Lam Soon Malaysia began operation in 1958 milling and refining copra. The oil extracted was used to make laundry soap and cooking oil. The earliest branded products then were Axe and Labour, names that stood for the Lam Soon work ethic. From this humble beginning, Lam Soon progressively diversified into the manufacture of toilet soap (under the brand Orchid), margarines and shortening using palm oil as raw material.