(extracted from Annual Report 2017)
2017 was an eventful year for us at Commercial Installation. Apart from successfully completing our largest chilled water system and building management project to date, we also won and commenced a number of high profile projects.
To showcase a few:
Vision Exchange @ Venture Avenue
Worth more than S$20 million in project value, Vision Exchange is the biggest project that Commercial Installation has undertaken in its history. As contractor, we were responsible for the installation of Aircon and Mechanical Ventilation (ACMV) system and Building Management System (BMS) for the entire 25-storey commercial hub.
In addition to the massive equipment in the various plant rooms, we also installed more than 1,400 chilled water fan coil units, almost 170 mechanical ventilation exhaust / fresh air fans, and 106 electronic air cleaners.
This project was completed in early 2017.
Downtown East at Pasir Ris
Valued at more than S$7 million, we were involved in the Additional & Alteration (A&A) for existing Downtown East Development, a leisure centre where we installed the ACMV and engineered smoke control system for the entire project.
We installed 189 chilled water fan coil units, 160 mechanical ventilation exhaust / fresh air fans, 119 electronic air cleaners for kitchen exhaust fans and 88 electronic air cleaners for air handling units.
The project was completed in September 2017.
Defu City at Defu South
Following our successes with Vision Exchange and Downtown East, we won a role in the new Defu City project and commenced work in April 2017. Defu City is a multi-user industrial development (factory units each with a mezzanine floor for ancillary office), with an ancillary workers' dormitory and ancillary staff canteen. At Defu City, we were responsible for the installation of ACMV, a smoke purging system, and engineered smoke control system for the entire project.
This project is expected to complete in 2020.
2017 was a busy year for Trading as we faced a competitive market in Singapore. In order to address this, we embarked on a number of new marketing initiatives which we set out below. We are pleased with the results of these initiatives which we intend to continue in the coming year.
No Horse Run (NHR) Breakfast
We started a weekly No Horse Run (NHR) breakfast networking session every Friday to connect Aircon manufacturer and/or suppliers and contractors. At these sessions, technical support staff representing our principals were available to give technical advice and receive feedback from customers and contractors regarding their Aircon products and equipment.
Natural Cool Annual Dinner and Dance
For the first time in our corporate history, we invited our customers and contractors to join in Natural Cool's Annual Dinner and Dance to celebrate together the progressive growth of our business and build stronger relationship with them.
In late 2017, and in order to further sharpen our business focus, we conducted an internal reorganisation which saw the Retail Installation business unit being spun off from the Trading Department to be separately managed by a new business head. The Retail Installation business unit will also take over responsibilities for our digital technology initiatives, including www.lifestyleguru.com.sg.
The Mechanical & Electrical business unit continued to record strong income growth in 2017.
Operations under Commercial Service Team turned in a strong performance for the year, and we continue to deliver full spectrum of skills set required for our expansion into facilities management.
Our Retail Service Team continued to be one of the key profit contributor to the Division despite intense competition in the domestic retail service market. Working hand in hand with our newly spun off Retail Installation Department, we successfully launched our "Lifestyle Guru" e-commerce website www.lifestyleguru.com.sg for greater customer convenience and experience. This website's customised sitemap and wireframe allow customers to address their needs with a more interactive and responsive approach from us.
Our Fire Protection Team continues to face intense competition. However, our diversified operations and sharing of resources solutions, has provided resilience to the Team.
The Mechanical & Electrical business unit will remain focused on functional excellence as well as the execution of its pipeline of contracts to deliver long-term growth. We hope to deliver better performance in 2018, underpinned by the strong commercial and industrial demand in equipment maintenance and the opening up of our e-commerce platform.
Despite the competitive market, revenue from the Paint Division was relatively stable for 2017 as compared to 2016.
As most of our paint manufacturing activities are now located in Malaysia, we decided to sell the Paint Division's property at 38 Lok Yang Way in part to reduce our gearing and strengthen cashflow.
Looking ahead, we will still take active steps to control overhead cost and to improve efficiency and we are exploring to improve logistical arrangements with Malaysia. We will also continue to expand on our customer base to improve sales.
In August 2017, we announced that our joint venture company, Natural Cool Asia Pte Ltd was appointed distributor by Panasonic for certain of its commercial Aircon products in selected ASEAN and South Asian countries.
Although at an early stage, we are seeing very encouraging results from this business unit.