Insight Sunday, February 19, 2017 Sunday, February 19 ... · benefited GWIA; it has learnt how ......
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On lifelong learning to stay relevant: • Have a positive attitude, be willing to learn and accept changes • Don’t say no. If someone gives you something to do, do it • Be willing to share knowledge with younger colleagues On going international: • Learn about other countries’ ways of doing business • Build up a strong staff and financial base at home • Be bold. Don’t be put off by differences On teaming up with an overseas partner: • Match right profile of worker to the job • Look to constantly improve and innovate • Have the right mindset to make it work GO BOLDLY FORTH DAILY MANTRA SITUATIONAL AWARENESS Yasmine Yahya Assistant Business Editor When global giant Procter & Gam- ble (P&G) set up its Singapore Inno- vation Centre in 2011, it knew it needed a solid and trustworthy part- ner to help with its top-secret re- search and development work. It turned to home-grown firm GWIA. While GWIA had been manufac- turing P&G products for decades, this new collaboration took the rela- tionship to the next level. GWIA has 32 employees who are permanently stationed at the P&G innovation centre in Biopolis. They support P&G in making small batch- es of products that are still in the R&D and testing phase. The GWIA team also works with P&G’s research staff to plan their raw material requirements, man- age their warehouse and provide ad- ministrative concierge services. As GWIA’s director Lee Kwai Seng notes, there were teething problems at first. “In the early days, we had to learn how to match the right profile of worker to this job. We thought of transferring people from our exist- ing plant over to the innovation cen- tre, but we soon found that was not feasible.” GWIA ended up hiring a fresh group of workers to match the more dynamic and innovative work- ing environment. “In a plant, you don’t collaborate so much; you take instructions from your plant manager and you execute. Here, you have to collabo- rate with the researchers so you would need communication skills and you have to be comfortable us- ing higher-end technology,” Mr Lee notes. But the steep learning curve has benefited GWIA; it has learnt how to better manage quality control in its processes, lessons which it has applied across its four plants – one in Singapore and three in Ma- laysia. “This has also driven us to look for constant improvement and innova- tions to continue to be a good part- ner to P&G. We have also started to explore technologies to better track our performance so that both P&G and GWIA are able to identify opportunities for future improve- ments,” Mr Lee says. “For example, we manufacture Ambi Pur air freshener for P&G and, thanks to what we’ve learnt at the innovation centre, we’ve been able to have discussions with P&G’s other business units about making a better type of packaging for the Ambi Pur car kits that we manufac- ture in Malaysia.” The firm has also learnt how to manufacture smaller batches with greater cost efficiency. “In manufacturing, it’s more cost-efficient to make millions of units than just one or two batch runs. But from our work at the inno- vation centre, we’ve learnt how to make smaller batches at lower cost,” Mr Lee adds. This makes it easier when GWIA’s other clients want to push out a sea- sonal or promotional product. P&G’s director of corporate re- search and development, Mr James Kaw, says the company had wanted to partner a small or medium-sized enterprise for this work. “Flexibility, agility and the willing- ness to partner are some key traits that SMEs generally have, which counterbalances what a big multina- tional like P&G doesn’t,” he says. “And especially in an innovation centre, we need more flexibility and agility because things change, batches fail, ideas don’t work, so you need a partner with the right mindset to make it work.” Their partnership was shortlisted for the Most Transformational Col- laboration prize at the Singapore In- ternational Chamber of Commerce (SICC) Awards last year. “Collaboration is often the fastest way to innovate. This is just as true for large companies as it is for small ones,” an SICC spokesman said. “The SICC Awards celebrate and recognise collaborative innova- tions between large and small com- panies to increase collective learn- ing and to encourage other compa- nies to collaborate and innovate.” [email protected] Wong Siew Ying The offshore oil and gas sector has taken a beating over the past year, but local firm Valves.com has weathered the storm, thanks to its overseas business and strong cash flow. The firm, which distributes valves for the energy, petrochemi- cal and power industries, made its first foray abroad in 2004 when it set up shop in China. Representa- tive offices followed in Indonesia, South Korea and France. It is now embarking on its next phase of growth with a proposed ac- quisition of a valve manufacturing business in the United States, while it has plans to tap the Middle East market by the end of next year. Chief executive Wong Seng Kee says: “The Singapore market is small. I decided to go abroad once my business here stabilised. Had I not done that, I think my business would have plateaued.” Internationalistion helped to dou- ble the firm’s profitability, he says. Its customers include global play- ers such as BW Offshore, Modec and Siemens. Mr Wong, who started the firm 17 years ago, says about half of the company’s revenue comes from overseas markets. Its growth story follows a familiar pattern of other companies that heeded the Government’s call to push beyond