Getting your hands dirty
TSL Bestmas Manufacturing Sdn Bhd director Alex Tiong Swee Lee is all about getting one’s hands dirty when necessary.
It is a notion that comes naturally to Tiong, a former carpenter. After all, he had to do a lot of the carpentry works by himself.
It is no different for him now that he runs a factory with more than 100 employees at his beck and call. When the work needs doing, an entrepreneur will get it done.
“My brother, Datuk Tiong Su Swan, said he trusted me because he knew I was committed to the business. After I stopped my furniture business, this was all I had and I will not let it fail,” states Tiong.
A business can fail for many reasons.
Take delivery, for instance. A client receiving his products late may seem like a small matter. But if it happens continuously over the long term, the likelihood of retaining this customer is next to zero.
The loss of sales from this would be tremendous, says Tiong, and he is not about to let the ship sink just because a lorry driver fails to turn up for work. So what does he do? He simply loads his stock and drive the three-tonne truck to his client’s doorsteps. Sometimes, such errands bring him as far as to Kelantan.
“Sometimes we work on Sundays and even on Chinese New Year holidays just to fulfill our clients’ requests,” he adds.
And if his suppliers are not able to get the ingredients to him on time, Tiong does not let it affect his production.
“I have instructed my staff to purchase halal certified ingredients from supermarkets. It might be more expensive, but we have to fulfill the halal requirement and we cannot afford to stop production just because our suppliers can’t deliver,” Tiong says.
When his production operators are not available, Tiong will simply suit up and become a part of the production team.
“There is nothing wrong in doing what needs to be done. Just don’t be calculative about everything that you have to do. In fact, pulling your weight to make the business run will help the staff feel more at ease with you because they know you are also doing the work. And I treat them all as my friends,” he says.
Wearing all the different hats has also helped Tiong understand the hardship that his employees go through in trying to get their jobs done.
This is why whenever a mistake happens, such as when a staff miscalculate the goods that need to be delivered, Tiong will just simply add on the stock to right the numbers instead of kicking up a fuss with his employees.
“It is pointless scolding them as they did not do it on purpose. What is important is that the client gets what is needed,” says Tiong.
Likewise, when a client complains that his products are not fresh, he would patiently guide them again on the proper procedures of product preparation and replace the products in question.
“We have proper documentation for our products and we will be able to track where did things go wrong,” he assures.
Tiong certainly has no qualms doing what it takes to run his ship.