S'pore jets off into high-end products

A BOEING 737 takes off or lands somewhere in the world every two seconds. Helping ensure the operations go smoothly is the business of Singapore's Lien Whai Cheng.

Mr Lien's Singapore factory makes high-performance parts that help hold the 737's landing gear together, an example of the specialised products that are allowing the country to keep an industrial base even as labour costs climb.

"We have to stay one step ahead," says Mr Lien, who started Coway Engineering & Marketing in 1996 making tools for airplane repairs and today customises insulated components known as bushings for landing gear when they need to be replaced. While Singapore has constraints posed by space and labour, "the competition is worldwide", he says. "It's hard for people like us to survive."