Singapore. Valves.com distributes valves from major manufacturers in the US and Europe. It also provides engi- neering and procurement support services. Valves are a key component in oil and gas equipment as they control the flow and pressure in pipelines. The firm’s valves are used in projects such as floating produc- tion, storage and offloading (FPSO) units – vessels used by the offshore energy industry to process and store oil. It has 12 employees at its head- quarters here and is likely to add two more engineers to support busi- ness in the region. “The market has slowed, but there are still some projects outside Singapore. We are also looking to add one more sales representative in Europe,” says Mr Wong, 62, who adds that the company will assign a representative in the Middle East. The sales representative will work with local partners to tap op- portunities in markets such as Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Mr Wong’s advice for companies that want to venture abroad in- clude having deeper knowledge about the culture and business envi- ronment in overseas markets, build- ing up strong manpower and financ- es here – and being plucky. “Have no fear. Don’t be put off by differences in other markets,” he says. Apart from seeking out new mar- kets, Valves.com intends to diversi- fy its business by acquiring a manu- facturing business in Houston for US$10 million (S$14.2 million). The deal is expected to be closed in the coming weeks. The acquisition target is a valve manufacturer that the firm has been working with for about seven years. Mr Wong is unable to disclose the identity of the US company owing to confidentiality reasons, but says the transaction would see Valves.com taking over a 14,000 sq ft manufacturing facility in Hou- ston. He noted: “The company which we will acquire manufactures for the global market, so we will be- come a global manufacturer. We will be focusing on this new ven- ture. It has the potential to grow to $50 million or $100 million in the fu- ture.” Mr Wong, who trained in mechan- ical engineering, expects the acqui- sition to double the firm’s revenue within a year. The US firm’s owner- ship of two patents and research and development capabilities should also help Valves.com devise new and more advanced products. [email protected] The CFE has called for companies to internationalise and partner one another, and for individuals to pick up and use deep skills. Three trailblazers and two experts show how it can be done. GWIA’s Mr Lee (left) and P&G’s Mr Kaw. The partnership between the SME and global giant was shortlisted for the Most Transformational Collaboration prize at last year’s SICC Awards. ST PHOTO: JAMIE KOH Home-grown firm partners global giant on research and development work COPING WITH NEW CHALLENGES By the second or third day, I thought of giving up. It was a totally new place with different functions. ’’ BANKER JOHNNY TAN, 67, on how he began heading operations for StanChart’s SME unit 13 years ago. He still heads the unit today. Valves.com, set up in 2000 by Mr Wong, distributes valves for the oil and gas, petrochemical and power industries and has since expanded to China, Indonesia, South Korea and France. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG Going global is a salve for this valve distribution company Mr Tan, the longest-serving employee across StanChart’s worldwide network, feels he still has much to contribute. The 67-year-old says: “Our mindset must be to learn and be prepared to accept changes all the time.” ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG Joanna Seow At the age of 54, when most people would be looking ahead to retire- ment, banker Johnny Tan – now 67 – was asked to take on an entirely new role. By that stage, he had worked with Standard Chartered Bank Singa- pore for close to 40 years, progress- ing from a clerical role to managing branches. But after all those years on the re- tail side, he was given the task of heading operations for the bank’s unit for small and medium-sized en- terprises (SMEs). It was not an easy transition. “By the second or third day, I thought of giving up. It was a totally new place with different func- tions,” says Mr Tan. The products and clients changed, as well as the staff and processes he had to manage. But he persevered and continues to head the unit today, 13 years later. He declares: “Our mindset must be to learn and be prepared to ac- cept changes all the time. If some- thing is given to you, just do it.” Indeed, StanChart says he has held 11 jobs with the bank over the course of his career. His first job was as a clerk helping with cheque deposits in StanChart’s Battery Road branch. Then, to get up to speed with the latest in the banking industry, he went for a diploma course during his first few years of work, to learn about topics such as banking law, accounting and the finance of in- ternational trade. He also attended courses at the bank’s offices in Kuala Lumpur and London early on in his career, meet- ing colleagues from around the world and picking up public speak- ing skills. In 1975, he was promoted to branch manager, running a small branch in Changi which served mainly pilot trainees and trainers as well as residents from Pulau Ubin, Pulau Tekong and Changi Village. Although he did not have a formal training and progression frame- work to follow, Mr Tan accumulat- ed a wealth of experience as he over- saw different bank functions in branches such as Jurong, Selegie and Battery Road. “Every place I worked, the know- ledge and experience stayed with me,” he says. For example, learning how to manage staff in his branches and troubleshoot customer