Panels & Furniture Asia May/June 2022

IN PERSON
Koda fared relatively well due to the boom in
demand for home furnishing. Koda’s Commune
warehouses got empty as there was widespread
buying by customers, but ultimately, the
company faced logistic issues, such as the
increase in freight costs and manpower
shortage, particularly for their factories in
Vietnam and Malaysia.
Now, as borders are opening up, Koh expressed
that at least in the lifestyle aspect, the world
will not return to the pre-pandemic state,
having experienced what he calls “suburban
urbanisation”, where urban people will
experience a more suburban living, and the
suburban people will experience a more
urbanised lifestyle. This has an impact on
the furniture and home furnishing industry,
in particular, suburban malls and shopping
centres in the city, and the living and working
space which have become close to each other.
The business implications of these excites Koh.
Even so, he is still cautious about how the postpandemic
world will turn out.
He explained to Panels & Furniture Asia that as
an ODM, Koda’s main marketing force is the
quality and delivery of furniture design, on
top of reasonable pricing. Under their motto
of ‘Redefining Lifestyle’, they follow what the
market is trending with regards to materials. For
instance, while Scandinavian, New Zealand or
Australian pine was trending in the past, today
oak and walnut are trending. And in recent
years, the market is trending toward the use of
natural materials and fibres, rattan, weaving
and ropes, recycled materials, and so on.
However, with their competitors catching up,
Koda felt that sustainability is an area that they
can use to gain a competitive edge. Speaking
in a panel discussion at the Singapore Apex
Business Summit which took place from 22-25
Mar 2022 at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore,
Koh asserted that sustainability should be a
“competitive advantage” which companies can
use in their businesses.
Koh reiterated: “For the past few years, we have
been accommodating our customer’s requests
and requirements on sustainability. It is
therefore natural to use sustainability as one of
our corporate policies moving forward, which is
not difficult because we have been doing it. It is
just to package it so that we know our roadmap,
“Dealing with
sustainability
individually or as a
compartment of just our
company is not dynamic
enough unless you bring
in your entire value
chain.”
Ernie Koh
Executive Director of Sales
and Marketing, Koda
where we are going, how we are doing it, and
what is the result of it.”
This is aligned with Koda’s overall aim of
balancing aesthetics with the environment,
by infusing ‘Green’ in the materials they use,
processes they engage, and products they
develop. According to Koh, the company is
looking into whether they can use water-based
finishing surface coating and whether they can
use lower formaldehyde glue for consumer
health and safety. Instead of using plywood or
medium-density fibreboard (MDF), they are
considering using alternative wood materials
like strawboard.
In addition, the manufacturer does not lose
sight of what is trending, balancing what the
market wants with what is sustainable: “Now it
is trending to use certified timber — if you are
not going into certified timber, you are not in
the market. We have been using certified timber
since years ago, and when our customers
wanted it, our factories were certified by Forest
Stewardship Council (FSC).”
THE SUSTAINABILITY JOURNEY
That is not to say that Koda commits to
sustainability purely for profit’s sake. Koh
stated that Koda will not use sustainability to
heavily brand their company. He also believed
that it should not be a company’s main
marketing tool, but embraced as a corporate
strategy or DNA — that is to say, integrated
into the company’s business or manufacturing
processes.
For example, Koda sells their wood chips from
processing timber to other businesses that
Image: Singapore
Business Federation
require them, such as farming, effectively
repurposing them. Koh suggested that
businesses who are new to sustainability
practices can start with the “low-hanging”
fruits, such as cutting electricity and
water usage in manufacturing processes
by using solar panels or harvesting water,
cutting down on paper usage in day-today
operations and shifting to virtual
environments, or switching off the airconditioner
when leaving the room.
When working with customers on cradleto-grave
furniture designs, Koda tries to
use fewer materials and standardised
measurements, and will be developing a
buyback policy such that it can get back the
furniture items to be torn down and recycled.
Koh elaborated: “The dynamics involve
building a value chain where we work together
with our local customers, overseas customers,
and their consumers. This is a long-term
strategy where we’re hoping that the cradleto-grave
furniture will be jointly developed
[among all of us], because a lot of times when
we put certain materials into products, they
are no longer considered recyclable.”
He concluded: “Dealing with sustainability
individually or as a compartment of just our
company is not dynamic enough unless you
bring in your entire value chain. Our customers
are asking us to do a lot since it is part of their
value chain. Going upstream is an obligation
and we feel that we need to go to our suppliers
and subcontractors to slowly educate them
on sustainability so that the dynamics of the
whole sustainability journey and is taken care
of rather than working in isolation.” P
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