Working up the value chain

HEADING into its sixth decade, Wong Fong Engineering hit what one might call its mid-life crisis. Hampered by a triple whammy of an aging workforce, land and labour constraints, brothers Liew Chern Yean and Eric Lew - the second generation in the family business still headed by their father and uncle - pushed for a rejuvenation and reinvention of the business.

Mr Liew, the older of the two, is the chief technical officer at Wong Fong and handles the engineering projects; Mr Lew, a director, handles the research and development (R&D) and the marketing, and is also the executive director of the two-year-old Wong Fong Research & Innovation Centre (WFRIC).

The changes that the brothers have so far wrought have not happened overnight.