complaints later served him well as he imple- mented new procedures in the SME banking unit. Noticing that his staff had a cul- ture of staying late at work, he intro- duced a cut-off time for the bank’s relationship managers to pass cases to his team each day. He also has to resolve relationship managers’ issues as quickly as possi- ble, so that they can help clients. When the bank introduced a new sales verification process to allo- cate commissions for staff, he worked out details such as what doc- uments were needed from relation- ship managers and how to get staff to input details into spreadsheets. StanChart Singapore chief execu- tive officer Judy Hsu says that Mr Tan “always keeps an open mind, takes initiative to add value and al- ways has the customer at the cen- tre of what he does”. She adds: “Most importantly, he makes an effort to learn new skills and is always willing to take on new challenges.” Mr Tan has been on re-employ- ment contracts since he turned 62, with his current contract lasting un- til next year. Even now, after 50 years with the company – making him the long- est-serving employee across the bank’s worldwide network – he feels he still has much to contrib- ute, such as through developing younger colleagues and helping them use their strengths to their ad- vantage. “You must be willing to share knowledge with younger col- leagues, and make sure they can learn from you,” he says. [email protected] The strategy of getting workers to acquire deep skills is the way for- ward, but they need to look beyond this to learning to master “competen- cies”, says an expert on the future of work. For example, knowing how to use an adjustable wrench or how to fix a broken-down car are skills. But be- ing able to repair any car irrespec- tive of its make, model and the latest technologies is competency, says German economist Michael Zibrow- ius, 32, who works at the private Ger- man think-tank, the Cologne Insti- tute For Economic Research. So training should not specify the exact skills that should be taught, but look at what competencies stu- dents should have after graduation, he says, adding: “This way, you also do not need to keep adapting curric- ula every time new technologies are introduced.” Put another way, it was not enough to know how to lay bricks on mortar; one had to understand why and how a wall functioned in the first place because “you may know how to build a wall in 2017, but the way to build it in 10, 20 or 30 years might be entirely different”. The Lee Kuan Yew Centre for In- novative Cities in the Singapore Uni- versity of Technology and Design in- vited Dr Zibrowius to speak at its high-level international roundtable on the future of the global economy last month. In an e-mail interview last Tues- day, he says the Committee on the Future Economy’s call for everyone here to harness deeper skills, rather than just chase paper qualifica- tions, “points in absolutely the right direction” to stay employable in the digital age. He praised the CFE’s em- phasis on learning continuously while earning a wage, through “modularised” online training pro- grammes that are easily accessible to all – and that, most importantly, give you the skills most needed in the job market at any point in time. In particular, he says, the idea of re- lying on training modules “is very helpful because it offsets both employers’ and employees’ fear that retraining requires endless time and effort”. So the opportunity to absorb relevant skills one module at a time is “very efficient”, as long as those providing these modules are proper- ly accredited and their training is of top quality and relevant. Noting that the CFE welcomed company-led worker training of these deeper skills, he cautions that for this to succeed, the size of the company matters a lot. For exam- ple, SMEs with limited training budg- ets might explore allowing employ- ees to use their personal devices to film how the best among them worked, and learn from such on-the-job videos. But big firms with deeper pockets have the manpower to anticipate the skills needed in fu- ture in more sophisticated ways. Dr Zibrowius said: “Siemens, for example, analysed 25 job profiles throughout its value chain and iden- tified the key skills relevant in each job today and tomorrow. It was then able to rearrange its vocational train- ing schemes to reflect properly the skills needed in future.” The German company is Europe’s largest in man- ufacturing and electronics. He feels acquiring deeper skills has to start as early as from primary school. In India and Mexico, he points out, “they try to infuse practi- cal elements in their existing school systems so that people have an idea of ‘How do I work given what I have learnt?’ and ‘How does this theory actually work in practice?’.” Cheong Suk-Wai Cheong Suk-Wai Senior Writer Amid growing concerns about how well the Singapore economy will thrive in the future, one thing is cer- tain: much patience will be needed. That is because economic growth here will increasingly have to rely on constant innovation and tech- nological breakthroughs, both of which rarely yield huge, immediate returns because innovations are of- ten rapidly displaced, while break- throughs are few and far between. In an interview here late last month, Professor Joseph Wong, 43, an innovation expert, said: “It helps us to really understand that these things take a long time. That’s why oftentimes when we refer to ven- ture capital, we refer to it not only as risk capital, but also as patient capital. So the expectation is that they (venture capitalists) not only have to assess risk, but also assess it against time.” Venture capitalists