FOR MANY years of his life, Ho Chong Choai watched his father Ho Kian Chuan labour over glass and frames in a small business with four workers in Kampung Pantai Malacca.
Over 35 years, Chong Choai, now the managing director of SecuGlass Sdn Bhd, learnt everything there was to know about glass and his father's small business.
What Chong Choai, an accountant by training, didn't realise was that he would end up starting a glass factory specialising in producing wide ranges of bullet resistant glass products one day.
"I didn't see it coming. I never expected I would be in the glass business one day. I used to help my father and his workers to carry framed glass to the shop after school. But when my father was badly hit by the economic downturn in 1984, it taught me a lesson. Even though I was too young to understand what was going on then, I saw how the bad economy crashed my father's hope and dreams," said Chong Choai who is the second of three siblings.
However, in 1997, inspired by a friend, Chong Choai decided to set up Aneka Glass Sdn Bhd, a business specialising in different types of art glass.
The business did well, but Chong Choai decided to be more adventurous and branched off to form SecuGlass Sdn Bhd in 2002, making it one of the pioneers in the making of security-glass products. Aneka Glass is now the marketing arm of SecuGlass.
SecuGlass produces four types of glass — bullet resistant glass, anti-explosive glass, crime prevention glass and anti-bandit glass.
"We were very persistent in our research and development efforts. With a dedicated work force, SecuGlass managed to crate the first generation of Malaysian bullet-resistant glass products within one year," said the 48-year-old businessman who started SecuGlass Sdn Bhd with paid-up capital of RM500,000.
The commercialisation of these products allowed SecuGlass to recoup most of its R&D costs and made it possible for the company to move on to next stage — second-generation bullet resistant glass products.
By 2005, SecuGlass achieved a breakthrough in its R&D and successfully produced bullet-resistant glass that combined glass and polycarbonate film.
The company says these lighter and stronger products are comparable to products manufactured overseas. Within the same year, SecuGlass was granted pioneer status by the Malaysian Investment Development Authority. However, since it was initially only equipped with some small prototype machines, SecuGlass supplied projects with longer delivery times and smaller quantities.
That production capacity would not have taken the company much further so SecuGlass decided to apply for a government grant to commercialise its R&D.
"The Malaysian Technology Development Corporation offered SecuGlass a 50-50 matching grant in 2009, which allowed us to purchase the plant and machinery to facilitate the commercialisation of our products on a larger scale," Chong Choai said.
Today the company, which operates from a rented premises in Taman Ehsan, Kepong, is doing well and will move to its own 10, 000 sq ft plant in Kundang, Selangor by next year. The company currently exports its products to Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines.
With a staff strength of 22, SecuGlass has now achieved its initial goal as the market leader in bullet-resistant glass in Malaysia. In line with this, they have applied to trademark "SecuGlass" so as to protect their brand in Malaysia and in foreign countries.
"We are still not content with our achievements. We aspire to work even harder in our R&D and aim to make SecuGlass products one of the top bullet-resistant glass products in the international market," said Chong Choai.
With crime on the rise, there is increasing demand for security glass and security systems.
"Even explosions, whether accidental or malicious, are becoming more common worldwide, exposing property and people to grave risks. And because of all this, SecuGlass's resin laminated security glass is in demand," he said.
According to Chong Choai, SecuGlass has developed a range of blast-resistant glass to offer credible protection against such hazards.
The company's product range allows for the selection of specific protection levels to meet everything from the lowest to the highest security specifications in place today.
"We have the expertise to assist potential clients in identifying, specifying and designing a blast-protection system, including the framing elements and installation techniques.
"Our newly developed formulas and high technology processing are opening new alternatives to the conventional ways of protection against natural disasters and violence," said Chong Choai.
SecuGlass is a two component polyurethane resin laminated security glass with high elasticity to absorb sound and movement while offering temperature resistance.
"It can be used in critical exterior applications while remaining totally UV-resistant. SecuGlass additionally absorbs a high level of sound and UV radiation and this offers considerable protection against noise as well as the fading of articles like clothes, electrical equipment and other things.
The relative thinness of SecuGlass glass-polycarbonate products normally permits use in standard frames. In testing the glass is shot three times and the glass must stop all three shots.
"The advantages of Glass-Polycarbonate SecuGlass are better compared to conventional burglar-resistant glass of the same category.
"When shots are fired at glass, the person to be protected is frequently injured by flying splinters. This can be prevented through the flexibility of the polycarbonate film incorporated in SecuGlass," he explained.
The company also produces bomb-resistant glass. But glass alone cannot resist the sudden increase in air pressure caused by an explosion and shatters because of its brittleness.
"Large masses of glass inflict increased damage and raise the costs of repair. The exceptional flexibility of SecuGlass glass-polycarbonate effectively limits the devastating effects of anything from a hand grenade to a bomb. The capability of our glass to resist the pressure generated by the detonation of explosive devices is greater than that of normal safety glass," he said.
As for the the company's Crime Prevention glass, Chong Choai says, "This special resin laminated glass will allow house owners to do away with metal grilles, which always affect the aesthetics of a house and increases risk during a fire.
"Our Crime Prevention glass has passed the most stringent test under European standards (DIN EN 356 P4A), which calls for the ability to withstand multiple drops of 4.1kg steel ball from 30ft or normal hammer impact for 20 to 30 blows. CP glass is often used in houses, bungalows and office doors."
According to Chong Choai, Anti-Bandit glass is the company's latest product. The glass is intended for use primarily in jewellery shops, pawnshops, moneychanger, prisons, museums, and hospitals.
"Burglars will have a hard time breaking through it. It is 12mm-thick high-impact resistant glass. It can withstand a 3kg sledgehammer or axe attacks for more than 70 blows."
According to Chong Choai, ordinary people do not know enough about glass.
"They should be more informed and educated about security glass, especially when buying condominiums and bungalows. Developers can cut costs by using cheap glass instead of crime-prevention glass. Home owners should be given an option if they do not want to use grilles in their homes," he said.
For Chong Choai, staying ahead for the last 10 years in the security glass has not been easy. It's a lot of hard work and perseverance.
"The glass industry is a really competitive and there's a lot of areas to look into. We have to face the world market and meet the highest quality because the demand comes from the world market," said Chong Choai.
