The Weight of Tradition: Scaling Composite Innovation

at Tiang Roman Port Dickson

Abstract

At 11:30 p.m. on a humid January night in 2026, Faizal Hermy sat alone in his Port Dickson office, looking over a factory yard filled with concrete Roman pillars. For almost two decades, the pillars had carried the company through housing projects, commercial developments and decorative architecture across Negeri Sembilan and the Klang Valley. Their weight had always been part of their appeal. To contractors, a heavy column looked solid, familiar and safe.

But weight had become the company's burden. Fuel rationalisation, freight surcharges, labour shortages and price competition had eroded the margins of the traditional concrete line. The company could not increase its RM150 wholesale price without risking orders to lower-cost rivals. Its annual logistics bill had climbed to an estimated RM300,000.

Faizal believed he had an answer. Drawing on his engineering experience, he had developed a fiber-reinforced composite pillar that imitated the Roman aesthetic while reducing product mass by more than 85%. The new pillar could be carried by two workers, avoided crane rental, resisted corrosion, and supported greater design flexibility. Yet the product's technical promise was colliding with the habits of the company and its market.