are typically the initial investors in projects with uncertain outcomes. Prof Wong is vice-provost of inter- national student experience, associ- ate vice-president and professor of innovation and political science at the University of Toronto. He was in town last month to speak at the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innova- tive Cities’ high-level international roundtable on the future of the glo- bal economy. Between 2003 and 2008, he visit- ed Singapore many times and spoke to many Singaporeans, including top policymakers, then published his findings in his 2011 book, Betting On Biotech: Innovation And The Limits Of Asia’s Developmental State, which also examined the suc- cesses of South Korea and Taiwan. NO RESTING ON LAURELS South Korean conglomerate Sam- sung, for one, learnt recently just how stunning the displacing of even the best innovations could be. One of its vice-presidents lamented to Prof Wong that Samsung was “getting wiped out by the Chinese in panel displays”. Such displays were the lifeblood of Samsung’s business not long ago. Samsung, the vice-president added, was now fighting back by investing heavily in software and backing start-ups. Prof Wong argued that an innova- tion-led, or cutting-edge, economy faced “fundamentally different challenges” from the “Asian mira- cle” model of economic growth that turned Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan into economic tigers in the 1990s. He told The Sunday Times: “In the past, one of the key features of the very effective catch-up econo- mies of Asia was that they would create winners pretty easily and relatively quickly, whether they were moving into semiconductors, the hard-disk sector or other com- puter peripherals. That was be- cause the technology and market demand were already there. “But,” he stressed, “jump-starting something like biomedical innova- tion is going to take a long time. So you see a massive investment in R&D (research and development), venture capitalists and so on, but it’s still going to take a long time be- fore you see any kinds of winners.” Sometimes, some governments even have to switch horses mid- stream, as it were. Taiwan, he not- ed, was initially geared towards new drug discovery. But its Indus- trial Technology Research Institute soon saw Taiwan’s considerable strength in precision manufactur- ing, particularly in the electronics sector, and so shifted its focus to making medical devices. That has since resulted in, among other things, Taiwan’s ground-breaking “lab on a chip”, Prof Wong added. Noting that the frontiers of inno- vation-led economies were blurry at best or, as he put it, “you don’t know what you don’t know”, he stressed: “In the past, we were making bets on that which we were uncertain but relatively well-informed. Now, we are effectively betting blind.” MANAGING UNCERTAINTY Nonetheless, Prof Wong was quick to add, there are still ways in which countries can manage the uncertain- ties from placing their bets, as well as temper citizens’ expectations of striking it rich, including “starting to value failure” by, say, making person- al bankruptcy declarations less dam- aging to an individual’s dignity. He added: “Innovation requires constant experimentation, so for every great innovative outcome, there are hundreds, if not thou- sands, of failures. So being kiasu is a real disincentive for the kind of inno- vative behaviour and experimenta- tion that you need.” [email protected] Training should not specify the exact skills that should be taught, but look at what competencies students should have after graduation, says Dr Zibrowius. MAKING STRIDES In manufacturing, it’s more cost-efficient to make millions of units than just one or two batch runs. But from our work at the innovation centre, we’ve learnt how to make smaller batches at lower cost. ’’ GWIA’S DIRECTOR LEE KWAI SENG, on the benefits of working with global giant Procter & Gamble. Being kiasu is a disincentive for the innovative behaviour and experimentation that are needed, says Prof Wong. Go beyond acquiring skills to mastering competencies Be patient – and don’t be kiasu – for innovation and tech breakthroughs Blazing a trail to the future Embracing change helps him thrive – 50 years on with the same bank German economist Michael Zibrowius praised the CFE’s emphasis on learning continuously while earning a wage, through “modularised” online training programmes that are easily accessible to all – and that, most importantly, give you the skills most needed in the job market at any point in time. B6 | Insight The Sunday Times | Sunday, February 19, 2017 Sunday, February 19, 2017 | The Sunday Times Insight | B7
Transcript of Insight Sunday, February 19, 2017 Sunday, February 19 ... · benefited GWIA; it has learnt how ......
On lifelong learning tostay relevant:
• Have a positive attitude,
be willing to learn andaccept changes
• Don’t say no. If someone
gives you something to do, do it
• Be willing to share knowledge
with younger colleagues
On going international:
• Learn about other countries’
ways of doing business
• Build up a strong staff and
financial base at home
• Be bold. Don’t be put off by
differences
On teaming up with anoverseas partner:
• Match right profile of
worker to the job
• Look to constantly
improve and innovate
• Have the right mindset
to make it work
GO BOLDLY FORTH
DAILY MANTRA
SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
Yasmine YahyaAssistant Business Editor
When global giant Procter & Gam-ble (P&G) set up its Singapore Inno-vation Centre in 2011, it knew itneeded a solid and trustworthy part-ner to help with its top-secret re-search and development work.
