OPPEIN: AN INTERNATIONAL BRAND WITH EXCEPTIONAL DESIGN & EXCELLENT QUALITY

Featuring artistic lines and stylish concepts, Oppein is a distinguished brand that offers customers the opulence of designer cabinetry and home furnishing. The masterminds behind Oppein Malaysia, Directors Ruvin Wong and Ray Lai, accompanied by Natalie Wong, Design Director and Elise Tan, Project Manager, speak to Christina Thomas on the brand’s unique propositions.

The OPPEIN brand is no stranger to the cabinetry and home furnishing solutions industry. In the international arena, Oppein is a renowned brand synonymous for excellent quality and exceptional design. The brand is a pioneer and creator of world class home furnishing designs produced with world advance machinery guaranteeing utmost quality and finishing.

OPPEIN’S HISTORY

Founded by Yao Liangsong from Guangzhou, China in 1994, Oppein is now the largest cabinetry manufacturer in the world, with more than 7,000 franchise showrooms over 100 countries. In the early days, Yao, a carpenter by profession visited overseas factories in Europe and realised the value and beauty of customised cabinetry compared to more traditional and standard designs. “He then started manufacturing customised cabinetry in China,” explains Ruvin.

Since then, the company has made a foray into various countries with its exquisite designs and concepts, including Malaysia.

Today, Oppein in Malaysia promises its clientele one-stop services for cabinetry and interior fit-out works. Having visited Oppein China, Ruvin and team realised that there was no other brand in Malaysia offering such unique designs in the country, and they decided to take up the Oppein franchise.

“During our visit to the showroom in China in 2019, we were very impressed with the workmanship, design and quality of the products. We were also invited to the huge fully-automated factory operating on artificial intelligence (AI),” shares Ruvin.

From the design stage until production, the process is fully-automated including packaging using robotics.

A Roaring Success

In talking about Oppein’s success factor in becoming a world-class cabinetry manufacturer, Ruvin shares, “Oppein has invested heavily on research and development, and designs, ideas and materials are constantly refreshed,” says Ruvin.

“Oppein is able to produce large quantities using the latest state-of-the-art technology – which is a key competitive edge for Oppein in producing high quality products, fast,” he adds.

Natalie Wong, explains that Oppein has 2.3million square feet of factory space which enables the company to produce approximately 3,500 sets of kitchen cabinets and 4,500 wardrobes on a daily basis across 5 production facilities, totalling several million sets of cabinetry and wardrobes per annum.

The Malaysian Market

Reflecting on the business potential of the Malaysian market, Ray explains that Malaysia is one of the pioneering countries that Oppein penetrated in Southeast Asia. “Malaysia is the best market for Oppein simply because of cultural similarities as well as the huge market size within the country,” he adds.

Ray also pointed out that the country’s average gross domestic product (GDP) of USD10,000 per household is a key factor in drawing Oppein into the Malaysian market, coupled with the country’s high spending power despite its ‘developing nation’ status, making it one of the top choices in Southeast Asia.

In addition to that, Ray highlights that consumers in Malaysia also have high expectations, and Oppein is able to meet their demands for unique, innovative and high-quality products as well as excellent after-sales service.

“As a high-end product, Oppein is an excellent choice for the affluent segment”, he adds.

SOUGHT-AFTER PRODUCTS

Elaborating on Oppein’s most soughtafter products, Elise Tan explains, “Oppein is a specialist in kitchen cabinets and wardrobes. We deliver high quality, practical yet unique solutions to fulfil the personal lifestyle preferences of our customers, especially for the younger generation.”

“We provide customers vast choices of materials, designs and finishing to mix and match according to their taste,” she adds.

Oppein’s world-class design team from Italy led by Sergio Castiglia, a CHANEL appointed designer and Marco Bortolin, Chief Designer of Oecus, spend countless hours crafting fine furnishing designs to elevate modern homes.

OPPEIN’S UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION

“We have a few unique features and offerings, one of which is our NAF (nonadded formaldehyde) products, which complies with world-class reduced gas emission standards. It is a healthier option compared to traditional materials that contain formaldehyde which is harmful to health,” says Ruvin.

“Our product is the first to introduce NAF in Malaysia. It is the highest grade particle board in the country, which is our key competitive advantage,” he adds.

“We have a world-class supply chain for our accessories such as drawers, hinges, and baskets, among others, thus empowering us with flexibility and practicality to match our designs accurately with the right accessories,” Natalie chips in.

“All our accessories have standard sizes, which is convenient for us and customers,” she adds.

“Our products are focused on practicality, durability and a long design life-cycle, as kitchen cabinets and wardrobes are long-term investments,” explains Ray.

“Within the imported kitchen cabinets market, Oppein is able to deliver the fastest, within a period of 2 to 3 months,” he adds, considering the products are directly shipped from the factory in China.

Exclusive Caxa Software

Speaking about CAXA, a software exclusively designed and used by Oppein, Natalie shares, “It is a software that offers end-to-end features, from the design stage to layout plans, and 3D visuals of to gauge colour combination, match accessories and adjust measurements according to customers’ requirements.”

“From this software, we can also generate quotations for our customers within a short time, using the 3D simulation of customers’ requirements,” she continues.

“CAXA comprises a library of all products, finishes and accessories thus helping us to design faster using our own product range. It gives us a 3D image of the actual product,” adds Ruvin.

Ruvin points out that CAXA’s accuracy enables the company to deliver precision in design and functionality in its products.

Aside from the NAF products, Oppein offers the second-generation green panel products that promise five key advantages such as formaldehyde-free, formaldehydepurification, antibacterial, anti-mildew and odors-purification.

“Usually after renovations, there is an odour emitted by formaldehyde-based products in homes, which can be harmful. However, our second-generation green panel products are free of these harmful chemicals,” explains Natalie.

“Our formaldehyde purification rates are as high as 95.1 percent, making it possible to achieve permanent purification; while our antibacterial features create a clean environment,” she adds.

Additionally, the nano technology features of Oppein’s products offer 180,000 negative charges, creating a shield against bacteria and harmful pathogens. The odourless feature clears the environment of all the odours caused by other products within the home as well.

“It will absorb all kinds of bacteria, odours and sterilise the home environment,” stresses Elise.

Aside from private upmarket residences, Ruvin and team have been working with several developers in fitting Oppein cabinetry and wardrobes in new development projects. Some notable projects include Datum Jelatek, Somerset Residence in Mont Kiara, and Core Residence at TRX, among others.

On the company’s future direction, Ruvin says, “We are quite a young company in Malaysia and we hope to establish another 20 showrooms in the country. Currently we have showrooms in KL, Penang, Kuching and Sabah, and we hope to expand our reach in major townships across Malaysia.”

“We started out with kitchen cabinets and wardrobes but our aim is to move towards whole-house customisation,” he concludes.