service
• After-Sales Service

We strongly believe that this three-legged stool is crucial to our long-term success – if one is missing, the other two fall as well. We take pride in our focus on service, from initial contact to final installation and any assistance required and beyond.

AMCON Expansion into Current Divisions

Today, due to our substantial expansion and growth, our company is divided into four divisions, out of a need to better focus on various market segments, with an eye toward the best possible customer experience:

• Civil and structural services
• Mechanical and electrical services
• Manufacturing and rental of industrial water chillers
• HVAC & R products and spare parts

The company’s beginnings were considerably more humble. Amcon began as a sole proprietorship, trading and distributing HVAC & R related products, including:

• Industrial water chillers
• Cooling towers
• Ventilating fans
• Water pumps
• Other related products and parts

We were successful; word began to spread about our services, and the business prospered, to the point in 1992, when we decided to incorporate into AMCON (M) Sales and Service SDN BHD, which for our non-Malaysian readers stands for Sendirian Berhad, or colloquially in English, a private limited company. At this time, we were also appointed a reseller of LIANG CHI cooling towers and spare parts, along with DAB water pumps and spare parts.

This was an exciting period of growth; our reputation began to spread within our borders and beyond. We knew that our name recognition, and indeed our reputation in the industry, demanded that we begin to market our own product line.

Thus in 1995, the AMCON brand of industrial water chillers was introduced, built for us by third-party OEM manufacturers, to our strict specifications and requirements. This proved to be a popular move; by the following year, our operation had expanded into process cooling design & build contracting work. More and more inquiries came in, recognizing our expertise, as we became known as process cooling specialists in the industry.

During the next several years, we solidified our place in the industrial process cooling arena, gaining a reputation for expertise and responsiveness. More and more, our know-how was called upon, to the point that our service offerings expanded into Mechanical and Electrical (M & E) services, alongside our acknowledged skill set in process cooling. We thus began to participate in numerous projects which included our M & E services.

Between 2001 and 2005, our growth and expansion continued. It became clear that delivering products through third-party OEM manufacturers would not be sufficient for the demand we were experiencing. In order to retain stringent quality control processes allow for custom specifications and specialty orders while offering top-level customer service, we need to have in-house manufacturing capabilities. As a result, in 2005 we set up our own industrial water chiller manufacturing facility, in our Subang Jaya factory.

Over the next decade, AMCON continued its significant presence in the country by way of larger and more prestigious undertakings. A highlight came in 2010, with our involvement in the Penang Second Bridge project. It was our chilled water system that was selected for the concrete batching plant, in the construction of the longest bridge in the world utilizing High Damping Natural Rubber (HDNR) Bearing – a cutting-edge defense against seismic activity and earthquakes. Our participation in the largest civil engineering project in the region for the past 20 years was a truly noteworthy achievement for us.

By 2013, our reputation and expertise were such that we were able to provide a custom-designed chilled water system for the large biogas processing installations of the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA), as well as for similar projects in Indonesia. Today we continue to be recognized as a major player in the biogas industry’s need for water chiller systems.

Continued Expansion of AMCON Over the Last Decade

In 2016, we were proud to embark on a joint-venture with our China counterpart to set up an industrial water chiller manufacturing and coil making facility in Foshan. It was around this time also that we were engaged to enter into Civil & Structural (C & S) services, providing turnkey C & S and M & E solutions for Proton. This Malaysian automaker settled on our expertise to assist with their cooling requirements in the implementation of a new assembly line for the Proton X-70 and X-50 models. This work was undertaken in 2018.

Recent Developments and Expansion – 2020 and 2021

During the last couple of years, we have answered our customers’ calls to venture into E-commerce, providing efficient distribution and order processing for both our industrial water chillers and our HVAC & R products and spare parts.

Most recently, we have entered into the distribution of restored and reconditioned industrial water chillers, adapting to the times and the need for environmental sensitivity, sustainability and the concept of Reduce, Re-use, Restore.

The AMCON Philosophy

From our humble roots back in 1988, we as a company have always tried to do right by the customer, no matter what the scope of work or size of the project. While other, larger brand names may have had the luxury to turn down smaller scale work or opportunities, we chose to embrace them. When our competition chooses to ignore projects due to their size, e.g. under 100 horsepower (hp), we engage with the client enthusiastically. But as you can see from our history, as the company developed, we have also taken on greater and greater sized projects as well.

You could conclude that our company philosophy is:

Bring us your requirements; we’ll go to work for you.

Other Interesting Facts About AMCON

• Awarded ISO 9001:2015 International Quality Management System accreditation for our process.
• Currently work from two chiller assembly plants in Foshan, China, and headquarters in Subang Jaya, Malaysia.
• Markets have expanded beyond Malaysia, with a heavy presence in China, and more recently into emerging markets in Indonesia, Myanmar, and Vietnam. We have achieved steady growth in the South American market.
• Along with our standard models, we are proud to offer custom industrial chillers to suit various process cooling requirements. Our expertise in this area is second to none.
• Custom industrial chiller installations include chemical plants, food and beverage processing plants, concrete batching and biogas plants.
• We also provide rental services of industrial water chiller units, both on a short-term and long-term basis. Capacities for rentals range from 3.0 hp to 200 hp. Complete maintenance service and support are standard with our rental units. Many have been under contract for over ten years. Our commitment to quality for our rentals includes full testing and pre-delivery inspection (PDI) prior to delivery and installation at the client location.

We welcome your feedback; please contact us with any questions or comments you may have. We’d love to hear from you.