It turned to home-grown firmGWIA.
While GWIA had been manufac-turing P&G products for decades,this new collaboration took the rela-tionship to the next level.
GWIA has 32 employees who arepermanently stationed at the P&Ginnovation centre in Biopolis. Theysupport P&G in making small batch-es of products that are still in the
R&D and testing phase.The GWIA team also works with
P&G’s research staff to plan theirraw material requirements, man-age their warehouse and provide ad-ministrative concierge services.
As GWIA’s director Lee KwaiSeng notes, there were teethingproblems at first.
“In the early days, we had to learnhow to match the right profile ofworker to this job. We thought oftransferring people from our exist-ing plant over to the innovation cen-tre, but we soon found that was notfeasible.”
GWIA ended up hiring a freshgroup of workers to match themore dynamic and innovative work-ing environment.
“In a plant, you don’t collaborateso much; you take instructionsfrom your plant manager and youexecute. Here, you have to collabo-rate with the researchers so you
would need communication skillsand you have to be comfortable us-ing higher-end technology,” Mr Leenotes.
But the steep learning curve hasbenefited GWIA; it has learnt howto better manage quality controlin its processes, lessons which ithas applied across its four plants –one in Singapore and three in Ma-laysia.
“This has also driven us to look forconstant improvement and innova-tions to continue to be a good part-ner to P&G. We have also started toexplore technologies to bettertrack our performance so that bothP&G and GWIA are able to identifyopportunities for future improve-ments,” Mr Lee says.
“For example, we manufactureAmbi Pur air freshener for P&Gand, thanks to what we’ve learnt atthe innovation centre, we’ve beenable to have discussions with P&G’s
other business units about makinga better type of packaging for theAmbi Pur car kits that we manufac-ture in Malaysia.”
The firm has also learnt how tomanufacture smaller batches withgreater cost efficiency.
“In manufacturing, it’s morecost-efficient to make millions ofunits than just one or two batchruns. But from our work at the inno-vation centre, we’ve learnt how tomake smaller batches at lowercost,” Mr Lee adds.
This makes it easier when GWIA’sother clients want to push out a sea-sonal or promotional product.
P&G’s director of corporate re-search and development, Mr JamesKaw, says the company had wantedto partner a small or medium-sizedenterprise for this work.
“Flexibility, agility and the willing-ness to partner are some key traitsthat SMEs generally have, which
counterbalances what a big multina-tional like P&G doesn’t,” he says.
“And especially in an innovationcentre, we need more flexibilityand agility because things change,batches fail, ideas don’t work, soyou need a partner with the rightmindset to make it work.”
Their partnership was shortlistedfor the Most Transformational Col-laboration prize at the Singapore In-ternational Chamber of Commerce(SICC) Awards last year.
“Collaboration is often the fastestway to innovate. This is just as truefor large companies as it is for smallones,” an SICC spokesman said.
“The SICC Awards celebrate andrecognise collaborative innova-tions between large and small com-panies to increase collective learn-ing and to encourage other compa-nies to collaborate and innovate.”
Wong Siew Ying
The offshore oil and gas sector hastaken a beating over the past year,but local firm Valves.com hasweathered the storm, thanks to itsoverseas business and strong cashflow.
The firm, which distributesvalves for the energy, petrochemi-cal and power industries, made itsfirst foray abroad in 2004 when itset up shop in China. Representa-tive offices followed in Indonesia,South Korea and France.
It is now embarking on its nextphase of growth with a proposed ac-quisition of a valve manufacturingbusiness in the United States, whileit has plans to tap the Middle East
market by the end of next year.Chief executive Wong Seng Kee
says: “The Singapore market issmall. I decided to go abroad oncemy business here stabilised. Had Inot done that, I think my businesswould have plateaued.”
Internationalistion helped to dou-ble the firm’s profitability, he says.
Its customers include global play-ers such as BW Offshore, Modecand Siemens.
Mr Wong, who started the firm17 years ago, says about half of thecompany’s revenue comes fromoverseas markets.
Its growth story follows a familiarpattern of other companies thatheeded the Government’s call topush beyond Singapore.
Valves.com distributes valves
from major manufacturers in theUS and Europe. It also provides engi-neering and procurement supportservices.
Valves are a key component in oiland gas equipment as they controlthe flow and pressure in pipelines.
