2010 Successful Entrepreneur
A strong, gung-ho determination to suceed, despite all odds - with only primary educational level and poverty - this fire in the belly was the one, single, outstanding factor that enabled Mr. Lee, 50, with his indomitable entrepreneurial spirirt to venture out - and succeed with his Perfect Team Engineering set up in 1998. Saying, "I have all the skills except paper qualifications," the 39-year old foreman of Otis, an oil field manufacturing company, with $20,000 and the skills he picked up from his previous company, made Perfect Team Engineering an operational success from 2000 onwards.
Last year it neeted a $5m turnover by supplying multi-national companies locally and internationally, with CNC Machining Services; manufacturing and fabricating of working & tool making for marine and oilfield. "When I started, my goal was to acquire 10 CNC Machines within a decade. But within seven years, I achieved it. Now I have nearly doubled the number. By 2007, I have also acquired my own building, a 45,000 square feet of office cum workshop three-storied building at Kian Teck Crescent." However, Mr. Lee only uses the ground floor, and sublets the others.
2012 Successful Entrepreneur
Current Situation
Since 1998, Perfect Team Engineering Pte Ltd has become a reputable and well established manufacturer of Oilfield equipment in Singapore. While serving mainly oil and gas industries, the company has the capability to provide a one-stop turnkey solution for customers. In 2007, Mr Lee Meng Hwa, its Director and Founder, even acquired his own three-storey building of approximately 45,000 square feet at Kian Teck Crescent, Singapore, with 26 CNC machines and a workforce of over 70 staff.
“We have benefited greatly from our investments and growth for over a decade, accumulating valuable experience and expertise in meeting the needs of industries like Oil & Gas; Marine & Offshore; Tools & Mould Making; Precision Machining; and Product Manufacturing. Now, we are embarking on the next phase of our business expansion, poised to play a more prominent international role in providing high quality, complete machinery services,” said Mr Lee, now the sole proprietor of the 14-year old company.
Reasons for the Success Story
Behind the success of Perfect Team Engineering Pte Ltd are workers' loyalty and their customer-orientated philosophy. Not to forget their commitment to continuously improving business processes and manufacturing capabilities for meeting customers' needs.
“Participating in overseas trade exhibitions, and accepting the invitations of my overseas suppliers to know more about their latest products help me to pick up the latest technology in this industry.”
“It also made me realize my never-ending necessity to continuously cultivate all the required skills,” said the indomitable entrepreneur who never says die. “As a result, today, I am ever-ready with our specialized services to lead my team internationally.”
Summarizing “Teamwork as the key to our success,” Mr Lee added, “Our strength lies in our trained and self-motivated employees, our competitiveness, readiness and commitment to serve our customers to the best of our ability to meet their expectations.”
But the Man himself – Mr Lee, a positive thinker with fire in the belly, passion and perseverance, a hands-on leader of inspiration and strength – towers above the other factors responsible for, especially, Perfect Team Engineering’s early success. With his burning desire to succeed, even as a teenager, after setting up Perfect Team Engineering in 1998 with a small capital, within two years he made it an operational success. He relied on the skills he had picked up from his previous job in an oil field manufacturing company.
“I realized that over the years I have cultivated all the required hands-on skills,” said Mr Lee, who subsequently brought up the company to where it is now – a leader in its field, ready to move on internationally with its specialized services. “I came up the hard way,” he added, proudly.
Future Directions
The company is now stepping up on its traditional role of supplying complete machinery parts to customers. “Perfect Team Engineering Pte Ltd will further internationalize our services and become a Total Integrated Engineering Solutions provider, becoming, in the process, our customers' preferred one-stop partner,” summed Mr. Lee. While competitive, the company is also synonymous with quality, speed and efficiency for improving its leadership and performance excellence in advanced engineering and technology.
“To ensure consistency in our product quality/operations in overcoming emerging engineering challenges faced by many industries, we will continue complementing our technical strengths in an expansive global network of facilities and partnerships,” he said.
“It is hard to cope with the challenges of change. It is important to 'unpack' or pinpoint each of the challenges that confront us to realize the new role that we need to assume for taking on these challenges,” he said. “And be more responsible for shaping our own future.”
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