Seizing opportunities to diversify, expand

WHEN the pandemic hit, Utracon Overseas Pte Ltd saw an opportunity to leverage the crisis and diversify its business. Today, Utracon Overseas, the overseas arm of Utracon Group, is not only involved in construction projects all around the world, but has also delved into formwork supplies in Singapore, and started selling some of their in-house innovations to interested clients through e-commerce sites.

This includes electrical skate beams, which helps to replace huge overhead gantries, saving material, cost and space for companies which use the product.

Director of Utracon Overseas Khoo Jyh Hao said that these are some ways the business is adapting to the disruptions posed by the pandemic to diversify and sustain the business.

"We have inventions that are innovative and can bring our clients cost savings. What we want to have is a wider outreach. In this post-Covid era, we are able to reach out to a bigger pool of clients without having to meet them in person with e-commerce," he said.

DEVELOPING NEW AREAS

The pandemic has also resulted in the overseas team being unable to travel, due to the restrictions that have been put in place. As such, the overseas unit has identified areas they can work on in Singapore that the Singapore entity is not already involved in.

This has led the unit to develop a new business in formwork supplies in Singapore.

"There is a demand for formwork systems in Singapore because of the infrastructure projects, such as MRT projects. Since we have our establishments overseas, we have the advantage of leveraging our networks and resources to offer a competitive price to the market here in Singapore," Mr Khoo said.

He added that despite trying their hand at different businesses since the Covid-19 pandemic, their core business is still construction, and that overseas projects are still ongoing.

Utracon Overseas has made many innovations within the construction industry since their inception, including digitising controls, inventing an electrical skate beam to replace huge overhead gantries, and segmentalising big infrastructures to transport them before putting them back together at the construction site, using post-tensioning technology.

"In the construction industry, a lot of equipment is still being controlled manually in analogue form. We digitise the control of the equipment using sensors and electronic devices, making our works more accurate, efficient and productive," said Mr Khoo.

Utracon Overseas is also the first player to bring into Sri Lanka the process of segmentalising big infrastructures to facilitate the ease of transporting them. These big infrastructures will be pieced back together at the construction site with post-tensioning technology.

SUPERIOR TECHNOLOGY

Mr Khoo said such technology is superior in developing countries, and helps to facilitate the transport of precast components like huge beams, which can be tough due to its length and weight.

With a headcount of approximately 300 people globally, Utracon Overseas has several establishments around the world including Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Uganda.

The overseas unit has also been profitable since its inception, even when the pandemic hit last year.

However, success did not come without challenges. Mr Khoo said one of the greatest challenges Utracon Overseas faces is finding the right talent to join the business in this industry.

"We need lots of people in our industry, because construction is very complex. There are many parties involved, lots of interfaces and unforeseen problems," he said.

"Nowadays, not many young people are interested in the construction industry because they do not want to work under the sun, or in a messy environment."

Instead, since Utracon has many establishments overseas, they have managed to develop foreign staff to be a part of their core workforce. Mr Khoo said the company brings these foreign talent to Singapore to train for a few years. After training them, they are deployed back to their home countries to lead the businesses there.

Looking forward, he hopes that Utracon Overseas will be able to become the most established specialist in the construction field in Asia.

"We have been thinking of ways to transform and diversify, to have a wider pool of overseas clients, more outreach, and to promote a product-based business instead of a work-based business," said Mr Khoo.