The firm’s valves are used inprojects such as floating produc-tion, storage and offloading (FPSO)units – vessels used by the offshoreenergy industry to process andstore oil.
It has 12 employees at its head-quarters here and is likely to addtwo more engineers to support busi-ness in the region.
“The market has slowed, butthere are still some projects outsideSingapore. We are also looking toadd one more sales representativein Europe,” says Mr Wong, 62, whoadds that the company will assign arepresentative in the Middle East.
The sales representative will
work with local partners to tap op-portunities in markets such asOman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and theUnited Arab Emirates.
Mr Wong’s advice for companiesthat want to venture abroad in-clude having deeper knowledgeabout the culture and business envi-ronment in overseas markets, build-ing up strong manpower and financ-es here – and being plucky.
“Have no fear. Don’t be put off bydifferences in other markets,” hesays.
Apart from seeking out new mar-kets, Valves.com intends to diversi-fy its business by acquiring a manu-facturing business in Houston forUS$10 million (S$14.2 million). Thedeal is expected to be closed in thecoming weeks.
The acquisition target is a valvemanufacturer that the firm hasbeen working with for about sevenyears.
Mr Wong is unable to disclose theidentity of the US company owingto confidentiality reasons, but saysthe transaction would seeValves.com taking over a 14,000 sqft manufacturing facility in Hou-ston.
He noted: “The company whichwe will acquire manufactures forthe global market, so we will be-come a global manufacturer. Wewill be focusing on this new ven-ture. It has the potential to grow to$50 million or $100 million in the fu-ture.”
Mr Wong, who trained in mechan-ical engineering, expects the acqui-sition to double the firm’s revenuewithin a year. The US firm’s owner-ship of two patents and researchand development capabilitiesshould also help Valves.com devisenew and more advanced products.
The CFE has called for companies to internationalise and partner one another, and for individualsto pick up and use deep skills. Three trailblazers and two experts show how it can be done.
GWIA’s Mr Lee (left) and P&G’s Mr Kaw. The partnership between the SME andglobal giant was shortlisted for the Most Transformational Collaboration prizeat last year’s SICC Awards. ST PHOTO: JAMIE KOH
Home-grown firm partners global giant on research and development work
COPING WITH NEW CHALLENGES
By the second or third day,I thought of giving up. It wasa totally new place withdifferent functions.
’’BANKER JOHNNY TAN, 67, on how he began heading operationsfor StanChart’s SME unit 13 years ago. He still heads the unit today.
Valves.com, set up in 2000 by Mr Wong, distributes valves for the oil and gas,petrochemical and power industries and has since expanded to China,Indonesia, South Korea and France. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
Going global is a salve for this valve distribution company
Mr Tan, the longest-serving employee across StanChart’s worldwide network, feelshe still has much to contribute. The 67-year-old says: “Our mindset must be tolearn and be prepared to accept changes all the time.” ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
Joanna Seow
At the age of 54, when most peoplewould be looking ahead to retire-ment, banker Johnny Tan – now 67– was asked to take on an entirelynew role.
By that stage, he had worked withStandard Chartered Bank Singa-pore for close to 40 years, progress-ing from a clerical role to managingbranches.
But after all those years on the re-tail side, he was given the task ofheading operations for the bank’sunit for small and medium-sized en-terprises (SMEs).
It was not an easy transition.“By the second or third day, I
thought of giving up. It was a totally
new place with different func-tions,” says Mr Tan.
The products and clients changed,as well as the staff and processes hehad to manage.
But he persevered and continuesto head the unit today, 13 years later.
He declares: “Our mindset mustbe to learn and be prepared to ac-cept changes all the time. If some-thing is given to you, just do it.”
Indeed, StanChart says he hasheld 11 jobs with the bank over thecourse of his career.
His first job was as a clerk helpingwith cheque deposits in StanChart’sBattery Road branch.
Then, to get up to speed with thelatest in the banking industry, hewent for a diploma course duringhis first few years of work, to learn
about topics such as banking law,accounting and the finance of in-ternational trade.
He also attended courses at thebank’s offices in Kuala Lumpur andLondon early on in his career, meet-ing colleagues from around theworld and picking up public speak-ing skills.
In 1975, he was promoted tobranch manager, running a smallbranch in Changi which servedmainly pilot trainees and trainers aswell as residents from Pulau Ubin,Pulau Tekong and Changi Village.
Although he did not have a formaltraining and progression frame-work to follow, Mr Tan accumulat-ed a wealth of experience as he over-saw different bank functions inbranches such as Jurong, Selegieand Battery Road.
“Every place I worked, the know-ledge and experience stayed withme,” he says.
