CLOSE to 40 years ago, Johnny Soon and Jimmy Yong used to play marbles and catch spiders together. Today, they and Yong Yeow Sin helm Heatec JieTong Pte Ltd, a company in the offshore and marine sector with a turnover of about $45 million for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2008.
The company, which was one of the Enterprise 50 award recipients in 2007, has two main areas of business - the provision of piping services as well as heat exchanger servicing and fabrication.
Besides marine piping work, such as pipeline structure, restoration and installation services for various types of pipes and systems, Heatec JieTong also conducts process piping work, which mainly involves piping fabrication for floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) turrets, which enable oil which is extracted to be processed to some extent at sea, before further refining onshore.
The company also deals with heat exchangers which are used onboard marine vessels. Services include on-site inspection, engineering consultancy as well as fabrication and restoration of main engine-charged air coolers, condensers, heaters, fresh water generators and other heat transfer applications.
Heatec JieTong's footprint extends across Asia, and includes operations in mainland China. Prominent clients include Chevron, Keppel Offshore and Marine (O&M), and ST Marine.
By all accounts, their journey has been an unconventional one. And as Mr Jimmy Yong puts it, it started with a dream.
In the mid-1970s, when he was still in national service, Mr Soon, who had left school at 15, was already a pipe worker for a shipyard's sub-contractor, earning what was, back in those days, 'big money'.
'I saw Johnny working . . . and earning a lot of money. . . So one day I told him, after I ROD (complete national service), we should set up a company. That was the dream.'
Upon completing national service, Mr Jimmy Yong started work at Slipway Shipyard in Tanjong Gul. He had no formal training, and was made an apprentice.
This allowed him to understand the workings of the industry, and offered him the opportunity to learn the finer points of piping.
'We learnt very fast because we wanted to make more money,' he says.
It was at this point, when he had just started working, that Mr Soon began national service. Upon completion two years later, Mr Soon resumed work at a shipyard, rising up the ranks to become supervisor and, eventually, foreman.
At that point, the offshore and marine industry was burgeoning, and the entrepreneurial bug hit. Mr Soon, Mr Yong Yeow Sin (who was his subordinate at the time) and Mr Jimmy Yong decided that the time was ripe to be their own boss.
In 1980, even before the company was formally incorporated, they started work on their first piping job, which was worth about $3,000 then.
'We were the pipe workers; we were the general workers; we were the welders,' recalls Mr Soon.
About a year later, as the volume of work grew, they formally registered their company so as to be eligible to buy a lorry.
However, as the company grew, so did internal complications, and the three of them, as well as two partners who had come on board at a later stage, had major differences of opinion. They decided to 'close down' the company.
'The breakdown of a company,' Mr Soon says, 'is due to one of two things: either the company did not make enough money, or the company made too much money.'
Having learnt from the experience, especially with regard to communication among partners, albeit the hard way, the original trio started a new company, JieTong Engineering Works, in 1990.
In 2001, the company, which till then had done only piping work, acquired a 75 per cent stake in Heatec Asia Pacific, which serviced heat exchangers, in order to help a friend, who ran the company, deal with the pull-out of a major shareholder.
Two years later, when their friend decided to call it quits, JieTong acquired the remaining 25 per cent of the company's shares.
Mr Soon says that it seemed to be a good idea, as a heat exchanger required servicing every three to five years and, in that sense, was a relatively stable sector in the offshore and marine business.
And, about six years later, Mr Soon is clearly happy about the acquisition, as it has allowed him to achieve significant economies of scale, and also provides a sizeable portion of revenue.
Looking ahead, Mr Soon is confident about the company's continued success.
'Singapore wants to be a world shipping hub; our government wants to push very hard to achieve that,' he says. 'As long as you have that statement, ships will be travelling to Singapore.'
And, presumably, seeking out the services of companies such as Heatec JieTong.
