Amcor powering Malaysia’s rise in healthcare manufacturing
7 Jul 20257 min read
Summary
- Amcor’s new coating facility in Selangor, Malaysia, marks a major step in reinforcing Asia Pacific’s healthcare manufacturing ecosystem. The facility integrates seamlessly with Amcor’s Singapore operations, enhancing regional supply chain resilience, reducing lead times, and improving responsiveness amid sustained industry growth of over 8% annually through 2026.
- The Selangor plant, the first in Asia to deploy air knife coating, underscores Amcor’s focus on precision, efficiency, and sustainability. Equipped with advanced inspection systems and water-based coating technology, it ensures consistent sterile packaging quality, faster production cycles, and reduced operational risks for healthcare clients across the region.
- Aligned with global targets for 100% recyclable packaging by 2025 and 30% recycled content by 2030, Amcor’s Malaysia and Singapore facilities embody circular design and carbon reduction principles. Through localized production and strong regional partnerships, Amcor is positioning itself as a trusted leader in sustainable, high-performance healthcare packaging across Asia Pacific.
In the ongoing evolution of the SIJORI Growth Triangle, we are seeing a clear shift: companies are no longer investing in Singapore or Malaysia—but in both.
By leveraging Singapore’s high-tech capabilities and Malaysia’s robust industrial base, multinationals are constructing more resilient and cost-effective supply chains in the Asia Pacific region.
This is especially true for Asia Pacific’s healthcare industry, which is growing at a rate of over 8% annually through 2026 with multiple investments in supply chain infrastructure powering its momentum.
Malaysia is a key player in this growing ecosystem, and at the center of this transformation is Amcor, a global packaging leader that is anchoring high-performance healthcare packaging capabilities in the country. According to Laura Wong, Vice President, Healthcare, Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific, Amcor is playing a “vital and complementary” role in the healthcare manufacturing ecosystem.
By leveraging Singapore’s high-tech capabilities and Malaysia’s robust industrial base, multinationals are constructing more resilient and cost-effective supply chains in the Asia Pacific region.
This is especially true for Asia Pacific’s healthcare industry, which is growing at a rate of over 8% annually through 2026 with multiple investments in supply chain infrastructure powering its momentum.
Malaysia is a key player in this growing ecosystem, and at the center of this transformation is Amcor, a global packaging leader that is anchoring high-performance healthcare packaging capabilities in the country. According to Laura Wong, Vice President, Healthcare, Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific, Amcor is playing a “vital and complementary” role in the healthcare manufacturing ecosystem.
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“While we don’t manufacture medical devices or pharmaceuticals ourselves, we enable their safe delivery through advanced, high-performance packaging solutions,” she said.
Malaysia’s strategic position in the healthcare ecosystem
According to Wong, Amcor’s long term investment in Malaysia reflects confidence not only in the country’s manufacturing infrastructure but also in its position to become a hub in global healthcare supply chains.
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“Malaysia’s strong manufacturing base, skilled talent pool, and business friendly environment makes the country a promising hub for healthcare manufacturing,” she added.
She emphasized that Malaysia’s connectivity to Asia Pacific markets and operational reliability played a pivotal role in the decision to expand.
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“The establishment of advanced local production capabilities in Selangor enables us to better serve customers in Malaysia as well as across Asia-Pacific,” she explained. “It enhances supply chain resilience, reduces lead times, and improves responsiveness.”
This strategic positioning is even more important to Amcor’s customers. Wong notes that it “also means we’re able to help our customers grow, stay ahead of change, and deliver on their own commitments.”
Amcor’s investment and strategic intent
he new coating facility in Selangor, launched in 2025, is the latest investment in Amcor’s growing Asia Pacific footprint. The company’s regional expansion began with a state-of-the-art facility in Tuas, Singapore in 2021. The facility was focused on cleanroom manufacturing, co-extrusion blown film, and flexographic printing.
Now, with its Malaysian operations, Amcor is building a fully integrated network across the region. The plant in Selangor produces rollstocks, pouches, breather bags, lids and sheets while the new facility produces coated Tyvek and coated paper.
Now, with its Malaysian operations, Amcor is building a fully integrated network across the region. The plant in Selangor produces rollstocks, pouches, breather bags, lids and sheets while the new facility produces coated Tyvek and coated paper.
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“Our new facility in Malaysia complements our existing facilities in both Malaysia and Singapore,” said Wong. “Together, they form a fully integrated network that allows Amcor to serve as a One-Stop Solution Provider – offering both top and bottom webs, converting, and bag-making capabilities under one regional umbrella.”