For example, learning how tomanage staff in his branches andtroubleshoot customer complaintslater served him well as he imple-mented new procedures in the SMEbanking unit.
Noticing that his staff had a cul-ture of staying late at work, he intro-duced a cut-off time for the bank’srelationship managers to pass casesto his team each day.
He also has to resolve relationshipmanagers’ issues as quickly as possi-ble, so that they can help clients.
When the bank introduced a newsales verification process to allo-cate commissions for staff, heworked out details such as what doc-uments were needed from relation-ship managers and how to get staffto input details into spreadsheets.
StanChart Singapore chief execu-tive officer Judy Hsu says that MrTan “always keeps an open mind,takes initiative to add value and al-
ways has the customer at the cen-tre of what he does”.
She adds: “Most importantly, hemakes an effort to learn new skillsand is always willing to take on newchallenges.”
Mr Tan has been on re-employ-ment contracts since he turned 62,with his current contract lasting un-til next year.
Even now, after 50 years with thecompany – making him the long-est-serving employee across thebank’s worldwide network – hefeels he still has much to contrib-ute, such as through developingyounger colleagues and helpingthem use their strengths to their ad-vantage.
“You must be willing to shareknowledge with younger col-leagues, and make sure they canlearn from you,” he says.
The strategy of getting workers toacquire deep skills is the way for-ward, but they need to look beyondthis to learning to master “competen-cies”, says an expert on the future ofwork.
For example, knowing how to usean adjustable wrench or how to fix abroken-down car are skills. But be-ing able to repair any car irrespec-tive of its make, model and the latesttechnologies is competency, saysGerman economist Michael Zibrow-ius, 32, who works at the private Ger-man think-tank, the Cologne Insti-tute For Economic Research.
So training should not specify theexact skills that should be taught,but look at what competencies stu-dents should have after graduation,he says, adding: “This way, you also
do not need to keep adapting curric-ula every time new technologiesare introduced.”
Put another way, it was notenough to know how to lay brickson mortar; one had to understandwhy and how a wall functioned inthe first place because “you mayknow how to build a wall in 2017,but the way to build it in 10, 20 or 30years might be entirely different”.
The Lee Kuan Yew Centre for In-novative Cities in the Singapore Uni-versity of Technology and Design in-vited Dr Zibrowius to speak at itshigh-level international roundtableon the future of the global economylast month.
In an e-mail interview last Tues-day, he says the Committee on theFuture Economy’s call for everyone
here to harness deeper skills, ratherthan just chase paper qualifica-tions, “points in absolutely the rightdirection” to stay employable in thedigital age. He praised the CFE’s em-phasis on learning continuouslywhile earning a wage, through“modularised” online training pro-grammes that are easily accessibleto all – and that, most importantly,give you the skills most needed inthe job market at any point in time.
In particular, he says, the idea of re-lying on training modules “is veryhelpful because it offsets bothemployers’ and employees’ fear thatretraining requires endless time andeffort”. So the opportunity to absorbrelevant skills one module at a timeis “very efficient”, as long as thoseproviding these modules are proper-ly accredited and their training is oftop quality and relevant.
Noting that the CFE welcomedcompany-led worker training ofthese deeper skills, he cautions thatfor this to succeed, the size of thecompany matters a lot. For exam-ple, SMEs with limited training budg-
ets might explore allowing employ-ees to use their personal devices tofilm how the best among themworked, and learn from suchon-the-job videos. But big firms withdeeper pockets have the manpowerto anticipate the skills needed in fu-ture in more sophisticated ways.
Dr Zibrowius said: “Siemens, forexample, analysed 25 job profilesthroughout its value chain and iden-tified the key skills relevant in eachjob today and tomorrow. It was thenable to rearrange its vocational train-ing schemes to reflect properly theskills needed in future.” The Germancompany is Europe’s largest in man-ufacturing and electronics.
He feels acquiring deeper skillshas to start as early as from primaryschool. In India and Mexico, hepoints out, “they try to infuse practi-cal elements in their existing schoolsystems so that people have an ideaof ‘How do I work given what I havelearnt?’ and ‘How does this theoryactually work in practice?’.”
Cheong Suk-Wai
Cheong Suk-WaiSenior Writer
Amid growing concerns about howwell the Singapore economy willthrive in the future, one thing is cer-tain: much patience will be needed.
That is because economic growthhere will increasingly have to relyon constant innovation and tech-nological breakthroughs, both ofwhich rarely yield huge, immediatereturns because innovations are of-ten rapidly displaced, while break-throughs are few and far between.
