I began my career with The BOC Group plc, which is now part of The Linde Group, in 1991 after I had worked for them as an undergraduate; they also sponsored me through university. The graduate training programme deliberately rotates new graduates through a number of roles in short succession to try and encourage a broader understanding of the business. As a result, I spent time working with the largest air separation plants, which had the capacity to produce over 2,500 tonnes of air gases per day and serving large multinational companies, through to the other end of the scale, our compressed gases business, supplied in portable cylinders that contain just a few kilograms of product, with a very different service model and set of customers.
Following the merger with The Linde Group in 2006, the development opportunities continued and my career has taken me to all nine of our global regions, but Asia has always been one of the most exciting and varied places to work. Since coming to Asia in 2002, it had been my aspiration to take on the role of Managing Director for Malaysia because of the scale of the business as well as its importance to Linde. I have been fortunate enough to now have the chance to be responsible for running this business.
I think any new CEO is under the spotlight from the first moment they walk through the door. Internal and external stakeholders are all watching to understand how you are going to react and judge your personal style, while, at the same time, the business needs to operate safely and continue to generate profits, so speed of impact is critical. Linde had planned a transition period with my predecessor, which allowed me the much needed time to meet the staff and listen to their views and also meet many of our major customers before I officially assumed the role. My first day coincided with a visit from our Group CEO, Dr Wolfgang Büchele, and Member of the Executive Board and Chief Operating Officer of Asia Pacific, Sanjiv Lamba, so I had the added benefit of having their direct input about their expectations of me. In less than three months since assuming this position, I have been able to gain approval for three investments that are critical for the immediate and long-term growth of Linde Malaysia. These decisions have helped to revitalise the energy amongst our staff and generated a positive buzz with our customers as well.
Malaysia is our largest business in South-East Asia and is geographically very well placed. It is a profitable business and benefits from the presence of a number of customers who also do business with Linde elsewhere. Linde Malaysia has one of the group’s broadest portfolios and we are a key supplier to businesses in the glass, food and beverage, oil and gas, chemicals, steel, electronics, safety products and healthcare industries. This is one of our most mature Asian markets and also one of the most demanding, and strengthening our strong presence here means that we must invest in providing an integrated gases and engineering service to our customers. This expenditure is more than just financial since, for many years, we have had a proud record of developing people who go on to key roles across the region. Indeed, today we have Malaysian employees who are working in Germany, Vietnam, China, Singapore and the Philippines, and I see this trend continuing.
We are sharpening our focus on customers across the Group and making a concerted effort to place them ever more centrally to our business model. Part of this includes streamlining some internal structures which will improve our customer focus and speed-up decision making. I expect this to make us more agile and adaptive, and, coupled with the significant emphasis that Linde has placed on its engineering and technical capability and in developing new applications for our customers, I think the future looks bright.
We strive to demonstrate good corporate responsibility through our actions to ensure the sustainability of our businesses. Safety is a key concern for us – our plants, transport and use of our products. This means protecting our employees, neighbours, customers, suppliers and contractors. From my engagements with customers, I know that, increasingly, customers want to do business with companies that place equal emphasis on these values. We firmly believe that by doing so, we will continue to secure business and be the leading industrial gases company in Malaysia.
The biggest challenge now is the scale and speed of social-political and economic changes globally. The pace of change today is unparalleled and, increasingly, difficult to anticipate. Just taking the price of oil as an example, no one could predict that it would drop below USD50 dollar a barrel, or that Greece would still be actively debating its future within the European Union. I have to constantly take a helicopter view of the factors that could impact our business, but also be able to quickly switch gears and enter into a detailed contract negotiation, or discussion on people development. With such flexibility needed, I try to ensure that the lines of communication with my staff are kept open and that they are aligned with what I am trying to do. It is a challenge, but one that I really enjoy.
Work-wise, my biggest worry will always be the safety of our staff. When I move on to my next role, I would like to be able to say that no one had been hurt while working for me, or ‘on my watch’. On a personal level, it would be family.
