Issue 11 - Upstream's Upswing - Lockwood International

Southeast Asia (SEA)
by William Kwan and Vince Pittman
Singapore Branch & PT TY Valve Indonesia in Batam
2010 was a busy year for Lockwood in this region. We moved
into our new premises in June to accommodate our growth in the
Singapore Branch which expanded from a 4 men team to see significant
changes including a new location and 5 new staff additions;
Celena (Projects) and Marian Dela Torre (Admin) joined us in March;
Sherilyn-Geli Lucaser and Kitty Chua ( both Inside Sales) in August;
Victor Ng (Operations Manager) in September and Abdul Hamid
(warehouse) in December.
Additionally, we have set-up a new TY company - PT TY Valve
Indonesia on the Island of Batam, which is 30 minutes on a boat
ride right across Singapore. Victor Ng, with the assistance of Dena
Gao is leading the operation with over 15 years in the Oil and Gas and Petrochemical business, primarily with module and skid builders. His
background includes logistics supply as well as project management. He was a tough customer but was great in making sure we met up to the
expectations of the Project. A Singapore citizen who married an Indonesian lives in Batam, speaks fluent Bahasa Indonesian, he is obviously
our natural choice and an asset to our Indonesian operation. With his knowledge and insight of the perspective, he has quickly proven to be
a key component of our Southeast Asia growth.
PT TY Valve Indonesia has tremendous potential. Local content issues have placed the majority of valve purchases on hold and with most
of the end users present in Indonesia, we have a great opportunity to help them solve this problem. The expectation of the Batam, Indonesian
operation is a fully functioning test and paint facility as well as a distribution hub for the region.
After a long search for a General Manager to lead in our SEAsian business, we chanced upon retiree, William Kwan, who has been in the
valve related industries for up to 30 years. Starting from a 3 and half years stint selling steel castings (Valve bodies, Tees and bonnets) from
a foundry in Singapore (70’s); his 8 years marketing for Demco Valves (gate/globe/check)in the 80’s; he spent his best years in the valve
industries when he was the Director/General Manager for TK Ball Valves and subsequently Ring-O Valve (Subsea/Cryogenics/Metal Seated)
Singapore Pte Ltd (90’s). He is be expected to be instrumental in Lockwood’s imminent dominance in the Regional markets within SEAsia
and the Asia Pacific.
On the business side, we have been busy servicing our local MRO with SRC as well as providing top ups for SPT (Singapore) and Siracha
Clean Fuels (Thailand), both with Exxon. We were recently awarded another clean fuels job in Thailand that has been very challenging and a
great experience for the new crew in Singapore. On the Upstream side, TY Italy has been a great help in securing our 1st large order for ball
valves ($400K) to be installed onto 7 skids of a production platform to Technics Offshore for a Cambodian project. Special thanks to Giovanni,
Aldo, Claudio and team. We are expecting a big 2011 and the TY Italy group should play a big part in that. He we come Santos...
Seoul, South Korea
by Terry Choi
Overheard & Unconfirmed
Batam, Indonesia Staff (Left to Right): Yanto Hamid; Budi Setiawan; Nicole Ng; Marian
Dela Torre; Celena Quok; Alvin Ooi; Kitty Chua; Victor Ng; William Kwan; Toh Hong
Yeow; Karnan Palanivel; Abdul Hamid
As of Jan. 1st 2011, Lockwood International Seoul, South Korea Branch has opened and begun operations. The purpose of this office is to
support global sales teams in technical, material sourcing, and the introduction of Lockwood into the Asian Market. Knowing many projects
are waiting for launch in Southeast Asia, with the collaboration of our strong sales team in Singapore, the Seoul office will be the catapult
to accelerate Lockwood’s growth within the Asian region. The team we are building will focus on engineering and purchasing support, and
more over, domestic penetration of the market. Like any product we buy, if valves are not manufactured within the boundary of strict quality
control, there is a potential danger to the public. In order for Lockwood to ensure that we only stock qualified products, having Seoul as a
monitoring hub is a massive upgrade in our customer service offering.
The strategic location in Seoul also adds value to our business. The Seoul Sales office of TY Valve resides within the same building as
Lockwood. Direct communication with management is possible even with very short notice. As we have experienced from years of dealing
with Chinese oriented products, they need close monitoring to make sure proper manufacturing steps are followed. With the help of North
Star (MC Soh) in China updating us daily, we are assured that China factor will not exist in ‘the House of Lockwood.”
Finally, Lockwood in Korea is configured to meet shortages needed by on going/ending projects. When in doubt, Lockwood will be getting
calls regarding short items, lost items needed “yesterday” from all around the world. We are excited at our potential in this part of the world!
Columbia, South America: Lockwood is breaking ground on a new facility in Columbia, South America.