CASEY TEH Get enough sleep, surround yourself with the love of family, exercise, enjoy what you do, and travel well. It sounds like the recipe for a good life. Just ask Casey Teh, Managing Director of Simmons Southeast <strong>As</strong>ia. Born and bred in Singapore, Casey Teh comes from a large family of four boys and four girls. The youngest son, he described his upbringing in Singapore’s East Coast as humble. “ Meat and all those things were considered a luxury,” he admitted. But it’s one he wouldn’t have traded for the world. At university he studied engineering. “ It was the I.T. of its day,” he joked when we met him at the Simmons Gallery in Pavilion KL. While Civil Engineering was not something he chose out of interest – like many young adults of the time he was channelled into it – he never regretted it. “ Studying engineering helped me to be analytical, to be more organised and structured, and helped me to think about things with a more scientific approach,” he explained. Further training in marketing and management helped to round out his education. It was when Teh was working for another American company, about 14 years ago, that he was headhunted to join Simmons. In terms of products, they couldn’t have been more different – Simmons, a mattress company, and Black & Decker, a manufacturer of power tools; but the job was essentially the same, “ Managing the business, looking at the P&L, the distribution, and overall organisation,” Teh recalled. Crucially Teh was brought on board to turn Simmons Southeast <strong>As</strong>ia around, something he has experience with. “American companies, they do a lot of restructuring based on the business needs,” he explained. Amazingly, he took the company from red back into the black within the first year and he didn’t stop there. Ever ready to embrace a challenge, he set about growing the business, targeting to double it within five years. “ We did it in four years,” he beamed proudly. From the excitement in Teh’s voice you can tell that he enjoys his work and derives great satisfaction from it, is team members are like his second family. Thinking back to his early days with the company Teh recalled, “ I spent my first three weeks at Simmons conducting a clinic. Everyone came to my office for me to get to know them, to understand what their challenges are, their aspirations and what they want to do to make a difference. That brought me up to speed on the business, the company, and how I can organise it to bring it forward.” The relationship that has been developed with his team is also part of Simmons’ seven core values, among them: Teamwork; Respect; Fun. “ We spend so much time working. I wanted to create an environment that is really enjoyable to work in, a place that we can call second home.” Every new recruit in the Singapore office, where Teh is based, spends their first one and a half hours with him. “ I go through our company vision, our mission statements and core values, and remind them that Simmons is not their pay master. It’s the customer that is our pay master. That’s very important, because a lot of sales people think that they are just pushing the product.” “He took the company from red back into the black within the first year didn’t stop there. Ever ready to embrace a challenge, he set about growing the business, targeting to double it within five years” Of course, who wouldn’t wax lyrical about the product, when Simmons is one of the best mattress and bedding companies in the world? Established in 1870 in the U.S., Simmons has a rich heritage and a long history. “ We are the oldest bedding brand in the world – 148 years,” Teh expounded before running down a list of firsts the company has achieved. Among them is the concept of Queen size and King size. “ Before that, mattresses were known as single or double mattresses,” Teh explained. Simmons coined what has now become an industry standard. “ We invest in a lot of R&D and are very forthcoming in terms of our innovation and technology,” Teh shared of Simmons. The original pocketed coil is an example. “ Every mattress brand uses a pocketed coil now, but it was invented and introduced by Simmons in 1925.” Since then Simmons has introduced the advanced pocketed coil, which interestingly was inspired by the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Rather than using a single high tensile, quality steel wire compressed inside a coil pocket, it uses three, like the suspension wires on the world-famous bridge. This adds to the mattress’ durability, increases the support it provides your body and removes almost entirely any motion transfer to create the ultimate “ do-not- disturb” mattress, making uninterrupted sleep a distinct possibility – terrific news for those with partners who toss and turn in the night. Yet, unless you test the mattress for yourself with what Simmons terms “ the bowling ball demonstration”, you wouldn’t be aware of the science and engineering that has gone into such an everyday product. Even Teh jokingly described it as “ a giant white tofu”. “ It’s not a very sexy thing to sell,” he laughed “ but it’s a very important thing to sell.” Rather than a piece of furniture, Teh considers a mattress “ a health and wellness product”. “A good night’s sleep will improve your overall wellbeing, your performance the following day, your mood, your health, even your beauty,” Teh explained. TM | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER <strong>2018</strong> 22
CASEY TEH HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU CHANGE YOUR MATTRESSES? According to Teh, you should change out your mattress every 10 years. “Our mattresses are very durable. In fact, we have a customer who has owned their mattress for 20 over years and it’s still in good condition. But we recommend a change of mattress every 10 years. It’s mainly for hygiene purposes. When you sleep, your body sheds dead skins cells, and then there are dust mites. Hotels do it every seven or eight years due to the frequency of usage and the number of different users.” Two-tone Sweater from ZARA, White Shirt from SACOOR BROTHER 23 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER <strong>2018</strong> | TM
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