Seow Seng Wei, Ceo, Teambuild Construction Group
How well an organization responds or adapts to change strongly indicates its true potential or worth. Every industry today is rife with changes. The newer, more efficient technologies continuously replace older, cumbersome methods and usher in sweeping changes affecting consumers and service providers alike. In essence, it’s a smart organization that invites change and adopts the latest technologies not only to overcome challenges but in pursuit of overall improvement.
The Singaporean construction company, Teambuild Construction Group, shines as a brilliant example of holistic excellence in our constantly changing modern era. It’s one of Asia-Pacific’s most innovative construction technology companies today, widely regarded as an industry leader. It’s especially renowned for its multi-disciplinary expertise, technical competence, and high-quality services in residential, institutional and industrial projects.
Since the beginning in 1992, the company saw ‘innovation’ as a guiding principle; at each opportunity, it took an initiative to deliver better quality service. The Group with its multi-disciplinary capabilities in areas such as design, building, piling, structural works, steelworks, metal works, aluminum works, electric works, sanitation, and plumbing provides a seamless, end-to-end solution, delivering higher value for their clients.
Inspiring a Culture of Innovation and Creative Thinking
With the industry facing stagnation of productivity, difficulties in recruiting talent, labor-intensive and inefficient processes, there was a pressing need for a smart solution. To address this, the company embarked on R&D efforts on “Prefabricated Prefinished Volumetric Construction” (PPVC) in 2013. The PPVC method involves manufacturing modules and completing them with fittings and fixtures in factories, before being transported to the work site for installation in a Lego-like manner. This aligned well with the government’s push to raise productivity and it was praised as a game-changing technology for raising efficiency, health and safety benefits. As the first firm to construct and complete both public and private housing projects using concrete PPVC in Singapore, it has carved out a niche as a specialist PPVC contractor.
“In today’s business environment, it is no longer an option for companies to settle for incremental improvement; it has become a necessity to periodically undergo performance transformations to stay ahead. When we embarked on our PPVC journey – that was a key phase of our transformation,” shares Mr. Seow Seng Wei, the CEO of the company. The management wants to cultivate technology and innovation-driven culture, with a team of open-minded and creative staff to build a progressive and sustainable company.
Success Built on the Backbone of Teamwork and People
“There is an important significance in our company name – Teambuild. We wanted to emphasize the importance of teamwork. And this is the culture inherent in our organization till today”, says Mr. Seow.
“People are our most important asset,” asserts Mr. Seow. “We are focused on maintaining a strong pool of highly-talented individuals – we believe in realizing our people’s potential and are dedicated to nurturing them through the Career Mentorship Programme that we have in place,” explains Mr. Seow. “We are also active in supporting talent-building in the industry – we support and sponsor university scholarships/bursaries as well as industry Work and Train program,” he adds.
Celebrated for Excellence and Professionalism
Over the last 28 years, the company has received over 120 awards by various government and industry authorities such as the Housing & Development Board, Ministry of Manpower, Building & Construction Authority and Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents for its technical capabilities and high standards of quality and safety.
“We make sure that whatever we commit to, we deliver. I think that is what has contributed to our reputation, and it means that suppliers and subcontractors are more willing to work with us,” says Mr. Seow. Moreover, the company’s guiding principles for business conduct: Ethics, Compliance, Safety and Risk Management, have been the key for strong relationships with clients, suppliers, sub-contractors, financial institutions, and partners.
Moving Construction towards a Vision of Technology, Innovation, and Community
Moving into their Integrated Construction and Prefabrication Hub (ICPH) in end 2019, this is a new milestone in their journey as they build their ICPH into a manufacturing and innovation center to further develop its PPVC technology and processes.
“Only with constant improvement can we stay ahead in this very competitive industry. The lean methodology will be a key focus for us in the next few years. Beyond that, we also seek to expand into the region – exporting our PPVC capability overseas,” Mr. Seow concludes.