This gives Amcor “proximity to key healthcare markets in Asia” to serve customers faster, provide resilient supply chains, and enhance service levels to partners. This is critical in a sector where packaging performance and delivery timelines directly affect patient outcomes.
The Selangor facility was also designed to meet a long-standing regional need. As Wong explained:
The Selangor facility was also designed to meet a long-standing regional need. As Wong explained:
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“Our customers have long asked for local supply of coated substrates because they want the benefits of enhanced supply chain resilience and reduced lead times especially after the supply chain disruptions we saw during the pandemic.”
According to Wong, the new facility is part of Amcor’s “broader commitment” to expanding their healthcare capabilities in the Asia pacific region. This enables them to locally produce industry-leading products and bring them closer to customers, enhancing their supply security and flexibility.
Technology, innovation & supply chain
What sets Amcor’s Selangor plant apart is its tech. The facility is the first in Asia to use air knife coating technology, which enables high-speed, uniform coating with minimal waste. This capability ensures consistency in sterile packaging —a top priority for healthcare clients.
The site also integrates water-based coating systems and advanced online inspection tools to maintain Amcor’s quality benchmarks. For healthcare manufacturers, this means faster turnaround times, tighter inventory control, and better predictability.
Beyond production techniques, Amcor continues to lead in packaging design innovation. Its AmSky™ Blister System, for example, is the world’s first recycle-ready, polyethylene-based thermoform blister packaging.
The site also integrates water-based coating systems and advanced online inspection tools to maintain Amcor’s quality benchmarks. For healthcare manufacturers, this means faster turnaround times, tighter inventory control, and better predictability.
Beyond production techniques, Amcor continues to lead in packaging design innovation. Its AmSky™ Blister System, for example, is the world’s first recycle-ready, polyethylene-based thermoform blister packaging.
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“We partner closely with customers to identify their unique needs, working alongside them to design solutions that align with their vision and objectives,” Wong said. “No matter where our customers engage with us—whether in our innovation centers in Wisconsin, Ghent, Jiangyin or Brazil—they experience the same high standards of service and innovation.”
Amcor is also setting its supply chain to become resilient. According to Wong, manufacturing coated substrates in Malaysia minimizes their “dependence on international supply chains and reducing the risk of disruptions”
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“This makes us more agile and responsive to changing customer needs. It also means shorter shipping distances and faster turnaround times,” she added.
This ensures that customers benefit from better predictability to ensure smoother planning and a strong supply of high-quality packaging materials.
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“Having this coating capability in the market helps improve supply chain resilience for our healthcare customers with reduced lead times and enhanced inventory control which helps to reduce risk,” she explained.
Sustainability as a strategic imperative
Amcor’s leadership in healthcare packaging is increasingly defined by its bold sustainability commitments. The company is working toward designing all its packaging to be recyclable, reusable, or compostable by 2025, and to use 30% recycled materials by 2030. Its facilities in Singapore and Malaysia were both built with these targets in mind.
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“We believe all packaging can be circular, packaging waste can be eliminated, and efficient packaging can mitigate global warming,” said Wong. “For us, it starts with sustainability as a core company value, and it runs through our purpose of elevating customers, shaping lives, and protecting the future.”
Wong highlighted several ways Amcor’s sustainability strategy is being put into action in healthcare. These include the development of mono-material laminates that maintain barrier protection while enabling recyclability, the use of digital life cycle tools such as ASSET™ to help customers reduce environmental impact, and localized production strategies that cut emissions associated with global freight.
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“Localised production in facilities like Selangor reduces reliance on imports, slashing lead times and enhancing resilience against tariffs or disruptions,” she added.
Amcor is also a founding partner in more than 70 global and regional collaborations aimed at driving packaging circularity, from regulatory reform to improving consumer recycling behavior.
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“By incorporating recycled content, optimizing packaging weight, and integrating bio-based materials, we advance sustainability and meet customer expectations,” she added. “Together, we advocate for better policies, improve packaging waste collection, sorting and recycling, and lead consumer education efforts.
Looking ahead
As the healthcare industry becomes more complex, regulated, and sustainability-focused, Amcor is making sure that its Asia Pacific investments are positioned to grow with its customers.
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“Our starting point with any investment decision is always: how do we create value for our customers?” said Wong. “To get closer to them through local production, thereby; enhancing supply chain security, shortening lead times, supporting their future growth, and providing local expertise coupled with global resources.”
With Malaysia now housing the most advanced healthcare coating facility in Asia, Amcor is not simply expanding capacity, it is redefining what it means to deliver secure, sustainable, and world-class healthcare packaging in a rapidly changing region.