In an interview here late lastmonth, Professor Joseph Wong, 43,an innovation expert, said: “It helpsus to really understand that thesethings take a long time. That’s why
oftentimes when we refer to ven-ture capital, we refer to it not onlyas risk capital, but also as patientcapital. So the expectation is thatthey (venture capitalists) not onlyhave to assess risk, but also assess itagainst time.” Venture capitalistsare typically the initial investors inprojects with uncertain outcomes.
Prof Wong is vice-provost of inter-national student experience, associ-ate vice-president and professor ofinnovation and political science atthe University of Toronto. He wasin town last month to speak at theLee Kuan Yew Centre for Innova-tive Cities’ high-level internationalroundtable on the future of the glo-bal economy.
Between 2003 and 2008, he visit-ed Singapore many times and spoke
to many Singaporeans, includingtop policymakers, then publishedhis findings in his 2011 book, BettingOn Biotech: Innovation And TheLimits Of Asia’s DevelopmentalState, which also examined the suc-cesses of South Korea and Taiwan.
NO RESTING ON LAURELSSouth Korean conglomerate Sam-sung, for one, learnt recently justhow stunning the displacing ofeven the best innovations could be.One of its vice-presidents lamentedto Prof Wong that Samsung was“getting wiped out by the Chinesein panel displays”. Such displayswere the lifeblood of Samsung’sbusiness not long ago. Samsung,the vice-president added, was nowfighting back by investing heavily
in software and backing start-ups.Prof Wong argued that an innova-
tion-led, or cutting-edge, economyfaced “fundamentally differentchallenges” from the “Asian mira-cle” model of economic growththat turned Singapore, South Koreaand Taiwan into economic tigers inthe 1990s.
He told The Sunday Times: “Inthe past, one of the key features ofthe very effective catch-up econo-mies of Asia was that they wouldcreate winners pretty easily andrelatively quickly, whether theywere moving into semiconductors,the hard-disk sector or other com-puter peripherals. That was be-cause the technology and marketdemand were already there.
“But,” he stressed, “jump-starting
something like biomedical innova-tion is going to take a long time. Soyou see a massive investment inR&D (research and development),venture capitalists and so on, butit’s still going to take a long time be-fore you see any kinds of winners.”
Sometimes, some governmentseven have to switch horses mid-stream, as it were. Taiwan, he not-ed, was initially geared towardsnew drug discovery. But its Indus-trial Technology Research Institutesoon saw Taiwan’s considerablestrength in precision manufactur-ing, particularly in the electronicssector, and so shifted its focus tomaking medical devices. That hassince resulted in, among otherthings, Taiwan’s ground-breaking“lab on a chip”, Prof Wong added.
Noting that the frontiers of inno-vation-led economies were blurry atbest or, as he put it, “you don’t knowwhat you don’t know”, he stressed:“In the past, we were making betson that which we were uncertainbut relatively well-informed. Now,we are effectively betting blind.”
MANAGING UNCERTAINTYNonetheless, Prof Wong was quickto add, there are still ways in whichcountries can manage the uncertain-ties from placing their bets, as wellas temper citizens’ expectations ofstriking it rich, including “starting tovalue failure” by, say, making person-al bankruptcy declarations less dam-aging to an individual’s dignity.
He added: “Innovation requiresconstant experimentation, so forevery great innovative outcome,there are hundreds, if not thou-sands, of failures. So being kiasu is areal disincentive for the kind of inno-vative behaviour and experimenta-tion that you need.”
Training shouldnot specify theexact skills thatshould betaught, but lookat whatcompetenciesstudents shouldhave aftergraduation, saysDr Zibrowius.
MAKING STRIDES
Inmanufacturing, it’s morecost-efficient to make millions ofunits than just one or two batchruns.But from our work at theinnovation centre, we’ve learnthow tomake smaller batchesat lower cost.
’’GWIA’SDIRECTOR LEE KWAI SENG, on the benefits of workingwithglobal giant Procter & Gamble.
Being kiasu is adisincentive forthe innovativebehaviour andexperimentationthat are needed,says Prof Wong.
Go beyond acquiring skillsto mastering competencies
Be patient – and don’t be kiasu – forinnovation and tech breakthroughs
Blazing a trail to the future
Embracing change helps him thrive – 50 years on with the same bank
German economist Michael Zibrowiuspraised the CFE’s emphasis on learningcontinuously while earning a wage,through“modularised” online trainingprogrammes that are easily accessible toall – and that, most importantly, give youtheskills mostneeded in the job market atanypoint in time.
B6 | Insight The Sunday Times | Sunday, February 19, 2017 Sunday, February 19, 2017 | The Sunday Times Insight | B7
