From 1-storey factory to 6-storey incubator: How one company is growing with Singapore’s first industrial town
Singapore’s oldest rock sugar manufacturer shares memories of the country’s oldest industrial town, Jurong, and how it continues to grow its business.
By Zul Othman
The Jurong of today is a hive of activity, with malls, educational institutions and a budding innovation district alongside industrial estates. However, Mr John Cheng remembers a different Jurong from decades ago, back when it was just establishing itself as Singapore’s pioneer industrial town.
“It was very ulu (Singlish for “isolated”) and the only consolation was the good food,” says the director of trading and business development at Cheng Yew Heng Candy Factory, Singapore’s biggest and oldest rock sugar supplier and manufacturer that was formed in 1947. The business started from an old shophouse along Upper Serangoon Road and moved to Jurong’s Chin Bee estate in the 1980s.
Memories of an emerging estate
Mr Cheng shares how he practically grew up at the factory, where he helped with chores or did his homework after school. “I remember how deserted Jurong was when we first moved here,” says the 36-year-old, who is the third generation now running the family business together with his elder brother, Managing Director Cheng Liang Kheng.
“The nearest canteen to our factory was a good 15-minute walk in the sun. I remember my father driving out and buying food for the employees — he was the only one who drove then. That is one of the memories many of our workers have of my late father — he was very nice and took care of them. During durian season, he would bring big baskets back to the factory. We would go to the Chinese Garden for our company’s dinner and dance — that was the only attraction near the factory,” he adds with a laugh.
“We used to dry our sugar out in the sun and people in the office would run out to pick them up whenever it rained.”
Sense of community
Mr Cheng remembers the community spirit among the businesses in Chin Bee estate.
He recounts vividly, “Back then, our most immediate customers were our neighbours in the Jurong area. One of them manufactured 3-in-1 drinks and they would call at about 4pm to order some sugar. They would then just send over a forklift to pick up their order.”
The ample space around the factory also served as the setting for good old production methods. “We used to dry our sugar out in the sun and people in the office would run out to pick them up whenever it rained,” says Mr Cheng.
He also recalls fond memories of his father’s old-school business methods. “At the end of the day, he would count all the money, tapping furiously on his old calculator to tally the day’s takings. Then, he will lock up and give his workers a lift home. On weekends, I will follow him to visit customers to collect cash [payments] — it was a very traditional way of connecting with our customers.”
Next phase of growth
Over the years, as Jurong advanced, Cheng Yew Heng updated and expanded its operations as well. “Our factory grew bigger — extensions were added as the years went by.” In the 1990s, a second floor was built to increase production. Beyond manufacturing and supplying traditional sugars, the company started trading internationally in commodities such as sugar, wheat flour, rice and corn.
Today, the company’s annual turnover has grown to over $100 million. It also owns 60 per cent of the market share in Singapore’s rock sugar market.
While it continues its business-to-business model of supplying sugar to industrial buyers, wholesalers and retailers, it has forayed into the consumer market with Jewels Rock Sugar Sticks that can be paired with teas and coffees. Introduced in 2016, the colourful products come in local flavours such as Kaya, Bandung and the Singapore Sling, in a bid to put a modern twist on traditional rock sugar and reach out to the younger generation.
With an upcoming six-storey facility to be launched in 2019 at its Chin Bee premises, Cheng Yew Heng has also taken steps to boost its production capacity. “We hope to expand the market both locally and overseas to Japan, China and Malaysia. The new factory will increase our output capacity to cater for exports and the creation of new products,” says Mr Cheng.
Processes from cooking to packing to separating the refined sugar into different sizes will be fully automated, he adds. There are plans for a demonstration kitchen and viewing galleries, so visitors can learn how sugar is made from start to finish.
Beyond facilities, the company also intends to step up research and development. “We want to create an ecosystem of collaboration and incubate startups to innovate and push boundaries,” he says. The upcoming factory will host the company’s newest brainchild, Innovate360 — Singapore’s first food manufacturing incubator that aims to help companies create new products and technology to transform the industry.
Under this, Cheng Yew Heng will promote collaboration by offering shared facilities such as an integrated food production space and co-working spaces, and will even fund promising startups and small and medium-sized enterprises.
“We are a business that is changing with the times. Hopefully one day we will be as big as Nestlé, but homegrown,” adds Mr Cheng with a smile.
For more information on Innovate360, contact Cheng Yew Heng at http://innovate360.sg/contact-me/.
